Part time counsellor - sexual assault position description and selection criteria.

Women’s Health Awareness Group of Gladstone Inc

Supporting, Assisting and Promoting Women and Women’s Health Issues in the Gladstone Region

Sexual Assault Support and Prevention Program Part-time Counsellor

Position Title: Counsellor
Terms: Part-time – 15 hours/fortnight
Reporting relationship: This position reports to the Manager
Classification: Social and Community Services Award Level 5


1. Position summary:

The Counsellor is an integral part of the service provision team at Women’s Health Centre and is required to work within the guidelines of the centres policies and procedures. The position provides:

 High quality individual counselling and support services to women aged 15 years and over who have experienced recent and/or past rape and/or sexual assault and who reside in the Gladstone region.

2. Duties and responsibilities.
To provide a high quality counselling and support service to women aged 15 years and over who have experienced past or recent rape and/or sexual assault. This includes:-

 Providing short and medium term counselling with women aged 15 and over who have experienced past sexual assault.
 Providing crisis response to women and young women who have experienced recent sexual assault.
 Providing support to clients through requisite medical and/or police procedures.
 Providing information and support to women’s support personnel, where appropriate.
 Evaluating the effectiveness of the counselling service on a regular basis.
 Participating in the development, implementation and review of appropriate and effective policies and procedures that relate to the provision of counselling services to a diverse range of women.

3. Skills and competencies required.


Value Competencies:
Clarification as it pertains to the position
 Relationships Be able to build a healthy and safe rapport with clients and other staff members
 Advocacy Be able advocate for the rights and needs of clients to ensure the best possible outcomes.
Be able to frame sexual violence within the Centre’s philosophy and articulate this into appropriate messages related to specific projects.
 Empowerment To assist clients to be empowered within their relationships with the Service.
 Accountability Be accountable to the clients and to the service
 Quality Provide a high quality service from a trauma framework.
Be able to develop, implement and manage projects from conception to post evaluation.

Role Competencies:
 Work/knowledge To be able to provide counselling services appropriate to the clients of Women’s Health Centre.
 Quality of work To provide high quality counselling and support to women accessing the service and quality projects. To write case notes in a timely manner, which conform to the centre policies
 Interpersonal Skills/Communication skills Demonstrate high levels of interpersonal and communication skills.
 Presentation skills Demonstrate an ability to present appropriate and relevant information in a professional group setting/community setting
 Team work To be able to work effectively in a team.
 Problem solving Be able to problem solve in relation to the individual client, client context and the service context.
 Counselling skills Ability to articulate personal therapeutic frameworks used within sexual assault counselling.


4. Qualifications and/or training required:

 Qualifications in Social and Behavioural Sciences, Counselling or a related field.
 Minimum of 3 years counseling experience - experience in Sexual Assault counselling in highly desirable

Key selection criteria

SC1. Demonstrated possession of tertiary qualifications and extensive experience relevant to the duties of the position.

SC2. Comprehensive understanding of the causes and effects of sexual violence against women.

SC3. Well developed framework for the provision of high quality counselling services to women of diverse backgrounds and the ability to articulate personal frameworks.

SC4. Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills, both oral and written, and the capacity to impart information to a broad cross section of people.

SC5. Possession of a current "A" class drivers licence, Possession of or willingness to obtain a suitability card from the Commission for Children and Young People and Current First Aid Certificate.



9 Derby Street, PO Box 8219 South Gladstone QLD 4680
Telephone: (07) 4979 1456 Fax: (07) 4979 1901
Email: whealth@bigpond.net.au
ABN No: 26 651 545 436
http://womenshealth-gladstone.blogspot.com/