Student Counsellor

Occupation: Health and allied health

Location: Melbourne - Southern suburbs

Reference: 1494430

Selection Criteria

- Ability to implement a range of small group and whole-school mental health prevention and promotion activities aimed at improving student mental health and wellbeing, including the delivery of capability building and awareness raising activities for staff and/or students on key mental health and wellbeing issues affecting the school’s student population.
- Demonstrated ability to input into the development, implementation and evaluation of processes and strategies aimed at enhancing mental health and wellbeing prevention, promotion and early intervention.
- Demonstrated experience in assessing, conceptualising and analysing wellbeing issues, and providing evidence-based direct counselling support to clients with a range of mental health needs.
- Demonstrated experience in coordinating supports for young people with complex needs including referrals to a range of specialist services as appropriate.
- Highly developed communication, networking and interpersonal skills including the ability to liaise effectively with a wide range of people.
- Clear understanding of legislative requirements regarding privacy of health information.

Role

3 days a week (Days negotiable)

Range 3 is distinguished by the introduction of management responsibility and accountability for the delivery of professional support services. The role will usually impact beyond the work area or professional field. It seeks to gain cooperation of other staff members or members of the school community to achieve specific objectives, such as in school administration, operations or educational programs.

Direction on targets and goals is provided but the position will have some degree of latitude in determining how they are achieved. This latitude will generally be limited by standard procedures and school policy.Deviation from standard procedures and school policy will require guidance and direction from senior management.

Responsibilities

- Providing advice and professional learning to others, including teachers and other school wellbeing staff, to build the capacity of schools to improve students wellbeing, learning and developmental outcomes.
- Delivering professional support services in a school, including mental health prevention and promotion activities and early intervention activities (including short-term counselling) for students with a range of mental health needs, applying sound theoretical knowledge and practical expertise.
- Planning and implementing evidence-based intervention strategies for students with complex needs including collaborating with families, other professionals and agencies when appropriate to effectively manage risk.
- Working collaboratively with the school to enhance mental health prevention and promotion across the school by contributing to policies and operational practices that will guide the work of others, including other school wellbeing staff and teachers.
- Liaising with other department areas (including secondary school nurses and Student Support Services staff) and external service providers where necessary to provide appropriate support to students.
- Maintaining professional competence and continued professional development, including attending professional development activities throughout the year.
- Meeting relevant policies and legislative requirements in relation to student health information, privacy and consent.

Please note: Continued professional development is a registration requirement under the National Law, which governs the operations of the National Boards and Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

Who May Apply

Required

- Applicants must be qualified as a psychologist, social worker, mental health nurse, occupational therapist or counsellor of a prescribed class. Specifically:

- For Psychologists, applicants must hold full registration with AHPRA

- For Mental Health Nurses, applicants must hold full registration with AHPRA and hold a postgraduate qualification in mental health

- For Social Workers, applicants must be eligible for membership with the Australian Association of Social Workers

- For Occupational Therapists applicants must hold full registration with AHPRA

- For Counsellors applicants must have completed a Bachelor or Master of Counselling and be a practising member of either the Australian Counselling Association (ACA) or the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA)

- Demonstrated direct counselling experience
- A current Working With Children Check.

Desirable

- For Psychology applicants, specialisation in educational and/or developmental psychology.
- For Mental Health Nurse applicants, holding a Mental Health Nurse Credential and membership with the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses.
- For Social Work applicants, membership with the Australian Association of Social Workers and an Accredited Social Worker Trade Mark.
- For Occupational Therapy applicants, a Better Access to Mental Health Endorsement.
- For Counselling applicants, Level 3-4 registration (ACA) or a Registered Clinical Counsellor endorsement (PACFA).

Diversity and Inclusion

Applicants seeking part-time employment are encouraged to apply for any teaching service position and, if they are the successful candidate, request a reduced time fraction. Such requests will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis and will be subject to the operational requirements of the school.

The Department of Education is committed to the principles of equal opportunity, and diversity and inclusion for all. We value diversity and inclusion in all forms - gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTIQ+, disability and neurodiversity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for roles within the Department.The Department recognises that the provision of family friendly, supportive, safe and harassment free workplaces is essential to high performance and promotes flexible work, diversity and safety across all schools and Department workplaces.It is our policy to provide reasonable adjustments for persons with a disability (seeWorkplace adjustment guidelines ).

Additional support and advice on the recruitment process is available to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders from the Koorie Outcomes Division (KOD) via marrung@education.vic.gov.au

Child Safe Standards

Victorian government schools are child safe environments. Our schools actively promote the safety and wellbeing of all students, and all school staff are committed to protecting students from abuse or harm in the school environment, in accordance with their legal obligations including child safe standards. All schools have a Child Safety Code of Conduct consistent with the department's exemplar available at:

https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/child-safe-standards/policy

DE Values

The department's employees commit to upholding the department's Values: Responsiveness, Integrity, Impartiality, Accountability, Respect, Leadership and Human Rights. The department's Values complement each school's own values and underpin the behaviours the community expects of Victorian public sector employees,including those who work in Victorian Government Schools. Information on the department values is available at:

https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/values-department-vps-school-employees/overview

Conditions of Employment

- All staff employed by the Department and schools have access to a broad range of employment conditions and working arrangements.
- Appointment of successful applicants will be made subject to a satisfactory pre-employment conditions check.
- A probationary period may apply during the first year of employment and induction and support programs provided.
- Detailed information on all terms and conditions of employment is available on the Department's Human Resources website at http://www.education.vic.gov.au/hrweb/Pages/default.aspx

Location Profile

Oakleigh Primary School and Kindergarten, celebrating 150 years of educating students, is part of a thriving, bustling, multicultural community, 20km from Melbourne in the south easter suburbs. Our enrolment is around 450 students, currently having 20 classes. The school population reflects our cultural diversity with over 25 different nationalities represented with over 40% of students having English as an Additional language.Our families generally reside from medium to high socio-economic and educational circumstances and have high expectations.

A kindergarten is located on the premises with a consistent enrolment of over 100 children. It has strong links with the school and is a much loved by the community.

The school¿s vision is for each child to become happy, healthy and resilient and well equipped for the challenges of lifelong learning. We aim to prepare them to contribute to broader society, as well as achieve their full academic, creative and social potential. At the heart of Oakleigh Primary School and Kindergarten¿s educational philosophy is the firm belief that all students can become successful learners and we achieve this by providing a welcoming, positive, safe and inclusive learning environment in which everyone is treated equitably, individual strengths are recognised, and all achievements are celebrated.

The school is a leader in teaching positive education, underpinned by the research of Professor Martin Selinger and the PERMA Framework: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Accomplishment.

The school further developed this work by creating values, linked to PERMA Framework. They are Kindness (Positive Emotion), Connection (Engagement), Respect (Relationships), Responsibility (Meaning) and Growth (Accomplishment).

These values form the basis of the actions in our learning community at Oakleigh. There are 5 norms expected of all students, which are linked to our school values:

- Bekind towards others and to yourself.
- Beconnectedto your learning, passions, the school, the community and include others.
- Be respectful, showing manners towards other people and the school environment.
- Beresponsible for yourself, your learning and your actions and make a positive impact.
- Put in effort, embrace challenges and show a growth mindset when learning.

Health and Wellbeing, including Positive Education, Respectful Relationships and the Berry Street Education Model, underpins every aspect of our school. This will help students develop healthy levels of personal wellbeing and succeed academically and socially.

The school provides a stimulating and broad-based education program based on the Victorian Curriculum.

We are committed to maximising each child¿s academic potential complemented by a holistic approach to cater for individual needs. An integrated approach to curriculum planning, teaching and assessment is employed by teachers, with a strong focus on Literacy and Numeracy.

The school employs the Multisensory Structured Language Approach to teach reading, writing and spelling. This is coupled with components of the BIG 6- oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Embedded into this approach is explicit instruction, use of decodable texts and rich mentor texts to foster a love of reading, reading conferences, independent reading and literature studies. F-2 teachers have implemented the department¿s mandated 25 minutes of phonics instruction. The school uses the 6 Traits to teach writing- Vocabulary Organization, Ideas, Conventions, Excellent Word Choice, Sentence Fluency + Publishing. These are taught through different genres as well as the integrated into phonics instruction each day.

Numeracy is taught daily focusing on the proficiencies in Mathematics- Understanding, Fluency, Reasoning and Problem Solving. There is explicit whole class instruction and students working on differentiated tasks. There is focus on and hands on approach, modelling and mathematical language, building computational thinking, solving problems and undertaking investigations. Use of digital tools and games is used throughout the school.

The Professional Learning Communities (PLC) Approach is used to drive team planning and cohesion.Underpinning this structure is building a culture of collaboration and collective responsibility for teaching and learning programs.

Specialist subjects include Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Language Other Than English (LOTE) - Japanese, Physical Education and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). The school has an inviting and well-resourced library, with classroom teachers taking their students each week to borrow books and read the wide range of literature on offer. The school offers a range of extension and support programs based on student needs and has an English as an Additional Language Teacher.

For further information interested applicants are encouraged to visit our website at:www.oakleighps.vic.edu.au

The school is seeking an enthusiastic counsellor to work with families and students in our school. This will be a mix of 1:1 sessions or group session. The counsellor will work as part of the student wellbeing team consisting of the Assistant Principal, Mental Health in Schools Teacher and other key staff.

Applications close Tuesday 30 September 2025 at 11.59pm

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