Address The Safeguards Team is a new dedicated Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service designed to provide innovative and best practice care to children and adolescents aged 0-17 years experiencing acute Mental Health distress. The team is community based and provides rapid, mobile and flexible care to resolve Mental Health crisis, including assertive outreach, care coordination and time-limited therapeutic interventions. The Safeguards Team operates 7 days/week with extended hours on weekdays, and will respond to young people in their schools, homes and communities and in hospital-based settings (EDs/Wards), through face to face, phone and telehealth appointments.
The Safeguards Team is multidisciplinary and includes psychiatry, nursing and allied health professionals with the clinical expertise to deliver crisis assessment, specialist clinical care and short-term therapeutic interventions for children and adolescents who present in crisis and their families/carers.
Within a stepped care approach, the Safeguards Teams provide a rapid response service component on the spectrum of care supporting the work of community-based child and adolescent Mental Health services and the tertiary acute child and adolescent inpatient units. Safeguards services are provided in partnership and are complementary to existing Mental Health services.
While Safeguards Teams will work with children and adolescents in acute crisis, they are rapid response teams, not acute care or crisis teams. Safeguards Teams do not provide urgent community-based care for people with a mental illness in crisis. Safeguards is an enhancement and should complement existing services, not replace them.
The Safeguards Clinician will plan, coordinate, and implement in-depth levels of clinical expertise and extensive specialised knowledge within allied health or nursing to provide evidence based, trauma informed and developmentally appropriate assessment and treatment to children and adolescents (0 to 17 years) in acute Mental Health distress, and their families.
- Tertiary qualification in an appropriate allied health or nursing discipline and eligibility for or registration with appropriate professional body as appropriate. If applying as a CNS2, applicants must have a post graduate qualification in the specified clinical area (e.g. Mental Health) and 3 years’ experience working in the clinical area.
- Demonstrated ability to exercise extended autonomy of decision making while working as part of a multidisciplinary team and apply professional and ethical boundaries when dealing with complex situations
- Demonstrated high level written and verbal communication, interpersonal skills and the ability to identify key messages, issues and concerns when communicating with others
- Demonstrated expertise in evidence-based psychosocial interventions including individual and family work.
- Evidence of high-level skills working in partnership with a multidisciplinary team and other service providers.
- Experience in care coordination and knowledge of health care and psychosocial resources in the community.
- Demonstrated ability to lead in quality improvement, research and/or education initiatives.
- Required to work on a rotating roster that includes after hours and weekends and having a current NSW Drivers Licence.
SCHN is an Equal Opportunity Employer that values diversity - we acknowledge the vibrancy that a diverse workforce brings to enhance both our workplace culture and our service delivery to children, young people and their families and carers. We encourage all suitably qualified applicants to apply. If you identify as an Indigenous Australian or as a person with a disability, please contact us if you would like some more information about our recruitment process.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are encouraged to apply. We recognise the value of Aboriginal staff providing health care to Aboriginal children and families that access the services we provide at the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network. Aboriginal job applicants are encouraged to visit the NSW Health Aboriginal Recruitment tool, Stepping Up to assist in preparing your application.
All NSW Health workers are required to have completed a primary course (2 doses) of a COVID-19 vaccine which has been approved or recognised by the Therapeutics Goods Administration (TGA).
Acceptable proof of vaccination is the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) Immunisation History Statement or AIR COVID-19 Digital Certificate. Booster doses are highly recommended for all health care workers who have completed the primary course of COVID-19 vaccinations.
This position requires a Working with Children Check (WWCC) issued by the Office of the Children’s Guardian. For more information on how to apply for the clearance, please visit the Office of the Children’s Guardian Website https://ocg.nsw.gov.au/
Applicants holding visas with working rights may be considered for temporary appointment (up to the expiry date of their visa) where no suitable local applicant is identified.
Please note: To be eligible for permanent appointment to a position in NSW Health, you must have an Australian citizenship or permanent Australian residency.
Need more information?
2) Find out more about applying for this positionFor role related queries or questions contact Georgia Farrar on **************@health.nsw.gov.au
If you are Aboriginal or Torres Strait islander wishing to apply for this role and want to speak with an Aboriginal person/representative from the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network please contact Wayne Dargan on ************@health.nsw.gov.au
For technical support please contact the customer services team on 1300 679 367 and select option 3.
Applications Close: 18/04/2024
