Social Worker/Bereavement Counsellor

Employment Type – Permanent, Temporary, Full and Part Time Positions

Classification – Health Professional Level 3

Title- Social Worker/Bereavement Counsellor

Position Number: LP6894 +

Salary – $99,819 - $110,398 (Plus Super) 

Location – North Canberra Hospital Bruce, ACT

Section – Allied Health

Closing Date – 13th February 2024

What can we offer you: 

• City living without the traffic – click her to see why you should live in Canberra.
• Competitive pay rates and excellent working conditions. 
• Salary Packaging with many options that provide full fringe benefits tax concessions.
• Flexible working conditions. 
• 11.5% Superannuation. 

About the Hospital:

North Canberra Hospital (formerly Calvary Public Hospital Bruce) and Clare Holland House are now run and operated by Canberra Health Services (CHS)

This is a significant milestone as the ACT Government moves towards delivering a new billion-dollar hospital on Canberra’s Northside.

The current North Canberra Hospital is a level 4 hospital that provides a range of acute and sub-acute services including community based care to the residents of the northside of Canberra and Southern NSW.  North Canberra Hospital (NCH) is a 270 public hospital located in Canberra’s expanding northside. North Canberra Hospital operates a 24 hour Emergency Department.  Inpatient services include general medicine, surgery, maternity, mental health and critical care.

Other service modalities include day surgery, specialist outpatient clinics, Hospital in the Home and the Geriatric Rapid Acute Care Evaluation service that reaches into aged care facilities across the ACT.

The new Northside Hospital will be built on the existing Calvary Hospital campus in Bruce. It will be a modern, state-of-the-art hospital for patients, visitors and its workforce and will provide more beds and increased services. Until then, it's business as usual at the NCH, and we'll keep providing high-quality care to our patients and community.

About the role:

Clare Holland House provides specialised palliative care services to a range of clients in inpatients, home based and outpatient settings. Our psychosocial team, consisting of social work and psychology, work closely with patients, carers, referrers, other health professionals and multidisciplinary teams to achieve safe, high quality patient care.

This social work position supports the delivery of psychosocial services within specialised palliative care at Clare Holland House. You will play a key role in delivering high quality patient centred care and associated functions to support service delivery in this clinical area.

Clinical supervision, and professional development is provided through team structures, external clinical supervision support, competency-based assessments and professional development opportunities.

Under limited direction of the Allied Health Team Leader you will be required to work at North Clare Holland House.

 You will:

• Provide high level of social work clinical expertise and practice in specialised palliative care at Clare Holland House Inpatient and Outpatient Clinics and Home Based Palliative Care.
• Provide grief and bereavement counselling as required to families of patients enrolled in Clare Holland House Services.
• Facilitate effective communication and work collaboratively with the patients, families, carers, healthcare and service providers to ensure continuum of care.
• Complete case, program and activity records to standards required while ensuring data retention policies are followed.
• Exercise independent professional judgement on moderately complex matters, generating innovative solutions to problems and producing a range of options.
• Provide supervision and education to Health Professional 1 & 2, students, allied health assistants and other non-professional staff, and participate in education programs for area of clinical service delivery.
• Participate in team and program related service activities as required.
• Participate in supervision, credentialing, continuing professional development and performance management.
• Undertake other duties appropriate to this level of classification which contribute to the operation of the organisation.

About you:

Requirements/Qualifications:

Mandatory

• Relevant Tertiary qualifications in Social Work
• A current driver’s license
• Be registered or be eligible for registration with the Australian Association of Social workers (AASW)
• CHS is leading the drive to digitally transform health service delivery in Australia through the implementation of a territory wide Digital Health Record. Computer literacy skills are required which are relevant to this role as you will be responsible for completing required documentation and becoming a proficient user of the Digital Health Record and/or other Information Technology systems; once proficient, you will need to remain current with changes, updates and contingencies.
• Hold an ACT Working with Vulnerable People Card

Desirable

• Minimum of three years’ experience working professionally in Social Work
• Have an understanding of how the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) indicators align with this role.
• Fulfil the responsibilities of this role in alignment to the CHS Exceptional Care Framework, Clinical Governance Framework, Partnering With Consumers Framework and all other related frameworks.

Please note prior to commencement successful candidates will be required to:

• Prior to commencing this role, a current registration issued under the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Act 2011 is required.
• Undergo a pre-employment National Police Check.
• Comply with Canberra Health Services Occupational Assessment, Screening and Vaccination policy.

How to apply:

Applications must be submitted through the e-recruitment system;

• Applications must include a copy of a current CV and details for at least 2 professional referees
• A pitch outlining your skills, knowledge, and experience and why you should be considered for this role. You should take into consideration the selection criteria (below) when drafting your response. 
• Where possible include specific relevant examples of your work.

To be eligible for permanent employment within the ACT Public Service you must be an Australian citizen or a permanent resident”

What you require:

These are the key selection criteria for how you will be assessed in conjunction with your CV and experience. 

Proven ability and social work experience in palliative care, including:

• Psychosocial assessment
• Therapeutic intervention/counselling
• Development and facilitation of group programs
• Complex case management
• Grief and bereavement counselling
• Demonstrated effective communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to work as a member of the multidisciplinary team and to supervise staff and students within the clinical area of responsibility.
• Demonstrated ability to maintain high professional standards and meet organisation requirements for record keeping, data collection and clinical services.
• Demonstrated knowledge of clinical governance with commitment to and experience in quality improvement activities, performance evaluation, clinical supervision and education, research and health promotion.
• Demonstrates understanding of, and adherence to, safety and quality standards, work, health and safety (WH&S) and the positive patient experience. Displays behaviour consistent with CHS’s values of reliable, progressive, respectful and kind.

If you would like further information regarding this opportunity, please contact Jade Johnston, *************@act.gov.au