Specialist Services Clinician

Specialist Services Clinicians support the development of children and young people with high and complex needs by working alongside Child Safety Officers to: - support the early identification of developmental delay, disability, health, mental health and/or behavioural support needs
- identify the appropriate disability and therapeutic supports available through mainstream services including health, mental health, education, and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
- support children and young people to access evidence-based supports to meet their identified health, disability, mental health and behaviour support needs.At a systems level, Specialist Services Clinicians assist capability development within the department's workforce to meet the needs of children with high and complex needs. This is achieved through the provision of coaching and mentoring in their day to day work.
Key duties and responsibilitiesThe Specialist Services Clinician key responsibilities are: - Collect and critically analyse information about the child or young person's needs including their development, health, disability and mental health in order to provide advanced transdisciplinary clinical advice to departmental staff through a consultancy and liaison approach. Work collaboratively with departmental staff and members of the child's Safety and Support Network to support the integration and coordination of evidence-based health, disability, mental health and therapeutic supports to meet the identified needs of children and young people. Form culturally appropriate professional working relationships with children, their families, colleagues and stakeholders including non-government organisations. Build and sustain strong collaborative partnerships with external agencies including Education, Health, Mental Health, Youth Justice and the National Disability Insurance Agency and its partners to ensure the needs of children and young people in contact with the department are met. Build and sustain strong collaborative partnerships within the region that promote and support the capability development of staff through the provision of training and use of coaching and mentoring strategies. Work collaboratively with the regional manager and the Principal Specialist Services Clinician to support the embedding of the program within the region. Address emerging operational issues that impact on the provision of health and therapeutic supports for children and young people who have high and complex health, disability, mental health needs or demonstrate high risk behaviours. Fulfil the responsibilities of this role in accordance with the program's practice guidelines including alignment with the Strengthening Families Protecting Children Framework for Practice and the five core elements of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle. Maintain high quality case records in accordance with departmental recordkeeping requirements. Contribute to the implementation of policies, procedures and practices in a regional service delivery environment. Work effectively in a 'hub and spoke' model with a regional manager and program staff located within the Office of the Chief Practitioner to deliver statewide program priorities. This includes being part of a coordinated community of practice with other clinicians around the state to share transdisciplinary knowledge. Participate in data reporting requirements at both a regional and program level to support continual review of the program.
Applications to remain current for 12 months.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License.