Counsellor

**About the Program**
Melbourne City Mission’s Palliative Care service (MCMPC), was established in 1981 as the first community-based palliative care service in Victoria. The service aims to enhance quality of life by providing specialist, interdisciplinary palliative care and practical support for people living with a terminal condition. Support is offered to families and carers, including the management of complex symptoms, loss, grief, and bereavement.
The service is provided to residents of Darebin, Hume, Moreland, and Yarra in accordance with the Palliative Care Australia Standards 2005. Palliative Care operates within the MCM Disability, Early Childhood Intervention and Palliative Care division and implements MCM’s commitment to best practice in palliative care.
**About the role**
We require an experienced counsellor/practitioner to join our bereavement team at MCMPC. A part of the community-based Palliative Care team you will support clients and carers in psychosocial, emotional, and spiritual challenges related to grief and bereavement. The Counsellor will be responsible for:
Providing specialist Palliative Care bereavement assessment, counselling and care to clients and carers using a diverse range of modalities including face to face (in home and office based), telephone and telehealth options
- Facilitating grief and bereavement education and support groups to carers, and their families
- Undertaking suicide risk assessment and supportive care as needed
- Networking with other health and grief support providers in the community for the purposes of referral pathways and coordinated care, and education
- Be an active and integrated part of a multidisciplinary team including allied care, nursing, and specialist practitioners

**Skills and experience**
**Necessary skills and experience include but are not limited to**:

- Demonstrated experience in providing counselling and psychosocial support in a palliative care, community health or related field
- Understanding of loss and grief across the lifespan
- Demonstrated competence in providing counselling support to people of varied social, cultural, and religious backgrounds
- Experience in conducting psychosocial spiritual assessments
- The ability to work collaboratively within an interdisciplinary team setting
- Demonstrated competence in implementing and maintaining self-care routines including reflective practice
- Demonstrated experience in aligning practice with professional standards
- Competence with electronic client and carer records and computer skills

**Essential Qualifications**:

- Tertiary qualifications in a discipline with an emphasis on psychotherapeutic practice such as Counselling, Social Work, or Psychology
- Eligibility for membership or registration to relevant professional association

**Desired Qualifications**:

- A post-graduate qualification or similar professional development/training in bereavement support and counselling.

Please refer to the position description for the full duties and key selection criteria
**How to apply**

**Other Relevant Information**
- Applicants must be an Australian Citizen, Permanent Resident or hold a valid work visa
- Must have a valid driver’s license
- Must have or be willing to obtain a WWCC and NDIS screen check
- Applicants will be required to undergo a pre-employment safety screening process as part of the MCM selection process.
- MCM employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

MCM is an inclusive and equal opportunity employer with a strong commitment to safety. MCM embraces differences because we know that diversity and inclusion help us to attract, recruit, engage and retain talented people. We are passionate about all our employees, with the skills that they bring, realising their full potential through ongoing learning and development and through embracing the positive impact that we make through our work and to the young people that we support.
We are a leading for profit-for-purpose organisation that offer a broad range of services in Early Years, Disability, Homelessness, Palliative Care and Education.

**Job Type**: Casual