About the Marurra-U Partnership

Our Marurra-U team is a unique partnership with Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre (MWRC), an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO) based in Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Royal Far West (RFW) provide clinical services in partnership with the Marulu team who are addressing complex needs and service gaps in Fitzroy Valley Communities.

The partnership is a co-designed model of care that is iterative, responsive, and flexible. We work with developmentally vulnerable children (0-12) and families of the Fitzroy Valley. This work is community led and is based on sharing expertise, between the community navigators and family support workers and the RFW Allied health team. We draw from the lived experiences of the co-workers and families we work with.

Purpose of the Position

Within Marurra-U you will be part of a small multidisciplinary team including, Social Work, Occupational Therapy, Speech Pathology and working alongside the Family Support Workers based in Fitzroy Crossing. You will also be part of a wider supportive community of Occupational Therapists.

The program will be supporting children and families of the Fitzroy Valley and includes two community visits per year for 2 weeks at a time and ongoing delivery of tele-therapy for children into schools in between visits.

The position also involves a strong emphasis on ‘two-way learning’ and adaptation of resources, therapy styles and assessment tools to suit the needs of the community.

This position is responsible for the provision of Occupational Therapy services supporting children in the Fitzroy Valley, including:

• Child-based work: therapy, assessment and education delivered by telecare and in person in community.
• Schools work: Teacher capacity building sessions, school observations, trauma-informed classroom audits, working alongside Aboriginal educators and teacher aides supporting therapy.
• Family work: Parent goal attainment, psychoeducation, supporting parent’s understanding of therapy, working as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• Local service work: Connecting and working on referral pathways, professional case conferences, supervision for local service providers. 

Senior occupational therapists may also provide supervision and mentoring to early career therapists, as well as delivering professional development to internal staff as well as schools and communities, leading quality improvement activities, and ensuring evidence-based clinical practice.

We are passionate about continually improving the quality of our services and provide all clinicians with access to individual and group supervision and professional development opportunities. 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). Given we deliver services to schools, clinicians can easily request to take additional leave during school holiday periods.   

Essential Criteria

• B. App Sc (OT), B. Occupational Therapy or equivalent and registered as an Occupational Therapist with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).
• Comprehensive knowledge, skills and clinical experience of developmental, learning, behavioural and mental health difficulties in children and young people. This includes high level skills in assessment, therapy and working in partnership with families and local service networks.
• Keen interest and demonstrated understanding of the issues faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities within the context of health and family wellbeing.
• Demonstrated understanding of, and ability to work within, the principles of Trauma Informed Practice.
• Experience of developing and delivering professional development individual or group workshops to Educators and/or Health and Social Services practitioners
• Capacity and willingness to deliver services to rural and remote communities by both telehealth (video-link) and outreach (including air and long-distance car travel). This may include a minimum of two multi-day (1-2 week), community outreach visits each year.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively both independently and as a member of a multidisciplinary team; Skilfully prioritise time, manage a demanding workload, apply high level reasoning skills and have independent professional judgement.
• Highly developed written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills. Demonstrated computer literacy and ability to use health information systems.
• Demonstrated skills in providing best practice, quality improvement activities and service development. Capacity and willingness to participate in professional development and the provision of new programs as required
• This role has been identified as a ‘Category A employee’ and requires protection against vaccine specified preventable diseases, including Covid 19
• The successful applicant will be eligible for and willing to obtain a current WA and NSW Working with Children Check https://workingwithchildren.wa.gov.au/applicants-card-holders/applying-for-a-wwc-check/how-to-apply.

Desirable Criteria

• Evidence of relevant clinical experience, working within Aboriginal and/ or Torres Strait Islander communities.
• Experience in delivering teacher training in the area of regulation.
• Demonstrated knowledge of and experience delivering play therapy
• Skill in delivering services by telecare.
• Experience providing clinical services via telehealth.

ABOUT OUR CULTURE

Royal Far West is a rewarding, inspiring workplace which offers a diverse work experience.  It is one of our strategic priorities to elevate and harness our people power and systems to help country children for generations to come.  We have a knowledgeable and innovative multidisciplinary clinical team.  We strive for a positive and committed workplace culture.   

OUR CORE VALUES – we gathered as an organisation and formulated the following values that are at the heart of everything we do.

Caring – We show genuine care, compassion and interest in our families, our partners and each other. We respect, listen, recognise and support each other’s needs and celebrate our differences. 

Connected – We are deeply connected to our purpose, with our feet in the sand and our hearts in the bush.  We build meaningful relationships by collaborating openly and honestly.  We work as a team with our families, partners, communities and each other.

Passionate – We go the extra country mile for our families, partners, communities and for each other.  Improving the lives of country kids and giving them a voice inspires and energises us to bring our best selves to work every day.  

Impact – We are committed to creating positive and lasting change. We are accountable and solutions focused, harnessing our knowledge and capabilities to think creatively, adapt and solve problems responsibly. 

Our values are integral to everything we are as an organisation.  As you consider whether this role is for you, please take time to reflect on our values to see if they resonate with you. 

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 [link removed]
• Paid Parental Leave – 14 weeks full leave pay for the primary care giver and 4 weeks full leave for the non-primary care giver.  Access to paid lactation breaks and lactation facilities.
• 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.
• CARE Days- 5 days off to look after individuals health and wellbeing, on top of Annual and Personal Leave, with the intention to provide employees with an opportunity to take regular breaks throughout the year.
• Pandemic Leave- up to 7 days paid leave, per calendar year to employees that have been impacted by either a disaster or pandemic which effects their ability to attend work.
• Gifted Leave- gifting leave of 3 working days over the Christmas and New years period.
• 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

For further information please contact Verity Ashcroft on [email protected].

Alternatively a position description is available on the Royal Far West website https://www.royalfarwest.org.au/current-vacancies/ [link removed]

Applications will be viewed on an incoming basis.

To apply for this position, please submit your CV and Cover Letter which includes briefly addressing the essential criteria by clicking on the ‘Apply’ or ‘Apply for This Job’ button.

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.