(Casual) Co-Development Lead - Health Equity Initatives

POSITION SUMMARY:

Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (Ontario Shores) is strengthening its commitment to patient and family engagement in support of better experience and outcomes. This role advances patient and family-centred care through co-leadership in the design, evaluation, and improvement of hospital services. The role co-leads with project sponsors and organizational leaders, shaping our selected key initiatives at the higher levels of influence.

What we mean by Co-Development

Co-Development is the ongoing design and improvement of services. It is project based, not committee meeting focused. It is carried out by distinct skilled experts whose lived and/or living experience with mental health services informs their work. It means designing with a team of mixed experts and sharing responsibility and authority throughout.

Reporting to the Manager, Quality, Recovery and Patient Experience, the Lead works as part of the teams supporting Health Equity Initiatives, with responsibility shared across the team and assigned according to each person’s skills. The work includes assessing current health equity work in the organization to engage with patients to collect equity data, use of equity data to identify and address existing health equity gaps as well as education to help build organizational capabilities to improve health equity work.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• • • Shares responsibility with staff and leadership in the co-development of health equity improvement work, including education initiatives for hospital staff
    • Co-develops a self-report equity data collection tool
    • Participates in the assessment of current staff education and learning approaches related to health equity (e.g., training modules, delivery methods, engagement strategies)
    • Identifies opportunities to strengthen health equity education, including considerations of diversity, inclusion, accessibility, cultural safety, and anti-oppression
    • Contributes to the development of recommendations aligned with leading practices in health equity, cultural humility, and mental health care
    • Supports the co-design of strategies to enhance the accessibility, relevance, and impact of health equity education for diverse staff groups
    • Meets and works as part of the project team, in working sessions and workshops convened for specific projects rather than as a standing committee (the role may include work outside meeting hours to support project progress)
    • Connects with Advisors and other relevant tables for project-specific feedback
    • Co-develops educational materials, communications, and reports to ensure they are inclusive, respectful, clear, and reflective of equity principles
    • Works respectfully and shares responsibilities to achieve project objectives, and tasks assigned according to skills
    • Supports evaluation activities, including identifying meaningful measures of success related to staff learning, behaviour change, and impact on equitable care
    • Maintains confidentiality and adheres to hospital policies and guidelines

QUALIFICATIONS:

Skills are the primary qualification for this role. Lived and/or living experience informs the perspective a Lead brings; it is not a substitute for the skills the work requires. What skills are we looking for? We look for strength in some of the skills below and a willingness to build others. No one is expected to hold them all.

EDUCATION:

• • • University Degree, College Certificate or Diploma in a related area of study, or equivalent work experience

YEARS OF WORK EXPERIENCE:

• • • 2-3 years work experience in education/teaching, communications, facilitation, projects, planning, quality improvement or evaluation activities.
    • Previous experience working with clients and families impacted by inequities and affected by mental health, substance use health and /or addictions will be considered an asset.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

• • • Education/teaching skills
    • Project and program coordination – planning, sequencing, and tracking the work (project management training is an asset)
    • Program and strategy development
    • Facilitation of meetings, working sessions, and workshops
    • Patient engagement and co-design / co-development approaches
    • Communication and engagement with diverse stakeholders, including clinical and administrative staff
    • System navigation, including helping people move across services and supports
    • Data interpretation and basic data literacy
    • Quality improvement methods and approaches
    • Research and evaluation methods, including evaluation design
    • Professional experience in communications, including plain-language writing and developing clear materials and messaging for patients, families, and staff
    • Experience in mental health service delivery (an asset)

PERSPECTIVE – LIVED AND/OR LIVING EXPERIENCE

• • • Lived and/or living experience accessing mental health services, as a patient or caregiver -experience with Ontario Shores an asset
    • Experience with impacts of inequities
    • Ability to reflect on personal experience and connect it to broader system improvements to address impacts of inequities
    • Ability to see beyond a personal story. Personal experience alone is not a qualifier for this role. The skill is applying what that experience has taught, across a range of skills, to improve the projects and initiatives of Ontario Shores

SHARED COMMITMENTS

• • Commitment to improving healthcare services and patient experience
  • Acts as a good-faith ambassador for the projects and programs of Ontario Shores, bringing the values of quality improvement through the lens of what matters most to patients and families
  • Commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and respectful engagement

Please note that this position is anticipated to require a commitment of approximately 15 -20 hours per month.

1 Vacancy Available

Hiring Rate (hourly): $31.83 to $37.45

Job Posting Closing: July 31, 2026 at midnight. Please note any job applications after the closing date will not be considered.