Company

For more than 20 years, people in Australia have placed their trust in Beyond Blue as a reliable source of mental health information, support, and hope.

We are one of Australia’s most well-known, trusted, and visited mental health organisations. We never take this for granted. With that comes a deep responsibility to listen, to understand people’s needs and aspirations, and to ensure they are at the heart of everything we do.

We are a big blue door for many in the community: a safe and reliable place for millions of people to access information, advice and support – whether they’re well and want to stay that way, unsettled or struggling and need support, or in recovery and want to reconnect.

About this Position

The Policy and Advocacy Senior Adviser, which sits in the Advocacy and Equity team within the Strategy, Policy and Advice Unit is responsible for providing expert advice and leadership. With a focus on the “Leading” and “Integrity” Goals of Strategy 2023+ the team contributes to the community’s recognition of Beyond Blue leading and influencing positive system and social change and championing safe, affirming and inclusive practices.

The Policy and Advocacy Senior Adviser will focus on advocating for the ongoing development of a person-centred mental health system and for action on the social determinants of mental health to prevent mental health conditions and intervene early. They will focus on the development and implementation of Beyond Blue’s policy reform agenda and advocacy activities and help build capacity of Beyond Blue staff as effective advocates for change.

The role

Working with a high degree of autonomy the role will be accountable for the following:

Policy and Advocacy:

• Providing expert advice and developing compelling and practical policy propositions to reform Australia’s mental health system in line with Strategy 2023+.
• Developing, implementing and evaluating advocacy strategies, including through Beyond Blue’s annual Advocacy Plan to enable Beyond Blue’s policy propositions to be adopted.
• Leading the development and coordination of briefings, submissions, policy papers, position statements, presentations and correspondence.
• Monitoring and advising on Australian and international policy, legislative and regulatory developments and frameworks in relation to mental health and wellbeing.
• Working in partnership with external stakeholders and representing Beyond Blue on advisory groups, coalitions and committees as required.

Stakeholder management and support:

• Establishing relationships and contribute to coalitions with other organisations to drive policy change together.
• Facilitating key relationships across the organisation and ensuring that the team’s activities and outcomes reflect the business needs of the organisation, keeping them informed on policy developments and building advocacy capability across the organisation.
• Engaging community members with lived and living experience of a mental health condition and reflect their voices in our policy and advocacy work.
• Providing information and advice to internal and external stakeholders.

About you

To be successful you will hold:

• Tertiary qualification in public health, health promotion, social sciences, research or a related discipline
• Relevant experience in mental health promotion or prevention, mental health or other complex social policy area.
• Demonstrated experience in developing policy propositions and achieving advocacy outcomes, e.g., in government, not-for-profit.
• High level strategic thinking and judgement, conceptual, analytic and planning skills, demonstrated through examples such as developing advocacy strategies, background papers, briefings, position statements and policy submissions.
• Strong understanding of government and policy development systems and processes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare concise written material for a government and community audiences.
• Strong relationship development skills, with the ability to establish and maintain effective and positive internal and external relationships and represent Beyond Blue.

Culture & Values

Our values are the unseen drivers of our behaviours and ultimately become the organisational culture.

• We're focused
• We're brave
• We rise
• Together

Beyond Blue is committed to fostering and preserving a workplace that values diversity and inclusion. We aim to grow and thrive as a diverse team with individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, self-expression, and talents. In recruiting for our team, we welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, colour, religion, ability, sexual orientation, and beliefs.

How to Apply

To apply, click "Apply Now". Applications should include a current CV with a cover letter that addresses how your qualifications, skills and experience would be attributes to the position and why you would consider yourself to be a cultural addition to Beyond Blue. For detailed information about this position including the closing date, please refer to the position description on our careers page and attached below.

Preferred candidates will be required to undertake pre-employment screening, including a National Police Check and where required, a Working with Children Check.

We encourage early applications as interviews may commence before the closing date. All applications will be treated with strict confidentiality.

A position description is attached.