* Job location at Darwin
* Remuneration: Salary $110,102.72 - $114,983.44 per annum (dependent on experience). As a Public Benevolent Institution (PBI) NAAFLS can offer up to $15,899 per annum of the salary, Tax-free as a fringe benefit (conditions apply).
* Hours of work: Monday to Friday, 8:15am – 4:21pm
* Employment Type: Full-time ongoing position (subject to funding)
* Superannuation: 12.0%
* Leave Entitlement: 6 weeks per annum plus 17.5% leave loading
* Reports To: Executive Director, Practice and Culture
* Special Measures:
* Information for Applicants: Additional benefits include: Time off in Lieu of Overtime, Wellbeing leave (conditions apply), Travel Allowance, Annual individual training allowance, Paid parental leave applicable to Primary or Secondary Carer (6 weeks' paid after 12 months service), Study Leave, Defence Leave.
* Additional Information: Mandatory employment requirements: Obtain a working with children clearance (WWCC), Obtain a clear Criminal History Check, Possess a current 'C' Class NT Drivers Licence. Conditions of Employment: Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010, National Employment Standards, Fair Work Act.
ABOUT NAAFLS
NAAFLS is an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO) and independent Family Violence Prevention Legal Service (FVPLS). Our primary practice areas are family law, child protection, domestic family and sexual violence and victims of crime compensation matters.
We are the only victim-based Aboriginal legal service in remote communities in the Top End region of the NT.
We have offices in Darwin (Larrakia land), Katherine (Jawoyn, Dagoman and Wardaman land) and Nhulunbuy (Yolŋu land), and service over 40 remote communities within the Top End region spanning from the Tiwi Islands down to Lajamanu, Wadeye and across to Borroloola. We provide culturally sensitive legal advice, assistance, representation, and support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Top End communities who have experienced domestic, family, and sexual violence.
We offer the unique opportunity to work collaboratively alongside client support officers and case workers, which are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identified roles, to ensure that our service is culturally safe and holistic. This holistic and culturally appropriate model of service sets us apart; seeking practical community-based solutions to the most complex legal problems and ensures our vulnerable clients are fully supported throughout their journey.
POSITION OVERVIEW
As part of NAAFLS strategic plan, an organisational goal is to increase our capacity and expertise, the Senior Social Work Practitioner provides therapeutic supervision and support for multidisciplinary teams— including legal, case work, community engagement, and administrative staff – to support the delivery of culturally appropriate services to individuals and families affected by family and domestic violence. This role ensures that our processes are safe, evidence-based, ethical, strengths-based, and grounded in First Nations worldviews.
Reporting to the Executive Director, Practice and Culture, the role is responsible for consulting and working alongside NAAFLS' Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce to help refine and support the implementation of NAAFLS' Practice Framework. The Senior Social Work Practitioner will also provide group and individual clinical supervision and reflective practice sessions within the social work scope. This position requires high-level knowledge of trauma, systems of violence, culturally safe practice, and social work ethics. The Senior Social Worker Practitioner works in collaboration with the Executive Director, Practice and Culture to provide expertise using both Western clinical approaches and Aboriginal cultural frameworks ensure alignment with the ethical obligations, practice standards and codes of conduct of their professional accreditation body (e.g., AASW, PACFA, or equivalent).
The Senior Social Work Practitioner exercises delegated practice authority from the Executive Director, Practice and Culture. This includes identifying and escalating practice-related risks to support staff and client safety, while operating within approved scope and without assuming line management, disciplinary, or operational decision-making authority.
This role supports a geographically dispersed organisation and requires coordination across multiple office locations in Darwin, Katherine, and Nhulunbuy, including travel between these offices as required.
KEY RESPONSIBILITES
1. Practice Framework Development
* Responsible for consulting and working alongside NAAFLS Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce to refine the NAAFLS Practice Framework tailored for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families impacted by violence, grief, and systemic injustice.
* In consultation with the Executive Director, Practice and Culture develop guidelines and protocols for therapeutic engagement, safety planning, case coordination, and service exit.
* Contribute to cross-team innovation and program design that supports holistic, wraparound responses for families impacted by violence and systemic harm, including the development of Aboriginal Family-Led Decision Making and Family Dispute Resolution models of practice.
2. Clinical Supervision and Team Development
* Provide individual and group clinical supervision to specialist staff, case workers, and support workers, promoting ethical reflection, accountability, and cultural humility.
* In consultation with the Executive Team, design and deliver both mandatory and elective training modules tailored to practice and service delivery.
* Provide support and guidance to line managers to build leadership capacity through mentoring, reflective practice, peer learning, and targeted training.
* Promote staff wellbeing through vicarious trauma prevention strategies and self-care frameworks.
* Initiate debriefs following critical incidents or complex cases.
3. Therapeutic Support
* Provide specialist therapeutic and practice support to staff working with clients with high and complex needs, ensuring responses are safe, ethical, and trauma informed. Hold professional accountability in accordance with AASW standards, ethics, and scope of practice.
* Deliver individual and group reflective practice sessions, provide professional supervision to support safe practice, professional development, and staff wellbeing.
* In collaboration with line manager, provide expert practice guidance within social work scope, including case formulation, boundary setting, and culturally safe practice.
* Offer professional advice on managing complex client presentations, secondary trauma, and vicarious trauma.
* In consultation with line managers, support legal and non-legal staff managing sensitive client matters, including:
o risk and safety considerations
o strengths-based, trauma-informed approaches
o responding to and managing client disclosures
* Contribute to consistent, high-quality practice across the organisation without assuming line management or performance management functions.
4. Organisational Practice and Reporting
* Contribute to improving casework quality through practice-focused monitoring and quality assurance activities, including case audits, outcome tracking, and evaluation of interventions provided to individuals and families.
* Lead, in consultation with the Executive Director, the implementation, monitoring and continuous improvement of the NT Risk Assessment and Management Framework (RAMF) and Common Risk Assessment Tool (CRAT) across NAAFLS, embedding culturally grounded, trauma-informed risk practice within supervision, workforce capability development, governance processes and organisational systems to ensure compliance, quality assurance and staff wellbeing.
* Provide de-identified reports and briefings on practice trends, supervision activity, and risk indicators to the Executive Director, Practice & Culture to support organisational learning and continuous improvement.
* Support NAAFLS' duty of care through attention to psychosocial risks and ethical practice standards, identifying and addressing ethical dilemmas in social work practice.
* Work collaboratively across NAAFLS Team Leaders and line mangers to ensure coordinated, trauma-informed, and culturally safe responses to client risk, including risk assessment, safety planning, and emergency interventions.
* Provide therapeutic and practice insights to inform client-centred policies on confidentiality, engagement with vulnerable clients, and other practice matters that support quality service delivery.
* Support the Executive Director, Practice and Culture by providing advice on practice-related policies and frameworks, ensuring they remain trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and aligned with social work standards.
* Take on projects assigned by the Executive Director, Practice & Culture or CEO.
* Other duties as reasonable directed.
* Tertiary qualifications in Social Work (AASW membership) or equivalent professional registration (e.g., PACFA), with commitment to professional ethics, supervision, and CPD.
* Extensive experience delivering individual and group clinical supervision and reflective practice in complex service environments.
* Experience supporting multidisciplinary teams, including legal and non-clinical staff, to embed ethical, trauma-informed, and culturally safe practice.
* Ability to facilitate reflective processes promoting accountability, critical thinking, cultural humility, and professional growth.
* High-level knowledge of trauma, intergenerational trauma, coercive control, domestic/family violence, child protection, and systemic injustice.
* Skilled in applying strengths-based, client-centred, and trauma-informed frameworks in practice and supervision.
* Experience supporting practitioners managing high-risk and complex client presentations.
* Demonstrated culturally safe practice with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contexts, including integration of Western and Aboriginal frameworks.
* Commitment to self-reflection, cultural humility, and working under Aboriginal leadership.
* Experience contributing to practice frameworks, protocols, therapeutic guidelines, and implementation of evidence-based or culturally grounded models.
* Ability to provide expert practice leadership, mentoring, and capacity-building without direct performance management responsibilities.
* Advanced skills in risk assessment, safety planning, and ethical decision-making; able to manage complex ethical dilemmas, boundaries, and vicarious trauma.
* Highly developed written and verbal communication, including de-identified reporting and presenting complex clinical concepts to non-clinical audiences.
* Ability to travel across the NT as required
* Experience in Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) or FVPLS.
* Experience in remote/regional contexts.
* Experience supporting Aboriginal Family-Led Decision Making or Family Dispute Resolution.
* Knowledge of psychosocial risk management frameworks and workplace wellbeing strategies.
While NAAFLS is an equal opportunity employer, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are strongly encouraged to apply.
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