School Counsellor

**Position Information**:
School counsellors are an essential part of the department’s School Counselling Service.
They provide counselling and psychological assessment of students to complement and enhance the work of teachers to strengthen student learning and wellbeing outcomes, and they help families understand and manage their children’s learning and mental health needs. This is a truly collegiate role offering unique challenges and opportunities - both in your professional development and your ability to make an impact on the lives of children and young people.
School counsellors receive regular, individual professional supervision with the Senior Psychologist Education and participate in group and peer supervision as a member of the broader district school counselling team. You will most likely be collaborating with a number of school communities and colleagues, as well as outside agencies, with the opportunity to use and expand the full range of your skills and expertise as part of a supportive, multidisciplinary team.
School counsellors are provided with regular opportunities to participate in continuing professional development and the NSW Department of Education will support you to complete or maintain your registration with the Psychology Board of Australia. Other benefits include school holiday leave, travel allowances and health and wellbeing benefits such as our Fitness Passport program. The department will also cover your indemnity insurance as a psychologist.

Established in 1952 in the heart of Bega's commercial and residential precinct, Bega High School is a comprehensive rural high school that draws students from all parts of the Bega Valley Shire. The closest government secondary school is 50 kilometres away and the school's geographical drawing area ranges from Tathra, Cobargo through to Wolumla and Bemboka. The current enrolment is 745 students, including 10% Aboriginal students. A Special Education faculty comprises multi-categorical, emotional disturbance, mild intellectual disability and severe intellectual disability classes.
The wide ranging curriculum includes school-based and TAFE-based vocational education, and students follow various learning pathways exemplified by the range of school-based traineeships and apprenticeships for Stage 5 and 6. The school's most recent situational analysis identified three key areas for improvement. Our approach involves the evaluation of explicit teaching, student support, professional learning and consistent improvement to ensure students are at the centre of our activities. These drive our strategic directions of Student growth and attainment, a Learning culture of high expectations and Educational leadership. For more information, please visit the school website Bega High School.

**Selection Criteria**:

- Experience in counselling using evidence-based interventions with a demonstrated understanding of the mental health needs of children and young people.
- Experience in the psychological assessment of children and young people, including case formulation and report writing.
- Demonstrated ability to collaborate with key stakeholders to improve the learning and wellbeing outcomes of children and young people including students from diverse backgrounds and needs.

**Conditions**:

- Be a registered or provisionally registered psychologist, or eligible for registration with the Psychology Board of Australia.
- Ability and willingness to travel between worksites.

**Special Notes**:
Successful applicants will be provided with a Departmental induction program, ongoing professional learning and professional supervision.

Find out more about working in the school counselling service. Visit the Department’s School Counselling Service pages to discover more about working as a school psychologist or school counsellor in NSW public schools.

**About the NSW Department of Education