Role Title: Child and Youth Counsellor Advocate
Team: North Queensland Team (Regional Team)
Location: Cairns (occasional travel to Brisbane will be required).
Level: Level 5 Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award ($93,860 -$98,108, pro-rata + leave loading and superannuation). Salary sacrificing available.
Reports to: North Queensland Team Leader
Contract: Part-time (4 days/ week), Ongoing, pending successful probation.
Our Vision
Healing the past, nurturing the future.
Our vision is for refugee survivors of persecution to live lives liberated from the harms of torture, trauma and human rights injustice. We exist to nurture meaningful futures by assisting refugee survivors to heal, belong and thrive in our community.
Our Values
Kindness
We care.
In all our work, survivors of torture and trauma come first.
Optimism
We believe in meaningful futures.
We are committed to healing being a journey of growth across mind, body and spirit.
Perseverance
We don’t give up.
We understand that healing requires time, patience and courage for individuals, families and communities.
Justice
We believe that to heal and belong are human rights.
We collaborate to build opportunities so that survivors of torture and trauma can belong and thrive in our community.
Role Purpose
The primary purpose of this role is to provide recovery focused therapeutic intervention with children, young people and their families who are refugee survivors of torture and/or trauma.
The role of a Counsellor Advocate involves assessment, counselling, psychoeducation, client focused advocacy and therapeutic group work. This also includes engagement and consultation with key stakeholders who are involved in optimising the recovery and well-being of clients.
Character
We are looking for a Counsellor Advocate who is passionate about recovery from trauma for children and young people from a refugee background. We value the ability to engage clients in healing across mind, body and spirit. You will be compassionate, patient and courageous in managing a range of vulnerabilities experienced by our clients and their families. We believe in cultural respect. We are looking for someone who is comfortable working with clients from many cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as sexual orientations and who is able to flexibly and thoughtfully adapt their practice to suit client needs. We are looking for someone who enjoys developing their practice by making use of QPASTT’s supervision, internal training, team building and professional development opportunities.
Responsibilities
1. Deliver client-centered, developmentally appropriate therapeutic counselling (incorporating a range of modalities) to promote healing, and recovery;
2. Deliver appropriate client related advocacy which supports healing and the opportunity to thrive and belong in the Australian community;
3. Provide psychoeducation to enable clients to understand and develop strategies for recovery as well as support in training delivery;
4. Deliver group-based therapeutic intervention by planning and co-facilitating and assist in a range of activities such as school holiday activities, family fun days and youth work programs;
5. Provide assessment and intervention that is accessible, trauma informed and culturally sensitive to the needs of survivors of torture and trauma. This requires flexibility in service delivery, which involves meeting clients at QPASTT offices, schools, and/or in other community locations;
6. To co-plan, co-facilitate and evaluate groups identified by the community or needs assessed;
7. Manage risk with clients with complex and/or crisis presentations in accordance with organisational processes and supports;
8. Build and foster collaborative partnerships with family members, community members and other agencies;
9. Ensure quality service delivery including accountability with contractual and organisational requirements. This includes the writing of case notes and client related professional reports;
10. Ability to abide by the vision and values of QPASTT including our Code of Conduct as well as the policies and procedures of the organisation;
11. Support research and evaluation initiatives of the organisation.
Requirements
We especially encourage young people from refugee backgrounds with relevant experience to apply.
1. Degree level qualifications in Social Work, Psychology, Counselling or Occupational Therapy or relevant expressive therapies. Eligibility for membership of the relevant professional body;
2. Good conceptualisation and ability to articulate refugee trauma recovery frameworks and the ability to apply these to therapeutic work particularly with children and young people. This includes an understanding of key theories related to trauma recovery, development across the life span and attachment;
3. Two years of professional therapeutic experience, preferably in a refugee trauma recovery context and working across children and young people;
4. Ability to build trusting, safe and respectful relationships across all ages to respond to their varying psychosocial needs;
5. Ability to deliver culturally safe support;
6. Ability to identify client-related risks and implement ways to reduce risk;
7. Ability to document assessment and intervention as well as write professional reports based on therapeutic intervention;
8. Desirable – experience in working with children and young people or whole of families.
Conditions of Employment
1. Current Positive Notice Blue Card and provision of an annual federal police check.
2. Current Queensland C Class driver’s licence.
3. Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination or an exemption certificate from Queensland Health authorised personnel.
4. Occasional out of hours’ work. Occasional travel to other QPASTT offices.
5. The period of probation will be six months.
Application Process
To apply, please submit the following documents by COB, Friday 15 September 2023 by emailing [email protected].
1. A cover letter detailing why you would like to work with QPASTT and how you meet the requirements of the role.
2. Your resume detailing professional experience and education.
3. A brief response (no more than 2 pages) to the responsibilities and requirements of the role.
Should you wish to talk with someone about this position, please contact Tanya Van Bael, Senior Leader – Individual and Family Recovery on 07 3391 6677 or [email protected].