HIV/HCV Peer Support Worker

Position Title: HIV/HCV Peer Support Worker. HIV & HCV Programs The Opportunity Are you someone with lived or living experience who believes that support is most powerful when it comes from a place of understanding, connection, and shared experience? The Gilbert Centre is looking for a Peer Support Worker to join our HIV and HCV Programs team. In this role, you will use your lived or living experience, alongside peer support principles, to build meaningful relationships with people living with, affected by, or at risk of HIV and hepatitis C. Through compassionate, non-judgmental engagement, you will help individuals navigate services, access care, reduce barriers, and strengthen connections to community. This role has a particular responsibility to support people living with HIV, people newly diagnosed with HIV, people affected by HIV and HCV, and people experiencing challenges related to stigma, social isolation, substance use, housing instability, poverty, or other social determinants of health. Drawing on your own experiences in a thoughtful and boundaried way, you will help create safer, more welcoming pathways to care and support. Working as part of a multidisciplinary team grounded in harm reduction, health equity, and client-centred practice, you will provide one-to-one peer support, facilitate community connections, assist with service navigation, promote testing and treatment pathways, and contribute to community education and engagement initiatives. You will also support peer engagement activities, community events, pop-up clinics, and collaborative initiatives that help reduce stigma and improve access to services across Simcoe Muskoka. This is a unique opportunity to transform lived experience into meaningful community impact. Through relationship-building, advocacy, education, and peer connection, you will help individuals feel seen, supported, and empowered while contributing to healthier, more inclusive communities for people affected by HIV, HCV, and related health and social challenges. Why the Gilbert Centre We are a justice-informed, harm reduction organization that does things differently – and we are proud of that. We walk alongside people rather than leading them. We believe in the dignity and autonomy of everyone who comes through our doors. And we are building something meaningful.

• Comprehensive benefits through Canada Life, including health, dental, vision, and drug coverage.
• Generous paid time off: 3 weeks’ vacation, 3 weeks’ sick leave, and 1 week of float time to start.
• The security and protections of a unionized workplace (CUPE Local 1813.14).
• A workplace culture rooted in autonomy, hope, courage, and compassion – not just for clients, but for staff.
• The chance to practice relational, community-based, client-centred social work in an integrated HIV/HCV/STBBI program.
• Opportunities for professional development within a collaborative multidisciplinary team. About Us The Gilbert Centre for Social and Support Services is a registered, not-for-profit charitable organization incorporated in 1995 in response to the HIV epidemic in Simcoe County and Muskoka Region. Our mandate extends to supporting people at risk of, living with, and affected by HIV and other sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs), as well as supporting and celebrating the lives of the 2S-LGBTQ+ communities in our regions. We take a broad, social-determinants-of-health approach to our work, grounded in social justice, health equity, and human rights. We seek to engage individuals, families, organizations, institutions, and communities as partners and collaborators. We operate from a value system of harm reduction, sex positivity, queer and trans inclusion, and work towards greater anti-oppressive practices. We hope to see a future that does not criminalize sex work or narcotics use. Scope of the Position: The HIV/HCV Peer Support Worker provides low-threshold, peer-based support, education, community connection, and care engagement to individuals living with, affected by, or at risk of acquiring HIV and/or Hepatitis C. Working as part of a multidisciplinary team, this role uses lived/living experience, GIPA/MEPA principles, harm reduction, and trauma-informed approaches to build trust, reduce stigma, and support access to testing, care, treatment, and community resources. The position may participate in community-based outreach activities in collaboration with the Gilbert Centre's existing outreach programs and community partners but does not hold primary responsibility for outreach service delivery. The role also supports meaningful peer engagement by helping to identify, orient, support, and coordinate honorarium-based peers, volunteers, Ambassadors, and other peer contributors with lived/living experience, as appropriate and in accordance with organizational policies, program needs, the Collective Agreement, and available resources. Responsibilities and Related Tasks Peer Support, Community Engagement, and Education
• Provide peer-based support and community connection in low-barrier settings, including at Gilbert Centre sites, partner agencies, pop-up clinics, community events, and other settings where people living with, affected by, or at risk of HIV and/or HCV may access services.
• Participate in outreach or community-based engagement activities in collaboration with the Gilbert Centre's existing outreach programs, internal community programs, and external community partners, recognizing that this position supports but does not own outreach service delivery.
• Build rapport with community members through peer-based, non-judgmental relationships that promote safer practices, harm reduction, stigma reduction, and awareness of available services.
• Deliver basic group and one-on-one peer education on HIV/HCV prevention, testing, treatment, stigma reduction, harm reduction, and living well with or being affected by HIV and/or HCV.
• Respond to inquiries and provide information about services and support.
• Identify community needs, barriers to access, peer engagement opportunities, and potential relationship-building opportunities, and share these observations with the team.
• Maintain awareness of current information related to HIV/HCV prevention, care, and treatment.
• Promote and support clear pathways to HIV, HCV, HBV, and other STBBI testing, including referrals to internal clinical services, community testing opportunities, pop-up clinics, point-of-care testing pathways where available, and follow-up supports after testing.
• Support warm referrals from peer, community, outreach, and partner settings into clinical care, linkage to care, social work support, harm reduction services, and other internal or external services as appropriate. Peer Support and Client Assistance
• Provide one-to-one peer support in a respectful, non-judgmental, and trauma-informed manner.
• Use lived/living experience, where appropriate and within healthy professional boundaries, to build trust, reduce HIV/HCV-related stigma, support engagement, and help clients navigate services.
• Support clients in accessing services, including referrals to testing, treatment, HIV/HCV care, harm reduction, psychosocial supports, and community resources.
• Assist clients with basic system navigation (e.g., booking appointments, completing forms, obtaining identification).
• Accompany clients to appointments, as appropriate, to provide support.
• Encourage and support clients in developing skills related to health management and appointment follow-up.
• Promote the availability, value, and meaningful integration of peer support services within the Health Programs team.
• Assist with identifying, orienting, supporting, and coordinating honorarium-based peers, volunteers, Ambassadors, and other peer contributors, as directed by the Health Program Manager and in alignment with organizational policies, program needs, the Colle