We are seeking dedicated and compassionate allied health professionals to join our Forensic Disability Clinical Services’ Residential Treatment Facility (Fairfield) team as Clinicians. This role is primarily based at our Fairfield site and focuses on providing comprehensive forensic risk assessment and treatment to clients with intellectual disability within a residential treatment facility, while also extending support to facilitate clients’ transition back to the community. You will work closely with a group of passionate clinicians, psychoeducational trainers, disability support workers and other Forensic Disability Services staff to support clients to achieve the best outcomes possible.

As a clinician, you will be responsible for conducting risk assessments, delivering evidence-based interventions, and offering individualised and group-based programs. Collaboration is key, as you will work within a multidisciplinary team to ensure a holistic and coordinated approach to care. Additionally, you will prepare clinical reports and progress updates to inform stakeholders and improve service delivery.

We are looking for professionals with strong values, a commitment to integrity, and a passion for making a positive impact. If you are an occupational therapist, speech pathologist, psychologist, social worker, or an experienced allied health professional, this role provides a unique opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the lives of those in need whilst keeping our community safe. Staff of Forensic Disability Clinical Services have access to ongoing training opportunities, individual professional development budget, regular supervision (with support to complete psychology registrar program) and cross-team collaboration. 

We can consider suitable applicants who are interested in either full-time or part-time work opportunities. Please reach out to Natalie Lim (Senior Clinician) or Ming-Yun Hsieh (Chief Clinician) for a confidential discussion about the role. 

Position number: DFFH/COPL/374871
Division/Branch/Team: Community Operations and Practice Leadership, Statewide Disability and Housing Operations, Forensic Disability Services, IRTF
Work location:100 Yarra Bend Road, Fairfield VIC 3078
Classification: AHAH-3
Salary Range: $95,102 - $107,905 plus superannuation
Employment status: Full-time (76 hours per fortnight)
Position reports to: Senior Clinician
Position contact: Natalie Lim, Senior Clinician, M: 0428 424 356 e. [email protected] and Ming-Yun Hsieh (Chief Clinician), M: 0474 097 883 E: [email protected]
Closing date: 11:59PM, Thursday 21st November 2024
For this role all VPS employees (and former VPS staff with extended access to the Jobs and Skills Exchange)

MUST apply via the Jobs and Skills Exchange (JSE) https://jse.vic.gov.au/job-search

JOB LINK: https://jobs.careers.vic.gov.au/jobs/VG-DFFH-374871

Role purpose

This role operates within a challenging and dynamic environment and requires a capacity to understand the complexities of the service delivery environment, and the concerns of stakeholders and the broader community. This role includes the need to work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team environment across residential, custodial and community-based settings. Clinicians are responsible for providing support and specialist interventions to forensic clients in a residential treatment facility and in the community and deliver therapeutic group programs to forensic disability clients.

Department of Families, Fairness and Housing

The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing has a dedicated focus on the community wellbeing and the social recovery of Victoria. The Department is working to deliver important work started before the pandemic, while building on opportunities it has presented to lead bold and innovative reform.

We work to create equal opportunities for all Victorians to live safe, respected and valued lives. We lead policies and services dedicated to community wellbeing by empowering communities to build a fairer and safer Victoria.

The Department includes Child Protection, Prevention of Family Violence, Family Safety Victoria, Homes Victoria, Housing and Disability and Seniors and Carers. The Department is also responsible for the key portfolios of LGBTIQ+ communities, Equality, Veterans and of offices of Women and Youth, enhancing the alignment with policy areas and portfolios focusing on the recovery and growth of our diverse communities. The Department also supports Victorian Disability Workers Commission and Respect Victoria.

We are building an inclusive workplace that embraces diversity and difference. All jobs can be worked flexibly, and we actively encourage job applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people living with disability, LGBTIQ+, veterans and people from varied cultural backgrounds.

Community Operations and Practice Leadership Division

The Community Operations & Practice Leadership Division (COPL or the Division) provides a dedicated portfolio focus on children and families, housing and disability and provides services directly to Victorians.

The Division is responsible for implementing operational policy and funding frameworks for child and family support services, housing and disability services. It leads work to better understand and respond to the needs of our clients and services, and to deliver effective services for the community across the whole of Victoria.

The Division works with clients, service providers and other government partners to co-design more connected end-to-end client journeys to make services easier to navigate, sequence service interventions more effectively, build individual and family capability, focus on child development, and preserve and reunify families wherever possible.

The Division also manages critical incidents and assures child safety in a range of government and non- government services. It oversees the implementation of policy into operational service delivery to enable healthy, safe and strong communities by addressing the needs of Victorians across the continuum of health and human services care.

The Division also monitors and analyses statewide service delivery standards and performance, provides practice leadership and fosters continuous improvement in service delivery.

Statewide Disability and Housing Operations Group

The Statewide Disability and Housing Operations Group is led by Executive Director, Statewide Disability and Housing Operations and is responsible for the delivery of services provided on a statewide basis, ensuring a consistent and quality service to vulnerable people across the state. The Group delivers services which provide key intake points for clients and community, including the Housing Call Centre, Housing Business Operations, Forensic Disability Services and the Intensive Support Team.

Forensic Disability Services

Forensic Disability Services within the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing operates under the Disability Act 2006 and supports people with cognitive disability involved in the criminal justice system, who require specialist support and adapted intervention to address criminogenic needs.

The program operates alongside the broader justice and disability service system and other mainstream services, to address disability specific factors contributing to a person’s risk of offending.

The primary objective of forensic disability services is:

        - enhance community safety by reducing the risk of reoffending among clients.

        -foster clients’ independent living and enable them to achieve personal goals by improving their adaptive functioning skills and quality of life.

The services that make up the Forensic Disability Program are:

        -Forensic Disability Statewide Access Services

        -Disability Justice Coordination

        -Forensic Residential Services

        -Forensic Disability Clinical Services

Forensic Disability Clinical Services

Forensic Disability Clinical Services offers behaviour assessment, treatment and consultation services to people with a cognitive disability at risk of reoffending. Treatment consists of cognitive behavioural individual and group treatment programs in two areas:

        Offence specific treatment: sexual violence, physical violence and maintaining change

        Offence related treatment: exploring change; communication; managing anger differently; problem solving and emotion regulation.

Clinical Services also deliver a forensic disability mental health service which provides psychiatric consultation to people with a cognitive disability and history of offending. It also operates a youth clinical service with a focus on family and systemic interventions.

Key accountabilities

1.  Conduct assessments of client risk and treatment needs, develop and implement treatment plans for clients, identify and develop alternative intervention options and take other appropriate follow-up actions in accordance with the range of accepted options determined by departmental protocols.

2.  Conduct functional behavioural assessments that assist in the identification of adaptive and maladaptive behaviours to facilitate the provision of services that appropriately meet client’s needs.

3.  Provide advice and information regarding services, initiate intervention strategies and work with other professionals in dealing with complex serious offenders.

4.  Co-facilitate group treatment programs for offenders in conjunction with other professionals and liaise with other staff and external service providers regarding the needs of forensic clients and their families and the provision of appropriate services.

5.  Monitor, review, evaluate and report on the progress of treatment plans and recommend the application of risk management and intervention strategies including referrals to other professionals and/or services.

6.  Provide advice and consultancy services to FDS staff and stakeholders regarding programs and services to forensic clients with an intellectual disability who demonstrate serious offending behaviours.

7.  Provide staff development and training to FDS and stakeholders, on working with forensic clients with an intellectual disability who demonstrate serious offending behaviours.

8.  Assist with the supervision of the activities of post-graduate psychology students and students from other disciplines.

9.  Keep accurate and complete records of your work activities in accordance with legislative requirements and the department's records, information security and privacy policies and requirements.

10.  Take reasonable care for your own health and safety and for that of others in the workplace by working in accordance with legislative requirements and the department's occupational health and safety (OHS) policies and procedures.

11.  Demonstrate how the actions and outcomes of this role and work unit impact clients and the department’s ability to deliver, or facilitate the delivery of, effective support and services.

Key selection criteria

Technical expertise

• Demonstrated ability in specialised forensic assessment and timely report writing to key agencies, such as the Adult Parole Board, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, the Courts and Corrections Victoria.
• Demonstrated knowledge of and experience in advanced counselling skills, behaviour modification interventions, cognitive behavioural therapy, relapse prevention planning and experience in the delivery of group programs.
• Knowledge of the Victorian Criminal Justice System and the Disability Act 2006 in particular as pertaining to restrictive practice and compulsory treatment. An understanding of the broader legislative context and experience in working within a legislative framework.

Capabilities

1.  Verbal Communication: confidently conveys ideas and information in a clear and interesting way; understands and meets the needs of the audiences (the right information to the right people); welcomes constructive feedback; sees things from other’s points of view and confirms understanding.

2.  Interpersonal skills: sees things from other’s point of view and confirms understanding; expresses own views in a constructive and diplomatic way; reflects on how own emotions impact on others.

3.  Planning and organising: identifies processes, tasks and resources required to achieve a goal; identifies more and less critical activities and operates accordingly, reviewing and adjusting as required; develops and implements systems and procedures to guide work and track progress; recognises barriers and finds effective ways to deal with them.

4.  Self-management: plans and prioritises work to ensure outcomes are achieved, resists the temptation to react immediately without taking time to think things through, uses strengths to contribute constructively and consciously manages the impact of own weaknesses, anticipates own reactions to situations and prepares accordingly.

Personal qualities

5.  Initiative and accountability: proactive and self-starting; seizes opportunities and acts upon them; takes responsibility for own actions.

6.  Resilience: perseveres to achieve goals, even in the face of obstacles; copes effectively with setbacks and disappointments; remains calm and in control under pressure; accepts constructive criticism in an objective manner, without becoming defensive.

7.  Drive and commitment: enthusiastic and committed; demonstrates capacity for sustained effort and hard work; sets high standards of performance for self and others; enjoys a vigorous and dynamic work environment.

8.  Teamwork: cooperates and works well with others in pursuit of team goals, collaborates and shares information, shows consideration, concern and respect for others feelings and ideas, accommodates and works well with the different working styles of others, encourages resolution of conflict within the group.

Qualifications

• A Tertiary Degree level qualification in appropriate Health Sciences; Psychology, Social Welfare Practice, Occupational Therapy, Speech Pathology, Psychiatric Nursing or Social Work.
• To be eligible for registration with the appropriate professional body or association, such as the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) or the Australian Association of Social Work.
•  A current full driver’s license is required as travel to other offices within the Department may be required.

Values and behaviors

The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing employees are required to demonstrate commitment to:

The public sector values and behaviors – responsiveness, integrity, impartiality, accountability, respect, leadership and human rights.

Recordkeeping – The department is committed to good record keeping and requires all staff to routinely create and keep full and accurate records of their work-related activities, transactions and decisions, using authorised systems.

Diversity – The department values an inclusive workplace that embraces diversity and strongly encourages applications from Aboriginal people, people with disability, people from the LGBTQI+ community, and people from culturally diverse backgrounds.

Important information

The salary range for this position is set out in Schedule C of the Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement 2020. For further information refer to Department of Treasury and Finance).

Department policy stipules that salary upon commencement is paid at the base of the salary range for the relevant grade. An executive delegate must approve any above base requests. These will be by exception only or where required to match the current salary of a Victorian Public Service staff transferring at-level.

Individuals who have received a Voluntary Departure Package from a Victoria Public Service department/agency are ineligible for re-employment for a minimum of three calendar years from the date of separation.

Individuals who have received an Early Retirement Package (ERP) from a Victoria Public Service department/agency are ineligible for re-employment for a minimum of 12 months from the date of separation.

The department is a key emergency management partner and contributes significantly to Victoria’s emergency management arrangements. As part of a whole-of-government agreement, employees may be required to undertake training in emergency management and support functions during an emergency and may be redeployed to facilitate this need.

The department provides and maintains a safe working environment that does not risk the health of its employees.

Pre-employment checks

All appointments require reference checks, national criminal records checks and pre-employment misconduct screening. Some positions also require a Working with Children Check and screening through the Disability Worker Screening List.

Applicants who have lived overseas in one country for 12 months or longer in the last ten years must provide an international police check from the relevant overseas police agency. Applicants can obtain a check through an organisation providing international police checks via an internet search.

 Pre-employment checks may include checking whether an applicant’s name is on the Disability Worker Screening List. This incorporates:

•  the Disability Worker Exclusion List which includes names of persons unsuitable for employment as a disability support worker in a disability residential service provided, funded or registered by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.
• the National Disability Insurance Scheme Quality and Safeguards Commission which has compliance and enforcement actions, including banning order. 
• the Victorian Disability Worker Commission prohibition orders.

COVID-19 Vaccination

The department strongly recommends (but does not mandate) that employees maintain their COVID-19 vaccination status in accordance with current ATAGI (Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation) advice, given their individual circumstances. As of June 2023, DFFH does not require evidence of COVID-19 vaccination status.

Further information

For enquiries regarding the position please phone the contact on the position description. If you experience difficulties in applying online, please contact HRServices via email at [email protected]

DFFH values the contribution of all employees and fair and equitable treatment of all people is integral to all activities. As such, the DFFH offers reasonable adjustments for applicants with disabilities on request at [email protected]

For further information visit ‘About the Department’ on Department of Families, Fairness and Housing’

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To receive this document in another format, email [email protected]

Authorised and published by the Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne.

© State of Victoria, Australia, Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, November 2024.

In this document, ‘Aboriginal’ refers to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. ‘Indigenous’ or ‘Koori/Koorie’ is retained when part of the title of a report, program or quotation.