About the role

Join our growing team and in a brand new role. A rewarding opportunity to work alongside young people in our care and be integral in their growth and support in potentially complex and traumatic events. You will be able to assist the young person to develop new skills and perspectives and potentially strengthen their relationship with their family and community.

Therapeutic Residential Care is intensive and time-limited care for a child or young person in statutory care that responds to the complex impacts of abuse, neglect and separation from family. This is achieved through the creation of positive, safe, healing relationships and experiences informed by a sound understanding of trauma, damaged attachment, developmental needs and disability supports. 

This role will work across various sites including our Tullamarine office and our homes based across Melbourne’s North and West.

Benefits of joining Ability Assist

• Flexible working hours – family friendly environment.
• Opportunities for training and professional development.
• An inclusive team that is always there to support you.

Key responsibilities include 

• Provide therapeutic leadership and trauma informed interventions based on sound practice expertise and contemporary research that delivers positive outcomes for vulnerable children and families.
• Provide support to staff, carers, and members of each child’s therapeutic network, including facilitating group work, conducting reflective practice sessions and training for staff.
• Ensure that appropriate assessment procedures including risk assessment, therapeutic planning processes and outcome measurements are undertaken for each child or young person upon referral, placement and transition to further options.
• Facilitate the development and timely review of Individual Therapeutic Care Plans (ITCP) for each child and young person.
• Participate and assist in organisation wide service provision and development of training, quality assurance mechanisms and improvement frameworks for trauma informed service delivery.
• Develop and maintain effective relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, particularly other mental health providers, to improve health and well-being outcomes including education performance, for each client in the program.

About you

• Understanding of Attachment and Trauma theories, the relationship to child abuse and neglect, together with an understanding of intellectual disability and an ability to assist others to understand the implications.
• Experienced in completing assessments for children and young people and using the findings to complete a comprehensive therapeutic written report/care plan.
• History of achieving strong outcomes for children and young people who have experienced trauma, preferably in an out-of-home care environment.
• Interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence and excellent engagement skills, especially in engaging children and young people who have experienced significant trauma, disrupted attachment and demonstrate extreme emotional and behavioural dysregulation.
• A track record of working collaboratively and the demonstrated capacity to negotiate and liaise with internal and external stakeholders including DFFH, NDIS, Mental health providers, and other agencies and the community.
• Analytical problem-solving skills, the ability to assess options and identify and implement creative, innovative and flexible solutions.

To be successful you will have

• A tertiary qualification in Psychology, Social Work, Speech Pathology, Occupational Therapy, Behavioural Support Therapy, or a related discipline 
• Membership with the relevant professional association. 
• Post Graduate training in relevant child, adolescent and family clinical practice, family work and systemic thinking is strongly preferred
• Victorian Drivers’ Licence.
• Employee Working with Children Check; (or willingness to obtain).
• NDIS Worker Screening check (or willingness to obtain).
• Right to work in Australia.
• First Aid & CPR (or willingness to obtain)

About Ability Assist 

Ability Assist is a highly experienced OOHC and NDIS service provider in Melbourne. We provide a wide range of person-centred services for adults, adolescents, and children with disability or complex care needs along with their families.

Our passionate and caring team here at Ability Assist have dedicated their lives to doing this in order to help people achieve fuller, happier, and more meaningful lives. We also work with the Department of Families, Fairness, and Housing (DFFH) to provide residential care for children and adolescents at risk.

How to apply: Click ‘Apply‘ where you will be prompted to proceed with your application via the Seek website. you will need to upload your resume and a cover letter explaining why you are interested in this job along with your skills and experience. 

Shortlisting for this position may commence immediately so please submit your application as soon as possible.

Applications Closing Friday 5 January 2024.

Early Applications encouraged.

If you have any particular questions regarding the position or would like a copy of the position description, please get in touch with Karren Gooding, Director of Operations at [email protected]