Aboriginal Mental Health Professional

**Join the Hunter Valley Mental Health Service in this permanent full time opportunity**
**Employment Type**: Permanent Full Time
**Position Classification**: Counsellor Level 1
**Remuneration**: $65,778 - $77,438 per annum
**Hours Per Week**: 38
**Requisition ID**: REQ329878

**Aboriginal Mental Health Professional - Djirruwang Program**
**Hunter Valley Mental Health Service - Maitland**

**This position is identified for Aboriginal people and exemption is claimed under 14d of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977. Aboriginal applicants must demonstrate Aboriginality in addition to addressing the selection criteria. For information on Confirmation of Aboriginality Requirements click **here.**

**Acknowledgement of Country**

**Hunter New England Mental Health Services respectfully acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the custodians of the land in which our mental health facilities are located. We pay our respects to our Elders who are the knowledge holders of our culture and who keep our traditions, rituals, song lines alive. We respect the continuing connection to land, water and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and its interconnectedness to social, emotional, physical, spiritual mental health and wellbeing. We acknowledge the many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities within our district, the staff who work with us and the Aboriginal services and organisations who partner with us to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across our footprint. We ask all those that walk, work and live on traditional Aboriginal lands to be respectful of culture and traditions.
**About the team**:
The Hunter Valley Mental Health Community team and Yimamulinbinkaan Aboriginal mental health service & and seeking applicants who are passionate about improving the mental health and social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their communities.

You will be supported culturally and professionally by an Aboriginal mental health manager, a non-Aboriginal manger, your team of clinicians and an Aboriginal MH workforce.

Based in Maitland, The Hunter Valley Mental Health Community team comprises of Registered Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Psychologists, Social Workers, an Aboriginal Counsellor, Child and Adolescent Mental Health staff, Registrars and Psychiatrists.

Working within the specialty Community Mental Health care coordination team the successful applicant will have access to a Team Manager and Clinical Seniors to support in offering a consumer focussed, trauma informed and collaborative care coordination service to consumers and their carers.

**About the position**:
As part of a multidisciplinary team, you will be responsible for providing quality client centred assessments and interventions within a trauma informed, recovery framework. This will include engagement and support for family, designated carers as well as NDIS providers, GPs and other private practitioners/services.

You will also be utilised by the team as a resource and for consultation regarding culturally appropriate service delivery and to provide suggestion for culturally appropriate services consumers could be engaging with. There will also be opportunities for skills development and service improvement.

**About You**:
You will be dedicated to create a culturally safe and supportive environment within the team and model self-care. You will be expected to be able to provide cultural knowledge and advice to our non-Aboriginal colleagues and stakeholders about local cultural protocols and the importance of incorporating holistic social and emotional wellbeing care. You will have the strength and passion to enhance Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers’ engagement with Mental Health service by listening and learning from our communities lived experience.

You will also have the ability to effectively manage your time and prioritise competing demands, as well as promote professional expertise within a multidisciplinary team.

**How will you be supported?**

For Aboriginal people, health is holistic, which links mental and physical health with a whole of life view, interconnected to spiritual and cultural factors, connection to land, community, traditions and identity. You will be supported by the Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Cultural supervision framework to ensure your success in this position.

This is one of our strategies in HNE mental health service to achieve sustainable employment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the public health sector. As an employee you will be able to take 4 hrs a month to reconnect back to culture and maintain your spiritual wellbeing and be paid for it.

This opportunity ensures our service is considerate of the health and social emotional wellbeing of our mob working in a public sector. We know as Aboriginal people we need to work in a cultural responsiveness workplace wh