Is this you?

You might be an emerging AOD or Community Service worker or be a lifelong Community Health worker, but one thing is for sure, you know your stuff when it comes to delivering high impact support to service users. There is the possibility that you’ve have had lived experience with AOD, homelessness or other things life has thrown at you, or not, but you know this doesn’t define you.

You care a lot, but balance that with supporting your own mental health! You know the importance of self-care so that you can turn up, physically but more importantly, emotionally.

You may not be the captain of this team (…yet), but when we are in thick of it, we play off each-other’s strengths and have each-others back #1YP

You thrive in organised chaos

You know the importance of boundaries and frameworks but are an active listener and tailor your support based on the goals and aspirations to the person you are working with. You’ve got experience supporting a range of complex needs and bring a mix of best practice and responsive thinking to help us provide high impact support, without judgement!

You’re bendy

You can switch from making a service user a cup of instant coffee to advocating for our services users, health and housing outcomes in the blink of an eye. Changing lives is your passion but you still embrace rolling up your sleeves and mucking in to get the job done.

You see the person

You’re full of creative ways to meet our service users where they are at and believe that engagement shouldn’t be a one size fits all model. You always see the person, not just their immediate situation because you understand that everyone has different needs, and that is okay.

You care

Our frontline warriors and change makers are all here because we genuinely want to break the cycle of disadvantage, and we want you to want that too!

A bit about the role:

You will be working in the Living Room on Melbourne’s iconic Hosier Lane. It is a unique service combining health, drop-in support, and social connectedness.

If you worked here this past month here are some things you might have been involved in:

• Triaging service users and prioritising daily needs
• Linking services users in with our housing service partners
• Guiding service users in navigating (what can be very complex) government agencies
• Chatting to our lion-hearted donors and supporters
• Accepting and sorting clothing and food donations
• Celebrating with our services users when they have had a win, not matter how big or small
• Coordinating showers, laundry and access to our services in a dignified fashion
• Making coffee, instant noodles and heating up meals for service users
• Puppy sitting the odd companion pooch while their paw-rent has a shower and does some laundry
• Participating in daily team meetings (before doors open) and handover at the end of the day
• Encouraging a service user to see one of our doctors about an illness they have been downplaying
• Advocating and fighting for the support an individual actually needs
• Attending supervision and professional development with your diverse team
• Sitting with a service user when they needed someone to just be there
• Giving a person doing it tough reason and purpose to see another day
• Lots of other stuff but some days are so busy we forget what we have done

A bit about us:

We are an independent, registered charity providing front line support to young people and individuals experiencing disadvantage, unemployment, homelessness, alcohol and other drug issues. We also help those looking to re-engage with learning and employment. We recognise the complex and varying needs of the people we work with and go above and beyond, 365 days a year, to provide pathways out of poverty.

Last year our highly skilled multi-disciplinary team, helped 15,288 people through face-to-face contacts at The Living Room, 1,243 young people through our employment and training programs and dispensed over 1.3 million safe injecting kits through our needle exchange program.

We have the ability to provide a complete wrap around, judgement free service with a strong focus on respect, client-centred care and harm prevention. The impact we seek enables each person to lead longer lives, have improved health, meaningful employment and a greater sense of belonging, safety and security through a holistic model of care.

Located at two flagship sites (Hosier Lane and the vibrant Northern region of Melbourne) we are growing and now deliver services at 15 outreach locations across Victoria.

Our culture is casual yet professional and high energy. Our team is serious about their work but doesn’t take themselves too seriously.

Why should you work with us?

Every day you spend working with us, you’re making a difference. The stronger our frontline warrior, the bigger our impact of breaking the cycle of disadvantage. We think that’s a pretty great perk, but we don’t stop there… here are some of the others;

• You’re in the heart of Melbourne and a 5-minute walk from Flinders St Station
• Access to generous salary packaging
• Access to meals & entertainment benefits and novated leasing (if desired)
• Clinical supervision and management supervision every fortnight
• Flexible work environment
• Uncapped Employee Assistance Program
• 17.5% Annual Leave Loading
• Plus, additional paid leave including wellbeing, family violence, study and an extra 5 personal days we also provide flexibility to take extra unpaid leave.

Salary

We’re a non-profit organisation that fills from a full cup but not a full pocket. In order to attract strong talent, we pay competitively and remunerate based on your skills and experience and are determined to make this the best job you'll ever have.

This role is paid at level 3 band of the SCHCAD award.

Our commitment to diversity

At Youth Projects, we value diversity and believe that a range of backgrounds brings a variety of ideas, perspectives and experiences that will enhance our effectiveness.

We promote a workplace that actively seeks to include, welcome and value unique contributions and encourage applications from candidates with a disability, culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and indigenous candidates

Safety screening

Youth Projects has a zero tolerance for child abuse and is committed to the provision of a child-safe organisation. All Youth Projects staff must undergo a Police and Working with Children Checks. Any person with a negative notice on their Working with Children Check will not be eligible for employment with us.