Brief Description
* Maximum Term Contract - Parental leave cover
* Opportunity to work part time (0.4 FTE, Tuesday and Wednesdays)
* Salary packaging, gifted leave at Christmas and Easter, paid parental leave
About The Role
The Senior Specialist Family Violence Practitioner – Rapid Response and After Hours is an integral member of the family violence team. This role will work across our Rapid Response and After-Hours programs delivering high quality face to face and over the phone support to women and children who are experiencing family violence across the Bayside Peninsula Region, including intake and assessment, crisis response and facilitating referrals in refuge.
The family violence responses will be provided at diverse locations within the region and may include service delivery sites, motels, police stations, hospitals, and other accommodations clients may be residing. This role requires a practitioner who can work independently and is able to apply framework and theories to provide the most appropriate and safe response to women and children experiencing family violence.
This role aims at supporting women and children to increase their safety through risk and needs assessments and safety planning. It also involves a holistic approach by providing additional support as required. This role will also provide support to practitioners and other workers supporting family violence services including consultation and supervision.
Key Responsibilities
* Deliver specialist family violence response for women and children during daytime and afterhours.
* Assess immediate safety risks and support needs using MARAM framework.
* Complete safety planning and liaise with services to enhance client safety.
* Provide psychoeducation and emotional support to women and children.
* Offer rapid response and identify clients requiring case management.
* Support clients until case allocation or referrals are finalized.
* Respond to Afterhours referrals from Safesteps, The Orange Door, and approved sources.
* Conduct outreach to confidential locations and motels, assisting with immediate needs.
* Provide material aid and emergency accommodation to promote safety.
* Manage administration tasks including referrals, case notes, and data accuracy.
* Deliver supervision, coaching, and debriefing to family violence practitioners.
* Undertake additional tasks to support Rapid Response and Afterhours programs.
About You
* Demonstrated capacity to provide short-term to longer-term case management in a family violence setting including knowledge of the Multiple Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) framework.
* Demonstrated capacity to provide a crisis response to women and children in different settings.
* Demonstrated ability to undertake family violence risk and needs assessments and respond appropriately.
* Demonstrated knowledge of the impacts of family violence for women, children, young people and families and the capacity to apply appropriate theoretical frameworks to practice.
* Demonstrated understanding of intersectionality and experience working with women and young people presenting with complex and diverse needs.
Family Violence Minimum Mandatory Qualifications Under Recommendation 209
As per the minimum mandatory qualifications requirements via
All candidates wishing to apply for this role must be able to demonstrate that they:
* are considered EXEMPT under the policy OR
* hold a Bachelor of Social Work or other equivalent qualification OR
* have minimum 5 years relevant professional experience, OR a related qualification as per the mandatory minimum qualification requirements. OR
* hold significant cultural knowledge and experience or lived experience, and have faced barriers to educational pathways
Please note that candidates wishing to enter the specialist family violence workforce via a related qualification or 5 years related professional experience pathway, OR the significant cultural knowledge and experience or lived experience pathways will be required to work towards an equivalent qualification within specified timeframes (as per the mandatory minimum qualifications policy). If you believe these pathways may apply to you and would like more information, please don't hesitate to contact to discuss this further.
Benefits
* Salary packaging - which can add up to $15,900 in tax-free pay per year
* 4 days gifted leave at Christmas and Easter (pro rata)
* Up to 100 hours of paid study leave (where relevant to role)
* 12 weeks paid parental leave (primary career)
* Additional leave through purchase leave pathways
* Employee Assistance Program, a free and confidential counselling service
* Eligible for participation in the portable long service leave program
About Us
Our strategy outlines the world we want to see and our role in advancing it. We aspire for all women, girls, and families to be safe, well, strong, and connected. We strive for equity, dignity and social justice for women, girls and families by collaborating globally and acting locally, supporting our communities in Australia and New Zealand to thrive.
We want women, girls and families to live full and dignified lives, have dignified income and enjoy financial wellbeing. We aim to provide place-based, people-centred, holistic services while working at the system level to achieve bold and audacious reform. We currently offer microfinance programs and products, financial counselling and coaching, family and domestic violence support services, family and youth programs, playgroups, education programs and community houses. These services are complemented by research and strong advocacy to address the underlying structural causes of injustice, exclusion, and inequality.
Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (GSANZ) respects the dignity of all people, draws strength from, and celebrates the diversity of our community. At GSANZ, we strive for an inclusive culture where all identities feel safe and that they belong. We welcome and actively seek applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people of all sexual orientations and gender expressions and identities, people with disability, and culturally and racially marginalised people. Each person's individual decision regarding disclosure will be fully respected.
How To Apply
Please click 'Apply' to complete your application. Please upload your resume and a brief cover letter addressing the requirements of the role.
Applications are considered as they are received. Applications close on: 15th February 2026
We recognise that applicants may hesitate to disclose their need for adjustments during recruitment due to concerns about discrimination. To address this, Good Shepherd asks all candidates about any required accommodations, with the intention of minimizing any sense of exclusion or discomfort associated with requesting adjustments.
Good Shepherd believes in genuine inclusive practice and employment and will therefore offer job customisation to meet the varying needs of diverse candidates.
Personal data held by Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand relating to employment applications will be used in accordance with our Privacy Statement, which is available on our website.
We recognise the rich diversity of people across Australia. We are committed to ensuring that our team is reflective of the diverse community we serve and to supporting a culture of equity, inclusion and diversity.
Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand is a Child Safe employer. Employment is subject to satisfactory referee checks, a current employment working with Children Check, National Criminal History check and proof of the right to work in Australia.