Occupational Therapist

Occupational Therapist – Youth Mental Health & Psychosocial

Location: Daisy Hill   |   Employment Type: Full-Time (Flexible)|   Closing Date: 4/09/2025

About Karakan

Karakan specialises in supporting people who experience mental health and psychosocial disability. We believe that people with mental health needs can live a meaningful and fulfilling life — and that recovery is possible.

Our mission is to help people with mental health needs build resilience and live life better, together as a community. We have a clear vision of an Australia where people with mental health needs are included and valued in the community. We stand against the marginalisation, stigma, and isolation often faced by people with mental health challenges.

Our guiding belief — "YOU CAN. WE CAN." — speaks to the strength of each individual and the power of the collective as we work together to build an inclusive community.

With a long and rich history of delivering recovery-oriented, trauma-informed services to both adults and young people, Karakan seeks to empower people to make meaningful, positive changes in their lives. We foster inclusion, connection, and resilience, guided by our commitment to upholding human rights, enhancing wellbeing, and making a positive difference.

Karakan is an evolving, vibrant workplace that values passion, determination, and resilience. We support and develop our people, creating a culture where individuality is valued, challenges are met with courage, and professional growth is encouraged.

About the Role

This is an exciting opportunity to join an innovative, integrated Step-Up Step-Down Out of Home Care service model, delivered in partnership between Karakan and the Department of Child Safety.

As the Occupational Therapist in our Youth Support Team, you will be a key member of the YouthKan Leadership Team, contributing not only to the wellbeing of individual young people, but also to staff training and skill development, and whole-of-service capability building.

This role is for someone with a growth mindset who wants to challenge the status quo of current support systems and be part of creating and evidencing the value, importance and impact of integrated care where clinical and community-based teams work collaboratively and in partnership to deliver holistic and tailored supports. This role is for someone who has vision, a passion for innovation, a deep care for young people, and a willingness to challenge and refine their own practice to ensure contemporary service design principles are embedded into daily service delivery. This is not a role that has high caseloads (very much the opposite) and there is no 'billable hours', but rather its's a practice lead role that gets to be part of creating the support ecosystem in both design and practice, work closely and purposefully with a group of young people needing intensive therapeutic supports, and mentor and skill-build with non-clinical staff to ensure we are delivering best-practice evidence-informed supports to young people in our service.

This role offers a highly competitive salary, genuine work-life balance and flexibility.

The role will oversee the following range of responsibilities:

• Working closely and collaboratively with YouthKan leadership team to deliver on program objectives and support individual needs of young people
• Building trust and rapport with young people using relational, therapeutic approaches.
• Conducting holistic assessments of functional, psychosocial, and occupational performance.
• Developing and implementing trauma-informed, individualised wellbeing and functional capacity building plans.
• Providing therapeutic interventions to build daily living, self-regulation, and social participation skills.
• Mentoring and upskilling Youth Wellbeing Mentors in recovery-oriented, trauma-informed practice.
• Collaborating with multidisciplinary teams and advocating for young people's needs in interagency settings.

You will play a pivotal role in shaping practice, guiding staff, and ensuring the service provides consistent, evidence-informed, person-centred support.

About You

You will have:

• A tertiary qualification in Occupational Therapy and current AHPRA registration.
• A minimum of 4 years experience practicing as a registered Occupational Therapist
• Demonstrated experience working with young people with complex mental health needs.
• Strong skills in functional assessment, intervention planning, and capacity building.
• Experience applying trauma-informed, recovery-oriented, and strengths-based approaches.
• The ability to mentor and coach non-clinical staff to improve practice and outcomes.
• Excellent communication, advocacy, and multidisciplinary collaboration skills.

Experience in OOHC, child safety systems, or youth mental health services will be highly regarded.

How to Apply

To apply, please submit your CV and a Cover Letter with your written response (maximum 300 words per question) to the following:

1. Trauma-Informed & Recovery-Oriented Practice

Describe your understanding of trauma-informed and recovery-oriented practice and provide an example of how you have applied these approaches as an Occupational Therapist when working with young people with significant mental health needs experiencing different psychosocial barriers and challenges.

2. Comprehensive Assessment, Intervention Planning & Collaborative Practice

Provide an example of when you conducted a comprehensive assessment (functional, psychosocial, or occupational) for a young person. How did the outcomes inform your case planning, practical interventions, and capacity-building supports, and how did you work with the wider care team to ensure coordinated and effective support?

3. Capacity Building, Mentoring & Practice Leadership

This role involves supporting and mentoring non-clinical staff to deliver high-quality, trauma-informed care. Describe a time when you coached, trained, or guided others—while collaborating with multidisciplinary team members—to strengthen practice and improve outcomes for young people in a residential or community-based mental health setting.

Karakan is committed to diversity and inclusion. We encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with lived experience of mental health challenges, and people of all abilities.