• Honesty Trust Respect Concern Love
• Full-time (1.0 FTE), Ongoing
• Based at Magistrates Court
• $90,533 – 94,630 per annum (neg), plus super
• 17.5% annual leave loading and Generous salary packaging options (up to $15,900)
• Progressive Workplace Flexibility options that enable genuine work life balance

About Odyssey House Victoria:

Odyssey House Victoria (OHV) is a place of hope and positive change for individuals working towards breaking their pattern of addiction. At Odyssey House we believe that every person should have the opportunity to change and grow. Our diverse teams work with individuals, families, and communities to reduce alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, improve mental health, and reconnect people to their family and the community. OHV is a dynamic and fast-growing organisation committed to excellence in service provision and innovation in responding to alcohol and other drugs use problems.

About our Melbourne Drug Court:

The Melbourne Drug Court (MDC) is a collaboration between DHS and the Department of Justice to deliver therapeutic jurisprudence to offenders with an active alcohol and/or drug issue which is implicated in their offending. It offers an intensive process whereby the magistrate, lawyers, corrections officers, police, housing workers, AOD counsellors and clinical advisors work together with the magistrate to support the ‘participant’ to abstain from offending and substance use.

OHV has partnered with Uniting AOD to deliver counselling services to the MDC (Magistrates). The position works closely with clinical advisors and corrections case managers and efficiently interfaces with the broad range of other court services.

Role Purpose:

The Senior AOD Counsellor MDC will work with participants for up to 2 years, as part of a small counselling team, to provide intensive counselling, group interventions, and provide secondary consultation to the wider court team, and will liaise with Court Services staff and other in-house health and welfare providers. A significant component of the role is providing clinical recommendations directly to the Magistrate as part of a regular case review process and attending court.

The position has a focus on assessing and addressing the relationship between substance use and offending. A good level of experience working with complex clients, excellence in building rapport and in timely and concise documentation are necessary requirements.

Key areas of focus:

• Build strong and effective relationships with program participants and their families to create positive expectations and confidence in treatment.
• Provide high quality engagement, assessment, counselling and support services to program participants and their families, through evidence-based counselling interventions.
• Operate within diverse therapeutic frameworks and treatment modalities and provide effective counselling interventions to meet the individual needs of participants, with complex needs and their families.
• Provide information, individual support, education, and practical assistance to participants to help them reduce the harms of their substance use.
• Regularly assess each participant’s level of risk and document and communicate risk issues to the wider court team.
• Consider the needs of and identify any risks to partners and vulnerable children, work with families to develop safety plans, and facilitate referrals to Child First and Family Service agents when indicated.
• Develop comprehensive treatment intervention plans, attend treatment planning meetings and review progress towards treatment goals regularly.
• Participate in the development of pre-release and exit and post-treatment support plans to offer appropriate guidance including handover and referral to maintain treatment gains.
• Collaborate and provide secondary consults with other services/professionals to deliver an integrated/multidisciplinary approach. This includes but not limited to, mental health, generalist counselling, medical, family counselling, domestic violence workers, and culturally appropriate services.
• Maintain a high standard of documentation (including client files and records) compliant with accountability structures and in accordance with professional, legislative, contractual service obligations and organisational standards.
• Prepare reports for the Court and provide expert advice to the Magistrate.

A week in the role:

If you were here last week, you would have:

• Delivered between 15-22 individual counselling sessions to participants.
• Attended case reviews with Magistrate, Clinical Advisor and Corrections Case Manager to provide therapeutic perspective on participant progress while on Drug Treatment Order.
• Facilitated a group session for participants e.g., Smart Recovery or Emotion Regulation.
• Attended court to provide information to Magistrate and support allocated participants.
• Attended Counsellor’s group supervision with an external supervisor or engaged in an online/in-person professional development.

Key Selection Criteria:

We are looking for an experienced and passionate Senior AOD Counsellor to work with complex clients and provide intensive counselling, group interventions and secondary consultations.

To be successful in this role, you must…

• Hold a relevant Health, Social or Welfare tertiary qualification such as Social Work, Psychology, Nursing or Allied Health Services, or a relevant Diploma with substantial experience.
• Have completed or willing to complete within the first 12 months of employment the minimum AOD competencies (refer to appendix A*).
• Have a minimum of four years’ experience as an AOD counsellor, preferably with dual diagnosis clients.
• Be able to fulfil the requirements for a DHHS Accredited Forensic Clinical Drug Assessor.
• Demonstrate a proven ability to work effectively with people and families experiencing problematic alcohol and other drugs use in a respectful, compassionate, and positive manner.
• Be able to support positive behavioural and recovery-oriented care.
• Demonstrate experience in delivering therapeutic approaches such as: Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Family Inclusive Practice, self-help groups, Community Reinforcement Approaches.
• Demonstrate understanding of interventions for reducing alcohol and drug related harm and the ability to collaborate effectively with partner agencies and other service providers.
• Demonstrate understanding of therapeutic jurisprudence and treatment programs in custodial settings.
• Demonstrate commitment to teamwork and the ability to take appropriate individual and team responsibility for the welfare of program participants.

*Appendix A (AOD Competencies)

OHV requires staff in clinical positions to have the following competencies (or their equivalent). Where people do not already have these competencies, OHV will invest in the staff’s professional development by providing them through our registered training organisation (RTO).
The competencies required in the first 12 months of employment are:

• CHCAOD001 – Work in an alcohol and other drugs context
• CHCAOD004 – Assess needs of clients with alcohol and other drugs issues
• CHCAOD006 – Provide interventions for people with alcohol and other drugs issues
• CHCAOD009 – Develop and review individual alcohol and other drugs treatment plans

What we can give YOU!

In return we are committed to offering you employment in an inclusive and transparent workplace culture where our people can develop to be their very best by:

• Ongoing learning and development opportunities
• Providing work that is meaningful and challenging, with career development opportunities through project and secondment opportunities and succession planning
• Providing career pathways across diverse OHV programs.
• Access to 24/7 counselling through our Employee Assistance Provider (EAP)
• Generous leave options such as 48/52 Purchase Leave, Study Leave and Sabbaticals
• Flexible working arrangements such as, school-orientated part-year hours and monthly RDO’s for full-timers (arrangements will vary based on role requirements).

In addition to the above, staff will also be provided monthly Clinical Supervision sessions for professional development and personal wellbeing.

Application information

Please apply directly via our careers website (applications via external recruitment websites or via email will not be considered)

Applications should be addressed to Caroline Long and include your CV and a cover letter addressing the key selection criteria.

If you have any questions relating to the position, please contact Caroline Long Manager Service Development on, 0400 806 969 or at [email protected] using the subject line: Senior AOD Counsellor Melbourne Drug Court enquiry via EthicalJobs.

We will be assessing applications on a rolling basis and suitable candidates will be shortlisted immediately. Applications for this role will close once a suitable candidate/s has been selected, so don’t wait to apply.

Our commitment to diversity

At OHV 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 by encouraging people with disability, Aboriginal Australians, LGBTQIA, young people and people from culturally diverse backgrounds to apply for this position.

Safety screening

OHV is committed to child safety and is a child safe organisation. All OHV employees must undergo Police Records and Working with Children Checks. Any person issued with a negative notice on their Working with Children Check will not be eligible for employment with us.

Mandatory COVID vaccinations

In line with recent Victorian Government mandatory vaccination requirements for the health industry, and OHV's Mandatory Vaccination Policy, all Odyssey House Victoria staff are required to hold full vaccination status, and effective as of 1 March 2022 also have received the Booster Vaccination. Evidence of such vaccination status will be requested during the onboarding process and offers will be rescinded where such evidence cannot be provided.

All Odyssey House Victoria sites are smoke free for all employees.