Trak Forward Counsellor

**About Us**:
At Anglicare Victoria our focus is on transforming the futures of children and young people, families and adults. Our work is based on three guiding pillars, Prevent, Protect, Empower. We offer a comprehensive network of services and seek to ensure the provision of high quality services that will bring about significant improvements in the life experience of the young people, children and families/caregivers with whom we work.

**The Position**:
We provide and partner to deliver a range of protection and recovery services addressing both adult family violence and adolescent family violence, with a primary focus on the safety of women and children. Whenever issues of violence or abuse arise in families, the first step is to ensure that every family member is safe and protected from harm. Once that is achieved, counsellors and support workers can educate and equip families with new skills to help them move forward in a positive way. Family Violence services include office based, outreach, in-home, tailored, group work and a holistic approach for the whole family that aims to achieve better outcomes for families, in promoting the best interests of children. Individual and family work is complemented by group work where appropriate, and strategies to both engage families with their communities, as well as for communities to be more responsive to the needs of children and their families.

**To Be Successful in this Position You Will Need**:
**Qualifications/Licences Required**:
- A relevant tertiary degree in Social Work, Psychology, and/or related behavioural sciences at with substantial experience, post graduate qualification or associate diploma with substantial experience, attained through previous appointments, service and/or study with a combination of experience, expertise, and competence sufficient to perform the duties required at this level.
- Based on specific Program requirements qualifications may need to align with the Mandatory Minimum Qualification Requirements for Specialist Family Violence Workers (Recommendation 209) or you are committed to working towards obtaining the required qualifications. Where this is a requirement, it will be clearly started in the recruitment advertisement for the role.- Desirable:

- Full Victorian Drivers Licence.

**Knowledge and skills**:
- Ability to prioritise the safety of victim survivors and children using a gendered understanding of family violence and an understanding of child and family vulnerability.
- Resilience to work with and support clients who have been exposed to trauma.
- Significant experience in working in a therapeutic, counselling or group work context with women, adolescents and children who are experiencing or recovering from family violence.
- Significant experience in providing an initial contact point for people seeking support and a source of information and advice with a focus on intake, assessment, risk assessment, engagement, and provision of an initial response.
- Significant experienced in therapeutic, group work and or case management in respect to delivering Family Violence services and support.
- Deep understanding of the effects of family violence and trauma on women and children and an understanding of contemporary responses to these issues.
- Well-developed knowledge and understanding of the gendered nature of violence against women and children and relevant theories and frameworks to understand and respond to this including but not exclusively feminist theory and Practice Guidelines: Women and children’s family violence counselling and support programs.
- Clear understanding of the referral services across Family Violence and Community Supports to assist families.
- More information in position description.

For further enquiries contact Laura Calvert - 0439 948 992

**Applications close: Sunday October 19th**

Anglicare Victoria acknowledges Aboriginal people as the traditional custodians of the land on which we operate. We commit to working respectfully to honour their ongoing cultural and spiritual connections to this country.

Diversity and inclusivity are important to Anglicare Victoria and we are committed to ensuring our workplace and services reflect this. Everyone is welcome at Anglicare Victoria, regardless of age, ethnicity, cultural background, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation and physical ability.