About Us 

Royal Far West is one of Australia’s most enduring and respected charities. We have been connecting children in rural and remote communities to the care they need since 1924. Today we do this from our Centre for Country Kids in Manly, through community outreach and via telecare.  

Our Paediatric Development Program (PDP) is a comprehensive health program for children from rural and remote regions of New South Wales who are facing complex developmental, mental health and behavioural challenges.  

PDP supports children who do not have access to specialist paediatric services by offering multidisciplinary assessment, diagnosis, and treatment either face to face at our centre in Manly or through telecare.  We also help families to connect with local services and liaise with their local schools. The program is free to families from rural and remote NSW who meet our specific eligibility criteria. 

Our multidisciplinary teams of health and medical professionals provide much needed services to some of the most remote communities around Australia.  

Purpose of the Position

The Royal Far West (RFW) Paediatric Developmental Program (PDP) is a comprehensive multidisciplinary assessment, diagnosis, and treatment program for children with complex developmental, emotional, and behavioural issues. This is a specialist service delivered by multidisciplinary teams with expertise in supporting complex families, trauma-informed care, and family-centred practice. The program is free to families from rural and remote NSW who meet our specific eligibility criteria. The PDP supports these children and their families by offering services at our centre in Manly or through telecare. We also help families to connect with local services and we liaise with their local schools.

We are keen to support flexible working and can accommodate working from home (include fully remote staff), and part-time staff (a minimum of three days a week is preferred). Our team of health professionals include paediatricians, psychiatrists, nurses, psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, social workers, dietetics and orthoptics. We also have the added benefit of the onsite department of education’s Royal Far West school, who provide tailored educational programs to meet each child’s individual needs. As part of the multidisciplinary team Royal Far West School provide ongoing support to the students’ families and their home schools on each child’s educational journey.

The psychology team practice a strengths-based, family centred, trauma informed approach, supporting the child’s mental health and development in the wider context of their home, environment, and community. This position is responsible for the provision of psychological assessment and treatment to the children and families referred to the PDP and for participation in the continuum of care. Presenting concerns include developmental delays, behavioural difficulties, social skills difficulties, learning difficulties, mental health, and trauma exposure. Psychologists contribute to diagnostic assessments including those for ADHD, ODD, ASD, Global Developmental Delay, Intellectual Disability, Specific Learning Disorders, anxiety and depression.

There is a continuum of skills and experience within the psychology team working on the PDP. Clinicians on the PDP ideally demonstrate a level of practice characterised by expert clinical skills, reasoning, critical thinking, knowledge, and experience with service provision to meet complex client needs within contemporary practice. However, early career psychologists may be engaged in the PDP and provided with appropriate professional, clinical and supervision supports. All clinicians receive frequent clinical supervision, professional development, and have access to Quality Improvement opportunities. Senior staff also support and mentor junior staff, provide clinical supervision and participate in research projects. Staff may also present at conferences and provide training and upskilling for education staff.

Essential Criteria

– Accredited postgraduate Masters or Doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology.

– Full registration with the Psychology Board of Australia.

– Experience in psychological assessment and diagnosis of children of varying ages including administration of Weschler assessments and questionnaires assessing behavioural/social/emotional concerns.

– Experience providing therapy to children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.

– The ability to adapt therapeutic interventions and assessment approaches to children with diverse needs.

– An interest in providing services via telehealth and/or outreach trips to communities, as well as the capacity to work from home.

– This role has been identified as a ‘Category A employee’ and requires protection against vaccine specified preventable diseases.

– Current NSW Working with Children Check.

Desirable Criteria

– An understanding of trauma informed practice and experience delivering trauma informed services.

– Demonstrated experience working in a paediatric multidisciplinary team setting to provide assessment and diagnostic services.

 

Our culture:

Royal Far West is a rewarding, inspiring, diverse and purpose driven workplace which aims to elevate and harness our people power to support the health and wellbeing of country children for generations to come.

Our core values of Care, Connection, Passion, and Impact are integral to the organisation. Respecting and upholding these values enables us to maintain a positive, innovative and highly collaborative workplace culture. 

 

Benefits Offered

★Meaningful work where you are making a positive difference.  You will be supporting children’s mental health, their wellbeing and helping them to build resilience.

★ You will be able to focus on the practical work and clinical care, while our support team take care of the administration and service planning.

★ Career and professional development opportunities:  You will be given high-quality clinical supervision.  All team members are supported to become accredited facilitators of the Tuning in to Kids, parent group program and the Seasons for Growth children’s group program.  There are  great opportunity to learn best practice, we offer Impactful Leadership Program to emerging leaders, interactive workshops offered to develop your work skills as well as online mandatory training. 

★ Multi-disciplinary work with our collaborative and supportive resident paediatricians, psychiatrists, psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists and social workers to name a few.

★ Attractive remuneration: base salary + 10.5% superannuation

★ Salary Packaging – up to $15,900 of your annual salary will be tax free + meals and entertainment card $2,650 pa. See details at https://www.salary.com.au

★ Paid Parental Leave – 9 weeks full leave pay.

★ Work/Life Balance – work from our beautiful location at Manly Beach or work from home anywhere as long as you can travel for outreach to the areas we support and attend one team day a term in Manly.  A laptop provided to work remotely and we offer a purchase leave scheme.

★ Recognition & Reward – Length of service awards and recognition awards aligned to our values.

★ Positive Culture – We are an inclusive organisation welcoming people from all walks of life!

★Beautiful location at Manly beach: easy access by bus, ferry and parking options.  We are based in an architecturally designed building, purposely built to deliver our services.  We have showers and towels available for your use so going for a swim before or after work is possible.

★ WHEREFIT program with access to 50% off gym memberships and class packs at over 400 gyms across Australia

★ Royal Far West has been recognised as one of Australia and New Zealand’s Best Places to Work in the prestigious annual list, published by The Australian Financial Review and Boss Magazine.

 

HOW TO APPLY

If you like to take the first step in developing your career in a purpose led organisation, please submit your CV and cover letter by clicking on the “Apply” button.

For further information please see the Position Description contact Jade Thompson on [email protected] Alternatively a position description is available on the Royal Far West website https://www.royalfarwest.org.au/current-vacancies/

Candidates will be reviewed as they are submitted so, please don’t delay in submitting your application.

 

Royal Far West does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or based on an individual’s status in any group or class protected by applicable law. 

Royal Far West encourages applications from minorities and all other qualified applicants.

Only those applicants who have the right to work, and are currently residing in Australia can be considered.

All employees at Royal Far West are required to provide a NSW Working with Children Check and vaccination record against Covid-19.