If you are committed to supporting people actively tackling mental health, addiction and family violence issues, we have a compelling opportunity for you to contribute to the success of our health justice partnerships by embedding your psycho/social support skills within our team in a new role.

About First Step Legal (a unique Health Justice Partnership)

First Step Legal (FSL) operates as a Health Justice Partnership (HJP) within First Step, a not for profit mental health and addiction clinic in St Kilda, Melbourne. FSL is a unique Community Legal Centre providing pro bono, legal advice, casework and representation to among the most marginalised in the community, in way that is truly innovative.

FSL scaffolds support around clients struggling with mental health and addiction, by achieving legal and court outcomes supportive of their continued recovery and rehabilitation in the community. HJPs such as FSL deliver their clients the benefit of co-location, clear and simple referral pathways and truly integrated case management. Along with our HJP within First Step, we are about to embark on two new outreach programs with Alfred Health (MH Outpatients) and Star Health (Family Violence Program).

About the Role

In this new role - working under an HJP model, collaboratively with the FSL team and health professionals both at First Step, as well as at FSL’s outreach projects - you will:

• help develop and embed a new psycho-social support for clients, making triage assessments; providing crisis intervention and making supported referrals for short-term clients;
• for more complex, legal casework clients, conduct short-medium intervention work, helping clients identify and work towards their brief intervention goals;
• work collaboratively within the HJP to tackle mental health, addiction or family violence issues to enable clients to overcome difficult personal, physical, emotional and mental conditions to rebuild and restore their lives; and
• help to inform our systems, policy and advocacy work.

To learn about First Step Legal, visit https://www.firststep.org.au/first_step_legal. Please also see the attached Position Description and FSL Organisational Chart.

For further information please contact Michelle Goldberg at [email protected], using the subject line: Embedded Social Worker enquiry via EthicalJobs.

Salary and Conditions

This is a Part-time position 0.4-0.5 FTE for a fixed term of twelve months. Days and hours are flexible, subject to negotiation. The continuation of this role is contingent on securing additional funding and is subject to a 6 month probationary period.Conditions are set out under the SCHADS Award. Salary is negotiable, subject to skills and experience.