Counsellor

Lifeline Direct (LLD) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lifeline Australia. LLD focuses on supporting the development and ongoing implementation of suicide prevention and community wellbeing programs in the regions which we operate while looking for opportunities to grow Lifeline's services in geographical areas where they do not currently exist.

LLD encompasses Lifeline Centres in Hunter region, Central Coast, Eastern Suburbs-Bondi, New England North West, Northern NSW, Geelong and South West Victoria, Northern and Western Melbourne and Central Australia. Our specialised and targeted services operate nationally via a telehealth model.

About Lifeline Direct

Lifeline Direct (LLD) is the direct service delivery arm and a fully owned subsidiary of Lifeline Australia (LLA). It was initially established to provide a consolidation pathway for local Lifeline Centres to share resources, skills and experiences in developing strong service coordination, a culture seeking operational excellence, shared governance activities and improved outcomes for help seekers.

The premise of LLD as the direct service delivery arm means that, LLD delivers Lifeline's 24/7 national crisis support service via as well as a range of other services including face to face counselling, telehealth services and training. More recently our services have expanded to deliver some of Australia's most vital free helpline services including MensLine Australia, Suicide Call Back Service, 1800Respect, and SuicideLine Victoria.

About the role

Successful candidates will need to be:

• Prepared to work rotating roster, weekends, afternoon shifts and overnight shifts
• Availability to work a set roster.
• Enthusiastic, and have high adaptability to change, is open to constructive feedback and have established self-care practices
• Confident with technology and able to work with phone and live chat-based counselling
• Understand this is a fixed term contract until June 2026

Position Purpose

To support consumers by providing professional, specialist telephone and digital counselling, and providing information and referrals to consumers of Lifeline services. The role will contribute into the following key areas (but not limited to):

• Provide professional counselling to consumers of Lifeline
• Provide relevant and appropriate referrals and information to consumers
• Engage and support consumers by making assessments, working with the consumer and communicating options for ongoing support, and equipping callers to support a person they are concerned about
• Identifying consumers or third parties at high risk, consulting with the Clinical Manager as required
• Collection of consumer demographic data
• Undertake professional development
• Contribute to a positive high performing culture

What you bring to the role

• Tertiary degree (of minimum three-year duration) in a relevant discipline (Social Work, Welfare Studies, Psychology, Nursing or Counselling).
• Minimum of 456 hours of counselling experience, demonstrating the ability to work in a strengths-based, brief solution-focused framework.
• A high level of resilience to work in an environment that is exposed to high-risk calls that could include consumers demonstrating the following presentations of suicide, domestic/family violence, anxiety, depression.
• Ability to work in a high-performing culture, including the ability to demonstrate a high level of counselling within a set framework and KPIs.
• An enthusiastic and positive nature that can work collaboratively in a team environment.
• Awareness of self and engage in good self-care practices.
• Commitment to professional development and openness to feedback and coaching.
• High level of computer literacy with the ability to pick up new programs and systems quickly.
• Current Working with Children Check.
• Current Police Check (no more than 6 months old)

Working at Home Requirements

As this is a digital-based telephone and chat service, there are minimum setup requirements for you to adequately perform in this role when working at home, including:

• A safe and quiet workspace
• Stable and good quality internet connection
• You have strong IT skills and proficiency in telephony-based systems where you are comfortable navigating software, typing and talking at the same time

Salary and benefits

• $51 per hour base rate (plus superannuation) + penalty rates
• Access to clinical supervision, debriefing and EAP
• Working from home
• Salary Packaging options