Holistic Family Violence Practitioner

NGATANWAAR (Welcome)

Due to enormous expansion and internal promotion, we are seeking the services of a Holistic Family Violence Practitioner

Work in an appreciative and supportive environment, that offers generous remuneration – including tax savings and additional leave where you will achieve real and meaningful outcomes that positively affect our community.

Established in 1979, Gunditjmara Aboriginal Cooperative's vision is simple: "Empower the individual the family wins, Empower the family the community wins, Empower the community our culture wins". Our team of dedicated professionals work together to achieve this outcome as evidenced in our latest audit where we received two rare commendations Workforce Development and Diversity & Cultural Safety. Put simply, this is a great and highly supportive place to work.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF THE POSITION

This role assists Indigenous women and children for whom family violence contributes to circumstances that threaten, or adversely affect, their safety and security. This includes those who are no longer in coercive and controlling relationships, those who choose to remain in a coercive and controlling relationship, and those who have not previously accessed police or crisis services for family violence related matters.

The Holistic Family Violence Practitioner:

• Provides culturally safe, respectful, and appropriate advocacy and support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children, who have experienced or are effected by family violence.

• Assists survivors of family violence to identify both immediate and medium-term goals with the focus on reducing risk, regaining control, and setting a course for healing.

• Raise community awareness regarding family violence and its effects within the community and more effectively address the impact that family violence has on Aboriginal people.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Leadership

• Provide a unified Family Violence Service, along with the Team Leader and Manager, Community Services, in delivering high quality, cost effective, efficient, and evidence-based services that enable clients to meet their specific goals.

• Conduct intake assessments to determine needs for service and risk identification.

• Receive and triage client referrals from relevant agencies or community sources.

• Participate in weekly Family Violence team meetings to allocate and discuss new referrals, caseloads, and staff wellbeing.

• Provide professional mentoring and support to all staff within the Family Violence team and assist staff managing caseloads and consumers with highly complex needs.

• Strengthen relationships with external stakeholders such as Emma House.

• Ensure Gunditjmara is represented at court at the relevant Family Violence court hearing.

• Ensure Aboriginal culture is embedded into all aspects of direct practice as well as at a program level.

• Develop a program work plan identifying relevant program documentation and frameworks.

• Ensure high quality case management support is being provided across the program through mentoring and weekly team meetings.

• Provide leadership during crisis and stressful incidents.

• Role model respectful and professional communication and behaviour in the workplace.

• Represent the values and purpose of Gunditjmara in day-to-day work practice.

Service Delivery

• Assist women and children to recover from experiences of family violence.

• Assist clients with appropriate advocacy and support to access counselling, housing, legal advice, income support, financial counselling, childcare, parenting, courts, or other services.

• Provide case management, develop safety plans, and initiate referrals to appropriate services as required.

• Liaise with other services involved with clients and to provide secondary consultation to other service providers as required.

• Assist in program planning, design, and evaluation.

• Oversee administration of brokerage funding for purchasing products and services, under direction of the Team Leader.

Data Collection & Reporting

• Maintain accurate, confidential, and timely case-noting, record keeping, filing and general maintenance of client information, in accordance with the program and agency requirements and standards.

• Maintain electronic data collection requirements as required by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) including Gunditjmara Aboriginal Cooperative organisational requirements of recording details into the SHIP software system.

• Working alongside the Team Leader to ensure external DHHS reporting requirements are met in line with service agreements, including monthly reporting via Ebusiness.

Networking and Collaboration

• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with a broad range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and mainstream services, across a variety of sectors.

• Network and collaborate with a broad range of child, youth, and family services to ensure an integrated service response to children, youth, and families in the program.

• Regular engagement and collaboration with external agencies, and promotion of the Family Violence program as well as other Gunditjmara services and programs.

Representation & Advocacy

• Attend family violence related meetings (as agreed in conjunction with the Team Leader, Community Services) including RAMP and other Family Violence related meetings.

• Attend Supported Accommodation Assistance Program meetings as required.

• Work closely with other Gunditjmara staff to ensure collaboration and integration of service delivery.

• Actively network with other Family Violence service providers to support partnerships that support positive client outcomes.

• Appropriate liaison and exchange of information with the local ACCHO's, Police, Child Protection, Koori Court Officers, Court Registrars, General Practitioners, Allied Health, Community Health Centres, and organisations participating in the Integrated Family Violence Consortium.

• Sharing of information with other service providers under the information sharing scheme to contribute to family violence survivor risk assessment and management

Community Development & Education

• Contribute to community development through the provision of information and education to the community regarding family violence and its impact with a view to the promotion of early intervention and to assist the prevention of future incidents.

• Provide specialist consultation to other community agencies and professionals to assist them to deliver a culturally responsive approach to Indigenous people seeking assistance from their agency who are affected by family violence.

• To engage/maintain links with the local ACCHO's about family violence issues, legislation changes and other relevant issues.

• Generate discussion within Indigenous communities about family violence.

• Development of local solutions to prevent and respond to local issues of family violence.

• Promote awareness that violence is not a part of Indigenous culture.

HOW TO APPLY

Position descriptions are available on request by emailing .

We are a Child Safe organisation. This means that any job offer will be subject to strict screening processes and proof of immunisation (both childhood & Covid). See the position description for further information.

For further information, please contact Kristy Debono on