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.

Villawood East Public School is situated in Southwestern Sydney on Darug land and has an enrolment of 320 students. An appreciation and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture is embedded throughout the school environment and curriculum, showing respect for land and the traditional custodians. We are a multicultural school with 83% of students from 23 language groups, other than English. The school comprises of 16 classes including three support classes and an on-site preschool. 9% of students are from Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander background. Our school values are Safe, Respectful, Learners. A Speech Pathology and Occupational Therapy Program are implemented one day a week to support students P-6. Extra-curricular opportunities in student leadership, sport and creative arts are provided to enable our students to participate in a range of different experiences. We also have an onsite Community Hub that offers TAFE courses for community members and provides opportunities for families to connect and thrive within our school community and beyond. Our staff work collaboratively with, and value our strong relationships with Karitane and The Smith Family which support our students, teachers and community. For more information, please visit the school website Villawood East Public 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.

This is a permanent full time position 1.0 FTE (Full-time equivalent).

**About the NSW Department of Education