Community Support Worker
Job No:
18659
Location:
Lake Macquarie, NSW
- Competitive Remuneration plus Salary Sacrifice Options and Monthly RDO!
- Opportunity to improve the lives of individuals with mental illness!
- Family-friendly work hours - Monday - Friday only!
About the Organisation
New Horizons is a progressive not-for-profit community based organisation, which has been operating since 1981.
The organisation provides services in supported accommodation, supported employment and aged care for over 1200 people. New Horizons' non-profit commercial packaging service specialises in providing solutions for commercial clients while providing employment for people with a disability.
The organisation's head office is in North Ryde, however services are provided in the Sydney, Central Coast, Hunter, Mid North Coast, Blue Mountains and Northern Rivers regions. New Horizons is growing rapidly, with approximately 520 employees in NSW.
About the Opportunity
New Horizons has an exciting opportunity for a permanent full time Community Support Worker to join the team in Lake Macquarie which is located from our Newcastle office at Lambton.
The Personal Helpers and Mentors (PHaMs) program provides community care to individuals who have a severe functional limitation resulting from a mental illness. The primary purpose of this role is to ensure service delivery encompasses the principles of recovery to meet the needs of the participants and implement community mental health initiatives to assist people with mental illness and their families and carers to manage the impact of mental illness. This is achieved providing living and social skills training, within a recovery framework, to people with a mental illness who are living in their own homes that promote integration and participation in community life.
Reporting to the Coordinator, your specific responsibilities will include:
- Direct involvement: needs assessment, developing individual recovery plans, liaising with clinical providers, advocacy and peer support, personal development, supporting family relationships, mediation, and assisting people in their daily activities
- Referrals to relevant services: housing support, local community services, employment and education, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, independent living skills education, clinical services, allied and other mental health services as required
- Monitoring and reporting: monitoring participant referrals, ascertaining progress against individual recovery plans and general reporting on the implementation of the programme
About You
New Horizons is seeking an empathetic individual, with experience in mental health industry and complimentary skills in personal support, social and community welfare or similar. From your industry experience you will be able to demonstrate the ability to work in a recovery focussed program being supported by a case management framework including being able to develop comprehensive individual risk assessments, recovery / service plans for recipients.
This is a pivotal 'hands on' role and accordingly your ability to communicate effectively with vulnerable people, to solve problems, to manage and organise your time efficiently and to build and maintain collaborative relationships is essential. You will need both the ability to work effectively in a small team, and the ability to work unsupervised.
To succeed you will have completed qualifications in either Disability, Mental Health, Social Work or Community Services and it would be advantageous to hold a current Senior First Aid Certificate. You will need general administration abilities and able to demonstrate a basic level of computer literacy, complimented by an understanding of the Disability Service Standards and/or Mental Health Standards will be vital.
An enthusiasm for working with people with mental illness and a genuine desire to help others and improve the quality of life is essential! Employment in this position is subject to a satisfactory Criminal Record Check.
About the Benefits
New Horizons offers a competitive remuneration package and salary sacrifice options. In addition to this you will also receive monthly RDO's and enjoy family friendly work hours, with fantastic working conditions. The organisation truly values its employees, and actively encourages training and further study.
This is an extremely satisfying role, and you will finish each working day knowing you have improved the lives of others and truly made a difference within the community!
This is an amazing opportunity to truly make a positive difference in a rewarding position, while gaining valuable experience, learning new skills and driving your career forward!