ORGANISATION INFORMATON

The Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights (AMWCHR) is an organisation of Muslim women working to advance the rights and status of Muslim women in Australia. We are a non-religious organisation reflecting the sectarian, cultural and linguistic diversity within the Muslim community.

We work for the rights of women by:

• Empowering women’s self-determination
• Bringing a human rights approach to bear on issues of inequality and disadvantage
• Working with individuals, the community, and government to advocate for equality within the Australian context.

We aim to inspire positive action by others and aspire to continuously enhance the quality, impact and effectiveness of our work.

AMWCHR works with individuals, groups and service providers in the following areas:

• Case work, referrals, secondary consultation and outreach
• Advocacy
• Community-based programs and service delivery
• Capacity building
• Leadership development
• Policy development
• Partnership projects

AMWCHR also undertakes:

• Research
• Training development and delivery
• Publications
• Consultancy services.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Caseworker role is responsible for the delivery of specialised casework support for newly arrived Palestinian women as part of their resettlement journey in Australia. The role will conduct needs and risk assessments of newly arrived Palestinian women and their children engaging with our service, including assessing and identifying needs, establish goals, develop action plans and timeframes to meet those goals within the available resources.

The Caseworker will be experienced in settlement casework, and will provide information, referral and support services as well as risk management including intensive crisis management and short-term case management.

The Caseworker must be confident engaging in Arabic with Palestinian women and able to identify and respond to their diverse complex needs and personal situation, resulting from the current displacement from their home, this includes experiences of trauma, family separation, financial hardship, physical and mental health, family violence, systemic barriers to service access, settlement issues and visa vulnerabilities.

The Caseworker will be comfortable building rapport over the phone with clients in their own language, deescalating client distress through mental health first aid, basic counselling skills and crisis management experience.

This role requires high level knowledge around human rights and issues relevant to Muslim women in general and to Muslim Palestinian women in patricidal in the current Australian and global political context. The ability to successfully manage resources limitation and a range of complexities and competing demands are essential to this role.

Regular supervision is provided by the Director of Client Services to ensure reflection, client centred, and strengths-based practice remain central to the work of the Caseworker.

REPORTING

• Reports to: Director of Client Services
• Manages: N/A
• Key liaison: Director of Client Services, Casework Practice Lead, Casework Team, Programs Team, Organisational Support Team
• External Liaison: Community members, Government agencies, Settlement Services, Family Violence Stakeholders.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Conduct and manage intake services, including needs and risk assessments, eligibility assessments, safety planning, interim/ short-term casework support, crisis management, advocacy, support and referrals for Muslim women.
• Advocate and coordinate with relevant services to seek support for clients in crisis - including refuge/housing, income security, financial/material aid, access to education and childcare for children, migration support, legal support, health and mental health referrals and support people with issues of social isolation.
• Maintain case notes to a high standard and manage data entry and reporting.
• Build professional relationships over the phone with clients that enable clients to engage with the service and create meaningful changes in their lives that improve health and well-being.
• Promote and utilise a strengths-based approach to casework, ensuring all interactions are respectful and have a high level of interpersonal skill that can be expressed over the phone, creating safe and engaging spaces for women that contact the service.
• Confidently identify issues of violence, control and abuse, some of which many be specific to cultural and migrant experience.
• Conducting MARAM risk assessments and safety planning for women who are at risk of family violence.
• Confidently identify, assess and respond to issues of mental health and suicidality.
• Support and contribute to the development, implementation and evaluation of intake processes and quality of service.
• Work with a strengths-based/ trauma-informed / client-centered approach, aware of barriers to help seeking for women from migrant background and marginalised communities that may also have additional barriers such as disability, substance abuse, experiences of racism and discrimination, fear of community stigma and exclusion.
• Provide secondary consultation to service providers as appropriate.
• Participate in supervision meetings and performance appraisal processes as required.
• Work reflectively and feed into broader Client Services and organisational planning, research and development.
• Strong written work, ability to maintain and contribute to data collection, case notes and various stakeholder databases.
• Model AMWCHR’s values and associated behaviors within the AMWCHR and across external liaisons.

KEY SELECTION CRITERIA

The recruiting panel will need to feel confident that the successful candidate will understand AMWCHR values, integrate these values into their work and demonstrate behaviours that reflect these values.

Highly Desirable

• Ability to work successfully in a changing environment, accept new challenges and continually strive for improvement.
• Significant experience working with migrant women on issues related settlement.
• Understanding of Muslim culture and political representations of Muslim women.
• Understanding of the following theories and frameworks: Strengths based, trauma informed intersectionality, family systems, community capacity building and development, reflective practice.

Mandatory Key Selection Criteria:

(Applicants are required to respond to this KSC)

• Experience in case management relevant to settlement services.
• Ability to confidently engage with clients in Arabic.
• Demonstrated experience and well-developed skills in the delivery of telephone assessment and referral services to individuals, families, and communities with diverse and complex cultural, emotional, and social needs.
• Demonstrated experience in working with Muslim women, their families and communities.
• Qualifications in casework, social work, community services, mental health
• Demonstrated ability to identify needs appropriate relevant services to meet those needs, to complete in-depth referrals and applications to services and aid providers.
• Demonstrated ability to manage crisis.
• Demonstrated working knowledge of specialised Settlement Services and Family Violence Services, including women’s support agencies and systems across Victoria.
• Knowledge of client data and management information systems.
• Excellent problem-solving skills demonstrating resourcefulness is a key element to this role.
• Well-developed written and verbal communication skills, and diplomatic and effective liaison and interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work as part of a team and contribute across the organisation.
• Excellent time management skills and the ability to work independently.

AMWCHR is committed to child safety. The successful applicant will be subject to a satisfactory Police Check and be required to obtain a valid Working with Children Check. AMWCHR offers hybrid working arrangements and salary packaging.