Community Services

Children, Youth and Families

CYPS – Practice and Performance

Therapeutic Assessment

Therapeutic Assessor

Child and Youth Protection Professional Level 3

Salary Range: $107,887 – $118,728  (PN: 10151)

The CYPP3 Therapeutic Assessor position is responsible for providing functional behaviour assessments, positive behaviour support plans, developmental and therapeutic assessments (and reviews) for children and young people in out of home care, expert case practice advice and leadership, support and development of case workers in the integration of theory and practice, and the promotion of a trauma-informed organisation.

The Therapeutic Assessor will contribute to services to support trauma-informed responses to child and young people by:

Providing initial consultations to foster and kinship carers upon a child/young person’s entry into out of home care.  This can include information about why the child/young person entered care and their experience of trauma and/or adversity, psychoeducation on trauma, attachment and child development, and general trauma-informed strategies in order to meet the child’s social-emotional, developmental and cultural needs.

Providing specialist therapeutic consultations to Operational staff.  A therapeutic consult is guided by the case manager, and can include psychoeducation on developmental trauma, understanding a child or young person’s challenging behaviour from a trauma-informed lens, strategies for creating a trauma-informed care environment and/or guidance on case management issues from a therapeutic perspective.

Providing timely and comprehensive clinical assessments of children and young people in out of home care that considers their health and development, emotions and behaviour, education and learning, family and social relationships, self-care skills, culture and identity, and synthesises the impact of trauma on the aforementioned domains.  The Therapeutic Assessor must be experienced in evidence-based research and clinical practice in the field of child development, attachment and trauma, in order to make specific recommendations for how the care team can meet the child/young person’s therapeutic needs across these domains.

Promoting a trauma-informed organisation by contributing to the development of resources on principles of trauma-informed care, and developing training programs for carers, colleagues and external stakeholders.

Creating comprehensive, trauma-informed and person-centred Positive Behaviour Support Plans. This requires a thorough understanding of behaviour support guidelines, restrictive practices and intervention, and functional behaviour assessment. The Therapeutic Assessor will also be responsible for lodging plans with the Senior Practitioner and/or CYPS Panel, review and monitoring of Positive Behaviour Support Plans, evaluation of the effectiveness of plans, and the reduction and elimination (or ‘fade-out’ strategies) of restrictive practices.

The ACT Public Service supports workforce diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive workplace. As part of this commitment, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with disability, culturally diverse people and those who identify as LGBTIQ are encouraged to apply.

Eligibility/Requirements 

Essential qualifications and experience:

Relevant tertiary qualifications e.g. in Social Work, Psychology, Social Welfare, Social Science or related discipline.

At least five years’ experience in human services fields.

Current Driver’s Licence.

Desirable qualifications and experience:

High level of experience with Positive Behaviour Support Plans (development, monitoring and review), and in completing functional behaviour assessments.

Proven experience in working with people with significant trauma and adversity histories, disability and/or mental illness

Notes: This is a temporary position available immediately for six months. 

A Merit List may be established from this selection process and maybe used to fill temporary and permanent vacancies over the next 12 months.

Selection may be based on application and referee reports only.

Please note, this position will be moving to a new workplace designed for activity-based working (ABW). Under ABW arrangements, officers will not have a designated workstation/desk.

How to Apply: For further information, please visit www.jobs.act.gov.au

Contact Officer: Melissa Baker (02) 6207 6084 [email protected]

Applications Close: 26 September 2022