• Classification: Social Worker Grade 2 or equivalent tertiary health qualification

The Royal Women’s Hospital

The Royal Women’s Hospital is Australia’s first and largest specialist hospital dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of newborns and women of all ages. To join the Women’s is to be instrumental in forging progress towards health equity for women from ground-breaking research through to the bedside delivery of multi-disciplinary clinical care. Creating exceptional experiences is at the heart of everything we do for our patients, their families, and our people across our specialised services within maternity, neonatal and women’s health.  

The Sexual Assault Crisis Line:

The Sexual Assault Crisis Line (SACL) provides a state wide after-hours telephone crisis service to people of all genders and sexualities impacted by sexual assault (including providing support to trans and gender diverse people and non-binary people and communities). SACL provides immediate crisis care coordination to victims / survivors of recent sexual assault, telephone crisis counselling support and advocacy, information and referral to victim /survivors of recent and past sexual assault. SACL also provides support and information for non-offending family and friends, and professional consultation and debriefing to on call Counsellor/Advocates from Centres Against Sexual Assault (CASA’s) Counsellor/Advocates and other professionals across Victoria.  

Your contribution: 

Your duties will include (but are not limited to) the following:

• To provide telephone crisis response support to survivors of past and recent sexual assault based on a clearly articulated intersectional feminist, rights advocacy, violence and trauma informed practice framework
• To co-ordinate the personnel involved in the provision of immediate crisis care responses to survivors of recent sexual assault (including CASAs, emergency/medical and police/legal systems)
• To provide consultation and debriefing to CASA counsellor/advocates delivering crisis care responses across the state after hours
• Provide secondary consultation to health and other professional practitioners
• To be available to participate in an after-hours roster covering evenings, overnights and weekend shifts and to participate in a roster providing back up on call to the service as required.

About you

To be successful within this role you will need to have:

• Appropriate tertiary qualifications in Social Work or a related health qualification Eligibility for membership with the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) or relevant professional body
• Demonstrated crisis counselling experience and specialist knowledge and skills in supporting survivors of sexual assault and violence
• An understanding of and commitment to the provision of a service based on an intersectional feminist, rights advocacy, violence and trauma informed practice framework.  

Our offering

When you join the Women’s you unite with talented people who share your purpose and unwavering determination to advance health outcomes for all women. You will find a workplace that is collaborative, progressive and passionate about learning and working together in multi-disciplinary teams to ensure you find the exceptional in your everyday.

Our staff benefits program includes salary packaging, on-site car parking and childcare (subject to availability), alongside a range of discounted financial, lifestyle and wellbeing benefits provided by our staff benefit partners. To learn more, please visit: www.thewomens.org.au/careers/why-work-at-the-womens/staff-benefits/

We are proudly Breastfeeding Association accredited. The Women’s is committed to gender equity principles and our people have an awareness of and sensitive approach to violence against women/family violence matters. 

The Women’s is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and social inclusion. We welcome applications from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, including those from Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders, people with lived experience of disability and people who identify as LGBTI.

It is a policy of the Women's to provide reasonable adjustments for persons with a disability. If you need assistance or adjustments to fully participate in the application or interview process, please contact the hiring manager listed under 'Contact Person'

Ready to make the move?

For more information about the position, please see the Position Description attached and apply online by selecting “apply now” below.

All appointments to the Women’s are subject to a satisfactory clearance of Working with Children Check and Police Check.

If you would like to receive this information/publication in an accessible format (such as large print or audio) please call our HR Enquiries line on: 03 8345 2080, or email [email protected], using the subject line: Counsellor / Advocate - Victorian Sexual Assault Crisis Line enquiry via EthicalJobs.