Nexventur is working closely with a leading children’s hospital in Melbourne that has been providing outstanding care for the children’s of Victoria and their families for the past 150 years. The hospital is a major specialists paediatric hospital in Victoria and care extends to children from Tasmania, New South Wales, across Australia and overseas.

With a passionate, highly skilled and committed staff campus wide of close to 4,000, they provide a full range of clinical services, tertiary care and health promotion and prevention programs for children and young people.

Working collaboratively alongside case managers, the hospital’s Mental Health speech pathologists provide high quality, timely comprehensive communication assessments, treatment/interventions and internal and external consultation for complex children and young people. A significantly amount of speech pathologists time in the community teams is also spend contributing to assessments for Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Successful candidates will be highly valued members of the three community teams and will have access to discipline specific supervision through a Senior Discpline for Speech Pathology. As well as on the job learning and carer pathways, the hospital’s Mental Health Service is implementing a new training and development program for staff and there will be numerous opportunities to get involved in the transformation agenda over the next two years.

The hospital’s Mental Health is a Level 5 tertiary Infant, Child and Family Area Mental Health and Wellbeing Service and comprises community and hospital-based services. This includes an Intake and Assessment Team based at Parkville and three multidisciplinary outpatient teams located at Travancore, St Albans and Hoppers Crossing. The Community teams are led by a partnership between a Team Coordinator and a Consultant Psychiatrist, with the Team Coordinator responsible for the operational functioning of the team, and the Consultant Psychiatrist accountable for driving high quality clinical care across the Team.

Our Community Programs are undergoing an exciting transformation and expansion as we implement the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System. The transformation will allow the Mental Health Service to help more infants and children and their families and implement contemporary models of care that best meet the needs of the families we serve and support them to use their collective strengths for recovery and hope.

Flexible work options, including working from home arrangements will be made available, as well as access to Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and a range of other staff wellbeing initiatives.

Sponsorship and relocation packages are available to the right candidates. 

This role may require professional registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Agency (AHPRA)  https://www.ahpra.gov.au/

Role and responsibilities

• Provide high quality speech pathology assessments, consultation, individual and group interventions to infants, children, and adolescents and/or their parents, carers and families referred by RCH Mental Health clinicians.
• Provide high quality specialist speech pathology consultation to RCH Mental Health clinicians regarding the identification, assessment and impact of a child’s potential/actual communication disorder and provide appropriate recommendations and management strategies.
• Provide specialist input into the multidisciplinary assessment and management of Autism Spectrum Disorders.
• Effectively liaise with families and other agencies such as schools and preschools regarding the impact of the child’s communication disorder and provide appropriate recommendations and management strategies.
• Work collaboratively with other clinical disciplines to provide high quality multidisciplinary assessment and care.
• Provide, when required, assessment and/or management of eating/swallowing disorders associated with mental health presentations.
• Contribute to discipline specific meetings, peer supervision and quality improvement activities.
• Supervise speech pathology students as required
• Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders to maximise service coordination and cooperation.
• Accurate, thorough and professional clinical record keeping and documentation.
• Undertake and/or support research and evaluation activities.
• Support continuous quality improvement ethos.
• Comply with requirements to participate in operational supervision, clinical governance consultations, and discipline specific supervision.
• Professional and efficient record keeping both written and electronic including service activity data and other as required in accordance with the RCH policies
• Collect speech pathology specific data and maintain team speech pathology data base

Qualifications and experience

• Degree or Postgraduate qualification in Speech Pathology and eligibility for membership of Speech Pathology Australia, including adherence to the Speech Pathology Australia Code of Ethics.
• Demonstrated clinical skills in the provision of speech pathology services to children and adolescents (assessment and intervention).
• Qualification, experience or demonstrated interest in child and adolescent mental health would be advantageous.
• Evidence of ongoing professional development
• Valid Victorian Driver’s Licence
• Desirable:
• Experience in multidisciplinary Autism Spectrum Disorder assessments
• Completion of the Developmental Psychiatry Course (DPC) & or post graduate training in mental health or a relevant area.
• Other requirements:
• Employees are required to undertake a National Criminal Record Check and a Working with Children Check prior to commencing employment
• Employees are required to maintain a valid Working with Children’s Check throughout their employment
• A current, full driver’s licence for the State of Victoria which is appropriate for the type of vehicle being driven, and comply with any restrictions on their licence (e.g. wearing glasses) while undertaking hospital duties (If applicable)
• Employees are required to maintain compliance with the hospita's “Staff Immunisation - Prevention of Vaccine Preventable Diseases” procedure.

Selection Criteria

• Demonstrated clinical skills and experience in the provision of effective and efficient child and adolescent triage, assessment and mental health care
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain working relationships with key stakeholders to maximise service coordination and cooperation as well as capacity building with community agencies
• A commitment and evidence of evidence-based practice and continuing professional development including and ability to find and apply evidence in decision-making
• Highly developed written and verbal communication skills and inter-personal skills
• Demonstrate awareness and understanding of legal obligations when working in a CAMHS context in Victoria
• A flexible and adaptable approach to functioning in a team environment that enhances the team’s high performance