• Fitzroy (Wurundjeri) location
• Flexible work environment with a hybrid working model
• Immediate start – we will shortlist as we receive applications, so don’t delay applying!
• Part time role – 0.6 (3 days per week)
• SCHADS level 7, paypoint 1 - $58.23p/h (Annual salary $115,000, prorata 3 days per week $69,000)
• Small team environment, leading an experienced team

About Project Respect

Project Respect is a not-for-profit intersectional feminist community-based organisation that supports women and gender diverse people with experience in the sex industry, and women and gender diverse people who have experienced sexual exploitation.

Our Vision

Project Respect’s vision is a world where women are free from trafficking, sexual exploitation, violence, and harm.

Our Purposes

Project Respect’s purposes are to:

• Provide support to women and gender diverse people with experience in the sex industry to achieve self-directed goals, including equitable access to services;
• Provide support to women and gender diverse people who have experienced trafficking for sexual exploitation, whether current, historic, international or domestic;
• Advocate for structural change to end sexual exploitation.

We provide a platform to elevate and amplify the voices of, while also being informed and guided by, those with past and present lived experience (including from our Lived Experience Advisory Group).

Our service provision understands the intersection of family violence, sexual violence, and trafficking for sexual exploitation, including from intimate partners and family members.

About the Opportunity

The Direct Services Team Leader provides leadership of the direct services team (DST) which provides individually tailored, holistic and complex case coordination services. The DST also provides service delivery as part of the Additional Referral Pathway consortium, and delivers community engagement and social inclusion initiatives, including community events and outreach to brothels.

The role includes practice development for Project Respect services and support for workforce development and advocacy activities as required by the Executive Director, including secondary consultation and the provision of training to sector professionals. The Team Leader will possess high-quality social work skills and adopt a strengths-based and trauma informed approach to working with service users.

The Direct Services Team Leader reports to the Executive Director and acts as line manager for direct reports.

Please refer to the attached position description for key responsibilities and essential criteria.

About You

You have a background as a genuine, passionate, experienced and reliable practitioner, with a true commitment to supporting people without judgement and with a person-led approach. You possess the ability for deep and ongoing critical reflection. You have an open mind, possess a dedication to ongoing learning and welcome having your own unconscious biases challenged.

You have professional integrity, uphold professional boundaries and prioritise best practice processes. You are able to triage and prioritise competing tasks. You are willing to work within funding constraints with limited resources and understand the requirements for adaptability and innovation this brings. Self and collective care are important to you, and you are dedicated to contributing to a cohesive and supportive workplace environment.

You are a qualified social worker, with experience in leading and developing teams, as well as the development of practice frameworks. You have had experience with the family, domestic and sexual violence sector in Victoria, or, extensive experience in an aligned sector, with a practical understanding of the MARAM framework, including as regards to assessment, referral, case planning, safety planning and case noting.

You can build rapport, create safe spaces and develop trusting professional relationships with service users and with reports and team members. Trauma-informed care and a strengths-based approach are key components of your practice framework.

You approach your work with care, and pay particular regard to record keeping and organisational risk management. You are organised and reliable.

Why work with Project Respect?

Working with Project Respect means you will work within a small, supportive team of driven and dedicated women and gender diverse individuals. You will engage in meaningful work that aligns with your values, and will work to progress social change and equality. Project Respect engages in advocacy at a local, State, and National level, elevating lived experience voices and providing capacity building to the broader services sector.

Project Respect holds a strong commitment to your wellbeing and professional development. We provide regular internal line supervision and support external clinical supervision, and offer access to our Employee Assistance Program with Converge International.

Our office is in Fitzroy and is easily accessible by public transport. We offer a flexible work environment and operate within a hybrid on-site/work from home arrangement. You will be eligible for salary packaging entitlements for employees in the charities and not-for-profit sector (up to $15,900 tax-free per year).

Equal Opportunity and Diversity

Project Respect values diversity and welcomes applicants who meet the position criteria, irrespective of cultural identification, age, disability, religion and sexual orientation. Women and gender diverse peoples with lived experience in the sex industry, and/or of lived experiences of sexual exploitation are strongly encouraged to apply. People from cultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Note: Project Respect utilises the exemption provisions of S88 and S28 of the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 to only employ people who identify as a woman or are gender diverse.

All offers of employment are subject to our screening process, including a Working with Children Check and Police Records Check. Any person issued with a negative notice on their Working with Children Check will not be eligible for employment. Project Respect is a child safe organisation.

Project Respect encourages employees to be up to date with vaccinations against COVID-19, as we believe this is the best way to protect our community.

To Apply

You are invited to submit a cover letter telling us about you, why you’d like to work with Project Respect, and what you would add to our culture. Please be sure to address the key selection criteria outlined in the position description within your cover letter. This can be in a format that suits you, but must cover the main criteria outlined. As the role requires organisational and leadership skills - and the ideal opportunity to demonstrate these skills is through the application process - applications that do not attempt to directly address a significant portion of the selection criteria, or do not indicate why you would be attracted to a role at Project Respect specifically, are unlikely to be considered.

You are also required to submit a resume/CV.

Click Apply Now to submit your application.

For enquiries, please contact the Executive Director, Carolyn Gowers, on 9416 3401.

Please note we will be reviewing applications as they are received and will close the application process early if we find the right candidate. Please apply now to ensure you do not miss out!