About the role

Catherine’s House (CHMBU) is a world-class, perinatal, and infant mental health integrated model of care, providing both inpatient and outpatient services to public and private consumers.  The mental health clinician will support intake process for inpatient and outpatient services, as well as consultation and liaison support for those post-discharge to the inpatient unit. 

With one in five mums and up to one in ten fathers experiencing depression, anxiety and other mental health issues before or after the birth of a child, this new facility will triple the number of public beds in Queensland from 4 to 12 for families in need of perinatal mental health support.

This is a permanent and part-time position working 0.8 FTE.

Salary range: $34.33 – $51.88 (Health Practitioner Level 3) per hour plus superannuation and salary packaging

What you’ll be doing

This is an Allied Health Position in both the Intake Outreach Team and the Inpatient Unit Day Program. The position will work closely with the Inpatient Nurse Unit Manager, Psychiatrist and Team Leader for Outpatient and Community Services.

The inpatient unit is a state-wide unit that provides acute perinatal mental health assessment and treatment to mothers with significant mental illnesses who are co-admitted with their baby under one year old.  There are 8 public beds and 2 private beds, with 2 of these beds having capacity to be a high dependency unit.  The outpatient private day program will provide a range of mental health interventions to families with mild to moderate mental illnesses, such as dialectical behavioural therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.

The outpatient services include an Intake Team, Parent Aide Unit, Parenting Support Centre, Perinatal Psychology, Perinatal Psychiatry, and Families in Mind. Catherine’s House also has specialist consulting suites, with clinicians having the option to lease rooms on a sessional basis as a private practitioner. 

The Mental Health Clinician (Social Worker /Psychologist /OT) will provide expert clinical consultancy and will promote contemporary mental health practice, with a particular focus on perinatal mental health. They will also be actively involved in research, education and continuous quality improvement and facilitate the development of mental health services across the continuum of care.

This position may be required to work across any Mater Mental Health Service when there is organisational need.

It is a condition of employment for this role that the employee is, and remains so for the course of their employment, vaccinated against preventable diseases.

The role of the Mental Health Clinician is to deliver a high level of clinical service to patients of Catherine’s House as a member of the multidisciplinary team.

Typical duties include, but not limited to –

• To provide perinatal and infant mental health assessment, triage, intake and treatment to ensure parents, babies and families receive consistent coordinated care that addresses their psychological, emotional, and physical needs
• Provides quality clinical practice to parent-baby dyads and their families and delivers evidence-based, group and individual assessment and interventions within the framework of Catherine’s House’ model of care
• Maintains and enhances relationships and communication with internal and external stakeholders, including referrers and other mother-baby inpatient beds
• Facilitate access to mental health services for mothers and babies with perinatal and infant mental health needs or ensure other adequate follow up is arranged for their ongoing care upon discharge, including conducting 7-day follow-up appointments
• Liaison with various specialists and participates in psychosocial meetings, family meetings and multidisciplinary care review meetings
• Contributes to a network of referral options and information for consumers with perinatal and infant mental health concerns
• In conjunction with the multidisciplinary team, contribute to the integration and evaluation of strategic direction and priorities for quality improvement and research within Catherine’s House
• Acts to enhance the professional development of self and others
• Engagement in clinical supervision
• Demonstrates active involvement in meeting the clinical unit’s and organisational goals, including KPI’s
• Promote and contribute to a positive working environment and team culture
• Positively influences others to identify and act in accordance with clinical and organisational best practice
• Practice in accordance with relevant legislation, Acts and agreements, workplace health and safety, equal employment opportunity and anti-discrimination practices

About you

Psychology:

Mandatory-

• General Registration via the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)
• Psychology Board of Australia Area of Practice Endorsement in Clinical Psychology or Educational and Developmental Psychology
• Eligibility for accreditation or current Board approved Supervisor status with the Psychology Board of Australia
• Authorised Mental Health Practitioner under the MHA 2016 or meets remit to apply for same

Social Work:

• A degree in Social Work that provides eligibility for membership to the Australian Association of Social Work (AASW). Tertiary qualifications for Social Work from overseas institutions require the applicant to include official notification from AASW that the qualification has been assessed as eligible for membership
• Authorised Mental Health Practitioner under the MHA 2016 or meets remit to apply for same

Desirable-

• Mental Health Accreditation
• Demonstrated experience and commitment to professional development and quality improvement and /or clinical research
• Current membership with Australian Association of Social Work (AASW)

Occupational Therapy:

Mandatory-

• General Registration via the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)
• Authorised Mental Health Practitioner under the MHA 2016 or meets remit to apply for same

Desirable-

• Mental Health Accreditation
• Demonstrated experience and commitment to professional development and quality improvement and /or clinical research

The successful candidate will possess:

• Demonstrated experience and skills in mental health clinical assessment, triage, discharge planning, linkages with support services, and brief interventions, across the continuum of care, particularly in relation to perinatal and infant mental health
• Demonstrated clinical practice and application of clinical judgement in the provision of high quality, evidence based, patient centred care
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills
• Demonstrated ability to work co-operatively with profession and multi-disciplinary teams, patients and carers to achieve optimal outcomes

Demonstrated ability or ability to rapidly acquire skills to identify, develop and participate in quality and service improvement activities that improve clinical services and patient outcomes.

• Proven experience and ability to work effectively in a multi-disciplinary team, establish priorities, exercise initiative, and deliver outputs within agreed timeframes, preferably within an acute mental health inpatient setting
• Demonstrated experience and commitment to professional development and quality improvement and /or clinical research
• Demonstrated experience in or willingness to gain experience in clinical research

Why join us?

Mater is Queensland’s largest and most innovative not-for-profit healthcare service, providing care for almost 700,000 patients a year across a network of 11 hospitals.

We are a leader in healthcare, education and research — and that’s because we employ exceptional people. #MAKEYOURMATERMOVE

• Via salary packaging arrangements, allocate some living expenses directly from your pre-taxable income and ultimately increase your take-home pay
• Access to package meal and entertainment expenses via salary packaging
• Access to leading education and professional development via Mater Education
• Flexible working arrangements, including work from home options where suitable
• Access to our Employee Assistance Program and on-site pastoral care teams
• Discounts to local and national business/venues for Dining/Retail/Travel & Accommodation/Other
• Access to on-site, discounted parking
• Discounted food and beverage at various campus cafés and coffee venues

For further information specific to the position, please contact Veronica Kwaczynski – Team Leader – Outpatient & Community on [email protected].

Applications close on 28th of August 2023. Please note, we may contact applications prior to the closing date, please do not hesitate to APPLY NOW!

Please include a cover letter with your application outlining why you are applying and your interest in perinatal mental health.

Please Note: We will not require any support from Recruitment Agencies at this time and kindly request no contact is made. Only direct applications will be considered.

It is now a mandatory requirement of employment at the Mater that you are and remain fully vaccinated against COVID-19.