School Psychologist/Social Worker

Sacred Heart College is a Catholic, co-educational College for students in Years 7-12 located on the coast in Sorrento, Western Australia. The College has established an outstanding reputation for excellence within our Four Pillars – Spiritual, Academic, Cultural and Sport. 

Our College prides itself on the quality of our pastoral care and educating through our motto, ‘Always Striving Upwards’. We strive to ensure that each student is well known and cared for. Our Four Pillars allow students to discover and develop their interests and talents to become the best they can be.

We are seeking a highly skilled and dedicated clinician - School Psychologist or Social Worker to join our College Psychology Team. The is a part-time ongoing position with an FTE of 0.6-0.8 (negotiable). Start date TBA.  negotiated.  

About the role: Reporting to the College Senior Psychologist, your primary role is to support and advocate for students’ wellbeing.  The successful applicant will use their expertise in mental health, learning and behaviour to support our students to succeed academically, socially, behaviourally and emotionally.

To achieve this, your involvement will include:

Counselling:

• Provide therapeutic interventions to students using evidence based best practice.
• Provide consultative advice and support to parents and staff regarding the psychological, emotional, social and learning needs of students. 
• Liaise with external mental health providers where appropriate.

Pastoral Care:

• Assist in the development and delivery of Pastoral Care Programs relevant to the age-appropriate needs of the Year Group. 
• Provide professional development to staff and parents on relevant topics as required.
• Undertake suicide risk assessments when required.  

General Administration duties:

• Attend relevant whole school staff meetings. 
• Attend parent/ teacher nights (if requested).
• Attend transition and orientation days. 

Learning/Psychometric Assessment (desirable)

• Identify and assess the needs of students experiencing learning difficulties.
• Administer Psychometric assessments and complete written reports. 
• Provide summarised results of Psychological assessments to support funding applications for students with special needs. 

What we are seeking:

• An excellent ability to work collaboratively and build rapport with students, parents and all College employees to develop respectful, inclusive and positive working relationships.
• Highly developed emotional intelligence with the ability to accurately pick up on emotions in other people and understand what is really going on. The ability to use own emotions and to manage interactions successfully. 
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to demonstrate high levels of written and oral communication skills. Effectively communicate with diverse groups of people.
• Highly developed compassion with the ability to model compassion and trust. Ability to empathise and make others feel comfortable.
• Excellent ability to be open-minded and tolerant of all kinds of students and their situations. The school psychologist will also be flexible, adaptable and open to innovative ways of thinking and working.
• Able to work under pressure when required, always maintaining a high degree of professionalism, working within the expected Guidelines and Ethics. 

Essential:

• Fully qualified Psychologists and Social Workers with the appropriate memberships / registrations.
• Tertiary qualifications in, Psychology and or Social Work is essential
• Training and clinical experience in counselling adolescents.  
• The ability to maintain confidentiality and demonstrate high level of ethical practice.

Desirable:

• Area of endorsement such as Educational and Developmental, Counselling or Clinical Psychologist. 

For further information regarding this role please contact College Senior Psychologist, Jannine Johnston on 9246 8216. 

Be part of something excellent: To apply for this exciting opportunity please visit our website. For full details regarding the role description and application form; please click on the following link:  http://www.sacredheart.wa.edu.au/community/employment

Applications close: 4pm Monday 22 April 2024. Please provide a covering letter (2 pages maximum) and a CV highlighting your suitability for this position. Please address all applications to the Principal, Leo Di Gregorio. 

Email: **********@sacredheart.wa.edu.au

The way we give back to our people: Sacred Heart College gives back generously to our employees with offers on many benefits such as our own wellness program, corporate healthcare rates, onsite weights and fitness studio and a very active social club.

Sacred Heart College prides itself of living the motto of ‘Always Striving Upwards’ our three key values of Courage, Compassion and Respect encompass what it means to be part of the Sacred Heart community.

The successful applicant must be fully supportive of the objectives and ethos of Catholic education. A current Working with Children Check or evidence of application lodgement being made, and a National Police Clearance are mandatory prior to commencement.