• Fuse Initiatives, a program of Harm Reduction Victoria, is looking for an LLEW (Living & Lived Experience) Policy Officer to support the 2022-24 LLEW Development Program
• $44.92/hour, SCHADS Level 5 (minimum)
• This is a .6EFT (22.8 hours per week), fixed-term contract position until 30 June 2024
• Harm Reduction Victoria offers its employees salary packaging of up to $15,900 per year, an Employee Assistance Program, training & development opportunities and more!

About Harm Reduction Victoria

Harm Reduction Victoria is a peer-led, not-for-profit organisation. HRVic is a health promotion organisation that is guided by the principle that any drug related harm should be treated as a health issue and not a criminal issue. Our aim is to advance the health and wellbeing of people who use drugs by creating an environment in which individuals are empowered to realise our aspirations, meet our needs and participate fully in society.

Position Context

The LLEW Policy Officer role will support the 2022-24 Lived and Living Experience Workforce (LLEW) Development Program. Funded by the Victorian Department of Health, the LLEW Development Program comprises a series of projects that realise authorised, supported and sustainable LLEWs in public mental health, AOD (Alcohol and Other Drug) and Harm Reduction services.

Objective of Position:

To be a contributing team member of Harm Reduction Victoria’s Fuse Program. This position will be responsible for the development of a discipline framework for the living experience harm reduction peer workforce and the development of a bank of discipline specific role descriptions and will be involved in developing the parameters for Lived experience workforce research grants. These initiatives will be developed alongside similar projects by the Mental Health lived experience peer workforce, Mental Health Family/Carer Lived Experience Workforce, and AOD recovery lived experience peer workforce. We will work on these LLEW Development Program initiatives, individually and as partners.

The project and workplans will be as agreed upon with the program coordinator such as:

Core Duties:

Discipline-Specific Framework Development

• Develop a discipline framework for peer workers in harm reduction services
  • The framework will:
    • articulate the discipline’s professional and ethical values, practice principles and scope of practice
    • inform understanding and definition of lived and living experience roles in harm reduction services
    • inform practices and application in mental health & AOD system
    • inform training and development requirements
    • draw on existing work and frameworks incl the Our Future report, Consumer and Carer Workforce Supervision Frameworks and the National Guidelines for Lived Experience Workforce

• Development of a bank of discipline specific role descriptions for the Victorian harm reduction LLE workforce
• Coordinate and collect example position descriptions covering harm reduction peer roles
• Review, adapt and make available as resources
• Collaboration/coordination with VMIAC, Tandem/CLEW and SHARC on their counterpart projects

• Co-design parameters for research grant processes

Professional Development

• Development and delivery of professional development sessions for Harm Reduction Peer Workforce
  • Work closely with the LLE Educator role in the training and development requirements for all LLE workforce in Victoria
• Assist with developing and delivering Harm Reduction Peer Workforce Annual Forum
• Undertake Annual Review and ongoing evaluation processes for training and professional development

Support Partner Activities

• Collaborate in meetings and on activities with LLEW development program partnership organisations
• Promotional activities to expand HR peer workforce

Contribute to HRVic Activities

• Other reasonable tasks as required, including contribution to Harm Reduction Victoria’s health promotion and administration activities or any other reasonable tasks as directed by the HRVic Coordinators and CEO and in collaboration with other HRVic staff.

• Contribute positively to HRVic’s work culture.

Key Selection Criteria

The person who will be successful in this role will have a stake in ensuring people with a lived or living experience of drug use are valued and able to work from this experience in the Victorian AOD and Harm Reduction sector. They will have excellent analytical skills and the capacity to write quickly and consult meaningfully.

Essential:

• Demonstrated high level of written and verbal communication skills – please provide examples of written work that is your own. For example: policy, research or workplace documentation or communications. This may be de-identified. (If this job sounds like one you want and you do not have examples to hand, please address this criterion by describing clearly why you want the role and what this community means to you.)
• Organisational skills, including the ability to prioritise work, write and deliver on workplans, liaise with partners and meet deadlines in a demanding work environment
• Demonstrated analysis skills. This may be a piece of analytical writing or evidence of presenting on complex topics related to AOD, Harm Reduction, Mental Health or Social Policy.
• Competent computer skills, including a functional knowledge of Word and Excel, common internet and email applications.
• The capacity to work both autonomously and as part of a diverse team when required
• A non-judgmental, friendly attitude and the ability to adopt a reasoned approach when dealing with stressful situations.
• A work and/or volunteer history that clearly attests to the candidate’s reliability, honesty and the capacity to adhere to policy guidelines and workplace procedures.
• Personal experience, as a peer, of the key health, social and legal issues that affect people who use illicit drugs will be highly regarded

Highly Desirable:

• Demonstrated experience developing position descriptions, practice guidelines or other workplace culture documents OR 2 plus years management experience
• Qualifications in public health / equivalent – Undergrad or Post-Graduate
• Demonstrated professional and/or volunteer experience in community development, health promotion, harm reduction, peer education or similar disciplines.
• A Victorian driver's license

To submit your application, click Apply Now.

A position description is attached.