National Wellbeing Lead

Job Description:

Be part of something greater

• Lead the organisation-wide direction of staff wellbeing and psychosocial health into everyday practice.
• Partner with executives to embed resilience, safety, and culture of care.
• Join a values-driven organisation with salary packaging and career growth.
• Role can be based in either Melbourne, Brisbane or Sydney

Better and fairer care. Always.
St Vincent's has been a leader in Australia's health and aged care landscape for more than 165 years. Since our founders, the Sisters of Charity, opened our first hospital in 1857, our services and nearly 30,000 people have been behind some of Australia's most important medical breakthroughs. We are a microcosm of Australia's health and aged care system and are uniquely positioned to lead and respond to our rapidly changing environment.

We are looking for a special kind of person - a St Vincent's kind of person. Someone who puts excellence, compassion, connection and caring for other people at the heart of everything they do.

About The Opportunity
At St Vincent's Health Australia, we are committed to building a healthier, fairer, and more connected health and aged care system. We now have an exciting opportunity for an experienced wellbeing leader to join us as
National Wellbeing Lead
.

This strategic role will design and embed an integrated, evidence-informed approach to workforce mental and physical health, wellbeing, and psychosocial safety across all St Vincent's divisions.

As a key leader in our People & Culture portfolio, you will partner with executives and senior leaders to shape an organisation-wide culture of care, resilience, and psychological safety. Your work will directly influence workforce sustainability, clinical excellence, and our reputation as an Employer of Choice.

Key Responsibilities
In this role, you will:

• Lead the co-design and implementation of a National Workforce Wellbeing Strategy, aligned to our mission and values.
• Embed wellbeing, resilience, and psychological safety into organisational culture, leadership behaviours, workforce planning and governance.
• Drive prevention-focused approaches to psychosocial risk management, leveraging frameworks such as ISO 45003.
• Use advanced data analytics to inform executive decision-making, risk profiling, and continuous improvement.
• Design and deliver system-wide training and wellbeing programs, addressing workforce stress, fatigue, burnout, and trauma exposure.
• Partner with internal leaders and external experts to co-design initiatives that are scalable, sustainable, and impactful.
• Establish robust evaluation and reporting mechanisms to demonstrate impact on workforce retention, engagement, safety, and clinical outcomes.

Things That Work For us:
To be successful in this role, you will have:

• Postgraduate qualifications in Health Promotion, Organisational Psychology, Occupational Health, Public Health, or a related discipline.
• Extensive (8+ years) experience leading large-scale wellbeing, psychological safety, or workforce resilience programs in complex health or aged care systems.
• Expertise in psychosocial risk management and early intervention, with proven ability to design preventative strategies.
• High emotional intelligence and exceptional interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence at executive and senior leadership levels.
• Advanced data literacy and reporting capability, translating insights into strategic recommendations.

Desirable:

• Experience in hospital, aged care, or community care environments.
• WHS qualifications and/or accreditation as a Mental Health First Aid Instructor.
• Applied knowledge of trauma-informed care, peer support, or critical incident response frameworks.

Why work for St Vincent's?
At St Vincent's, our people are our greatest strength. When you join us, you will experience:

• A values-driven organisation with a mission to serve the most vulnerable.
• The opportunity to lead nation-shaping wellbeing initiatives across one of Australia's largest health and aged care providers.
• A supportive and collaborative culture, working alongside dedicated professionals who care deeply for each other and our communities.
• Access to salary packaging benefits, wellbeing programs, and professional development pathways.

Join Us
We are seeking a courageous, innovative and compassionate leader who is passionate about embedding wellbeing as a core enabler of safe, high-quality care and workforce sustainability.

If this sounds like you, we encourage you to apply today and join us in shaping a healthier and fairer system of care.

At St Vincent's we value inclusivity and diversity and acknowledge the importance of creating a work environment that is welcoming, safe, fair and impartial and invites people from all backgrounds to join us.

Pre-Employment Checks
Your employment is conditional upon the completion of all required pre-employment checks, including relevant immunisations.

Equal Opportunity
We celebrate diversity & inclusion and are committed to equal employment opportunity for everyone.

How To Apply
Please submit your application via the Apply button, include your resume and a brief cover letter outlining your experience and suitability.
We will be assessing applications as they are received and may close the advert earlier than the listed closing date.
For a confidential chat or to know more about the role, please contact:

• Liv Hewitt -National WorkCover Manager via email at or
• Joshua-Talent Partner on

Respectfully, no recruitment agencies.
Please see below for a copy of the position description:
Role Impact
The National Wellbeing Lead is a strategic leader responsible for designing and embedding an integrated, evidence-informed and prevention-focussed approach to workforce mental and physical health, wellbeing, and psychosocial safety across all St Vincent's divisions. This role shapes the organisation-wide direction of staff wellbeing, aligning initiatives with organisational priorities, clinical excellence, and sustainable workforce outcomes.

With a focus on whole-of-organisation impact and an industry-leading employee experience, the position champions a culture of care, connection, and psychological safety — ensuring that staff wellbeing is a core enabler of staff retention, capability, and the delivery of safe, high-quality care. The role leads the development of scalable, proactive frameworks that enhance employee mental and physical health, resilience, and support across a complex and diverse healthcare workforce — including clinical, allied health, administrative, and support staff, with a focus on prevention.

Using an approach that is based upon evidence, collaboration and strong governance, the National Wellbeing Lead informs and drives strategic investment in staff wellbeing as a workforce sustainability imperative — empowering employees to thrive and supporting St Vincent's to position itself as an Employer of Choice.

Managing Today
Strategy and Leadership

• Lead the co-design and system-wide implementation of an integrated National Workforce Wellbeing Strategy that addresses complex healthcare workforce demands, psychosocial risks, and future workforce sustainability — grounded in St Vincent's mission and values.
• Position workforce wellbeing as a strategic imperative, partnering with executives and senior leaders to embed health, physical and mental wellbeing, and psychological safety into organisational culture, leadership behaviours, workforce planning and governance.
• Drive systems-level change by aligning wellbeing initiatives with clinical performance, workforce retention, risk mitigation, and care quality — ensuring wellbeing is a core enabler of safe, high-performing teams.
• Use data-driven insights and strategic foresight to anticipate emerging wellbeing needs, influence enterprise-wide decision-making, and lead continuous improvement across divisions and disciplines.

Risk Based Prevention and Early Intervention

• Lead the integration of evidence-based and risk-informed initiatives, aimed at supporting the mental and physical health and wellbeing of St Vincent's employees. This includes the implementation of an organisational approach to psychosocial risk management, utilising frameworks such as ISO 45003 and sector-leading guidance from research bodies such as the Black Dog Institute, to embed proactive and preventative wellbeing strategies across the organisation.
• Utilise advanced data analytics to support transparent reporting, executive oversight, and continuous improvement; and risk profiling that identifies high-risk work areas and systemic stressors — enabling the design of targeted, upstream interventions that prevent harm and build workforce resilience.
• Foster a collaborative, cross-disciplinary approach by aligning efforts across WHS, Injury Management, St Vincent's EAP Service Provider, People & Culture, and operational leaders to strengthen early intervention pathways, reduce psychological and physical injury claims, and enable safe, supported return-to-work experiences.
• Establish psychosocial risk controls tailored to diverse care environments, with clear accountability for monitoring effectiveness through the organisation's WHS, 'People & Culture, and injury data systems
• Position employee wellbeing and psychosocial safety as a core pillar of organisational culture and performance, linking it to both qualitative and quantitative metrics as well as workforce governance, patient/resident care quality, and long-term workforce sustainability.

Program Development and Delivery

• Design, deliver and scale organisation-wide training and support programs that address systemic drivers of workforce stress, fatigue, burnout, and trauma exposure (eg: Psychological First Aid, Critical Incident Response programs) — with a strong focus on frontline, shift-based, and high-intensity care environments.
• Integrate wellbeing as a strategic thread throughout the employee lifecycle, embedding protective factors and recovery-oriented supports from onboarding through to peak career moments critical incidents, and sustained return-to-work pathways.
• Lead the development of national wellbeing campaigns (eg: RUOK Day) and locally responsive initiatives, co-designed with frontline teams and clinical leaders to ensure cultural relevance, psychological safety, and measurable impact across hospital and aged care settings.
• Establish robust feedback and evaluation mechanisms to continuously improve program design, ensuring wellbeing initiatives remain adaptive, engaging, evidence-informed, and aligned to organisational priorities.

Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement

• Drive organisational cultural change by forging strategic partnerships with Nurse Unit Managers, Facility Managers, People & Culture, and Operational Leaders — embedding wellbeing as a shared priority and accountability.
• Position wellbeing as a leadership priority by influencing senior stakeholders and integrating wellbeing considerations into organisational decision-making, workforce strategy, and service delivery models.
• Establish high-impact collaborations with external thought leaders, researchers, and specialist providers to co-design and deliver highly contemporary training, peer support models, and system-wide interventions informed by the latest evidence and innovation in healthcare workforce wellbeing.
• Create mechanisms for continuous stakeholder engagement and co-design, ensuring that staff voice, operational realities, and diverse workforce needs shape wellbeing solutions that are scalable, sustainable, and measurable.
• Utilise internal and external expertise to create an integrated, prevention-focussed, whole-of-organisation approach to workforce wellbeing, and psychosocial risk mitigation.

Evaluation and Reporting

• Lead the strategic evaluation of wellbeing initiatives by utilising data to assess program effectiveness, and system-level impact on safety, retention, and resilience.
• Establish a robust performance monitoring framework for employee wellbeing, that enables data-informed decision-making and continuous improvement across the organisation.
• Translate complex insights into high-impact reporting, positioning wellbeing outcomes as critical indicators of organisational culture and workforce sustainability.
• Develop data reports that provide useful and regular insights into employee wellbeing across the organisation, and help inform future organisational investment and policy direction.

Leadership Commitment

• We see and care deeply for the whole person – patient, resident, client, family, carer, teammate. We are radically inclusive.
• We are kind in our thoughts, words, and actions.
• We act with courage, vulnerability, and authenticity.
• We champion equity for those most in need. We battle against inequity and harm to the community.
• We pursue "firsts" – we learn from outside and challenge what's inside to deliver our best.
• We lead together as One St Vincent's.
• We are extensively useful, by rolling up our sleeves.

KEY STAKEHOLDERS
Internal

• WHS, Injury Management, P&C, Finance and Payroll Teams
• Executive Leadership
• Facility CEOs, CFOs, and GMs
• Department managers
• St Vincent's Workforce

External

• EAP and wellbeing program providers
• Mental health training organisations
• Government health bodies
• Employee representative bodies
• Work Health & Safety Regulators

Experience And Qualifications
Experience, Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Personal Attributes
Essential

• Postgraduate qualification in Health Promotion, Organisational Psychology, Occupational Health, Public Health, or a related discipline, with a strong foundation in systems thinking and evidence-based practice.
• Extensive experience (8+ years) designing and delivering large and diverse scale enterprise-level wellbeing, psychological safety, or workforce recovery strategies within complex health and/or aged care systems.
• Demonstrated expertise in psychosocial risk management, aligned with frameworks such as ISO 45003, incorporating early intervention, mental health promotion, and proactive resilience-building across multidisciplinary teams.
• Exceptional interpersonal and leadership capability, with high emotional intelligence, cultural humility, and the ability to build trust, influence executive leaders, and drive culture change in sensitive, high-pressure environments.
• Proven success operating across large, matrixed organisations, with the ability to align wellbeing initiatives to organisational priorities, workforce strategy, and clinical outcomes.
• Advanced data literacy and analytical skills, including the ability to design evaluation frameworks, interpret complex data, and deliver strategic reporting to senior leadership.

Desirable

• Operational experience in hospital, residential aged care, community care and hybrid settings, with an understanding of workforce dynamics, regulatory frameworks, and care delivery pressures.
• Formal WHS qualifications, with the ability to integrate wellbeing with broader health and safety systems and compliance requirements.
• Accreditation as a Mental Health First Aid Instructor, or equivalent training capability in psychological health and safety.
• Applied knowledge of trauma-informed care, peer support models, or critical incident response frameworks, particularly in clinical or care environments.

Pre-employment / Appointment Screening Requirements
Immunisations
Category B (non-clinical-facing)

St Vincent's has a duty of care under work health and safety legislation to eliminate and/or control the risk of transmission of vaccine preventable diseases (VPD) in healthcare settings. You therefore must comply with the St Vincent's Immunisation Policy, which, depending on the role you perform in the organisation will require you to undergo certain immunisations/vaccinations (e.g., Covid-19 and flu vaccinations).

Physical Requirements
Office environment-Hybrid

Other Pre-Employment Or Appointment Screening Requirements
St Vincent's requires that a reference check, 100 points of identification check, right-to-work check and a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History check (NCCHC) are undertaken for all roles.

Closing Date:

15 October :59pm

Reconciliation Action Plan:

At St Vincent's we acknowledge the importance of creating a work environment that is welcoming, safe, equitable and inclusive for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Employees. As part of our Commitment to Reconciliation and Closing the Gap in employment related outcomes, we encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
For further information, visit or get in contact at
View Reconciliation Action Plan

Code of Conduct:

View Code of Conduct