ABOUT DIRECTIONS

Althea Wellness Centre (Althea) is Directions Health Services’ primary and psychiatry healthcare team. Directions is an innovative, non-profit organisation that has provided specialist alcohol and other drug (AOD) services in the ACT and NSW for over 40 years. Today, we at Directions offer a comprehensive suite of holistic AOD, mental health and primary health services that aim to reduce harms experienced by individuals, families, and communities, and improve overall health and wellbeing.

Directions’ multidisciplinary team currently includes a psychiatrist, psychologists, social workers, counsellors, Aboriginal health workers, case managers, peer and mental health support workers, GPs, registered nurses, pharmacists and chemical analysts. Directions’ capacity to implement innovative services developed in collaboration with our clients, partners, and other stakeholders, enables us to effectively respond to the changing needs of the communities we serve. At Directions, we pride ourselves on our supportive and inclusive, employee and client-centred culture. Our excellent culture has led to our high staff retention rates and great reputation within the mental health, primary health and AOD sectors.

Althea provides bulk billed GP, nursing, psychiatry, psychology, pharmacology and counselling services to people impacted by current or past AOD use, mental health and other complex health and wellbeing issues. Althea provides these services at our Woden primary health clinic and at outreach locations across the ACT, to engage hard-to-reach communities. The service is primarily designed to meet the needs of people who do not have a regular GP or whose current health needs are not able to be met in mainstream health services.

ABOUT THE POSITION

The General Practitioner will work closely with members of the Althea Wellness Centre team and Directions’ other ACT programs to provide holistic care in a primary health service catering for people with current or past alcohol and other drug (AOD) and co-occurring issues, and their supports.

This is a casual position, hours are negotiable to best suit the right applicant.

FURTHER RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide high quality general medical services, as would be provided in mainstream general practice, to Directions’ clients and their family/friends utilising a trauma-informed, harm-minimisation, and person-centred approach
• Work effectively within the Althea multidisciplinary team and with other Directions staff, offering and accessing support as part of Directions integrated service response.
• Manage and coordinate care of longer-term medical conditions within the context of substance use or dependence, including specialist referral and participation in case conferences as required.
• Advocate with other health and community services to ensure client access to care relevant to their health conditions and social circumstances.
• Provide assessment and prescription of pharmacotherapy needs, including prescription of opiate replacement therapies.
• Provide education and information regarding healthy lifestyle choices that will improve client health and wellbeing.
• Promote a continuous quality improvement and safety framework.
• Participate in Althea team meetings, Directions staff meetings, relevant in-service education and promotion activities and attend other internal and external meetings as required.
• Provide outreach to vulnerable population groups, alongside other health and allied health staff.

WHAT WE OFFER

• A flexible and supportive work environment
• A generous salary and salary packaging benefits
• 17½% leave loading
• Extensive professional development and training opportunities

WHAT WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO HAVE

• Current unconditional registration with AHRPA as a medical practitioner
• Experience working in a general practice setting, particularly with at-risk populations
• Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, or equivalent
• Recognised opiate replacement prescriber, or willingness to obtain
• Demonstrated skills and experience in management of chronic and acute medical conditions, in particular those associated with AOD and mental health issues, and minor procedures usually undertaken in general practices.
• Understanding of Primary Health Care principles and impact of the social determinants of health on at-risk peoples.
• A commitment to the mission and values of the organisation.
• Ability and a commitment to effectively engage with staff, and with clients in a cross-cultural environment and from a marginalised background, in a non-judgemental courteous and respectful manner.
• Full medical indemnity insurance

All appointments will be conditional upon having a Working with Vulnerable People Check, current First Aid and CPR certificate and a satisfactory National Police Check.

To discuss the role please contact HR at [email protected] using the subject line: General Practitioner - Althea Wellness Centre enquiry via EthicalJobs.

For further information about this position please refer to the attached Position Description.