Position overview

Mental Health, Justice Health and Alcohol and Drug Services (MHJHADS) provides support to children, youth and adults through inpatient and outpatient settings, community health centres, justice health facilities and other community settings, including people’s homes. We partner with our health care consumers, their family, carers, government, and community organisations to ensure that they receive the best possible care during their treatment and recovery.

All care that we provide is driven by our values of being kind, reliable, respectful, and progressive. We’re also guided by contemporary mental health and human rights legislation which means we operate within a framework that ensures the rights and dignity of people are promoted and protected.

MHJHADS services include:

• Adult Community & Older Persons Mental Health Services
• Adult Inpatient Mental Health Services
• Alcohol & Drug Services (ADS)
• Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
• Justice Health Services (JHS)
• Forensic Mental Health Services

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), within the Mental Health, Justice Health and Alcohol and Drug Services (MHJHADS) division of Canberra Health Services (CHS), provides free public mental health support to ACT residents experiencing moderate to severe mental health difficulties.

CAMHS supports:

• Children and young people up to 18 years.
• Young people aged 14–25 experiencing first episode psychosis.
• Consumers across the lifespan.

The service comprises 16 multidisciplinary teams: including community teams, two inpatient units, and a hospital liaison team, across three streams:

• Acute Services
• Community Teams
• Specialist Teams

The CAMHS Administrative Assistant provides high-level administrative and secretariat support to the Clinical Director, Operational Director, and Senior Managers to ensure efficient, responsive, and well-coordinated service delivery for high volume of work. This role is integral to ensuring effective strategic and operational functioning across the service.

Key responsibilities include:

1. Preparing written correspondence and documentation.
2. Managing diaries and inboxes.
3. Providing secretariat support.
4. Assisting with human resource and financial processes.
5. Coordinating timely responses to requests (Ministerial, Complaints, Feedback).
6. Delivering high-quality customer service to consumers, staff, and stakeholders across MHJHADS.

Key Responsibilities

Under limited direction of the Clinical and Operational Directors, you will:

1. Provide comprehensive administrative and secretariat support, including day-to-day office coordination, diary and email management, meeting scheduling, minute taking and distribution, data entry and maintenance using Microsoft suite of applications.
2. Monitor and manage a high volume of incoming correspondence to ensure all items are prioritised, tracked and actioned to meet deadlines (such as Ministerials, complaints, and requests from MHJHADS General Manager’s office).
3. Support finance functions, such as tracking expenditure, processing invoices, submitting requisitions, and coordinating stationery orders.
4. Provide human resource support, including processing leave applications, timesheets, professional development requests, recruitment documentation, and human resource/salary-related filing.
5. Maintain data systems and new business initiatives, including co-ordination of work, health and safety reporting, key performance indicator reporting and business plans.
6. Respond to internal and external stakeholder enquiries, addressing or redirecting matters to the appropriate CAMHS area to support effective service operations.
7. Perform other duties as required within this classification to contribute to the effective functioning of the organisation.

Competencies

To be successful in this position, it is expected that you will have the following attributes:

• Strong organisation skills with a high degree of accuracy and drive.
• Ability to manage competing priorities to ensure deadlines are met.
• Attention to detail to ensure all correspondence is accurate.
• Ability to manage confidential and sensitive information.
• Adaptability and flexibility to accommodate change and provide responsive services to staff and clients.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively as part of a management team.
• Ability to exercise emotional intelligence in challenging situations.

Qualifications

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following.

Essential

• Current drivers licence.

Desirable

• N/A

Experience

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following.

Essential

• Competent in the Microsoft Office suite of applications.

Desirable

• A minimum of three years’ experience working professionally in an administrative role is preferred.
• Have an understanding of how the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) indicators align with this role.
• Experience or knowledge of the CHS Exceptional Care Framework, and all other related frameworks.

Prior to commencement

Appointment to this position is conditional on being granted and retaining appropriate clearances:

• Pre-employment National Police Check.
• Comply with Canberra Health Services Occupational Assessment, Screening and Vaccination policy.

Important information

All employees are required to:

• Adhere to the Canberra Health Services Values and the ACT Public Service Code of Conduct.
• Act in accordance and comply with all relevant Safety and Quality policies and procedures.

CHS is leading the drive to digitally transform health service delivery in Australia through the implementation of a territory wide Digital Health Record. Computer literacy skills are required which are relevant to this role as you will be responsible for completing required documentation and becoming a proficient user of the Digital Health Record and/or other Information Technology systems; once proficient, you will need to remain current with changes, updates, and contingencies.

What you Require (Key Selection Criteria)

These are the key selection criteria for how you will be assessed in conjunction with your resumé and experience.

1. Proven experience providing support at the senior management level, including the provision of high-level organisational and office management skills and the ability to exercise initiative, prioritise workloads and manage competing deadlines while demonstrating the capability to work effectively both individually and as a member of a multidisciplinary team.
2. Proven experience providing secretariat support to high-level committees including experience with preparing correspondence, reports and data management.
3. Demonstrated well developed oral and written communication skills, including the ability to liaise with staff and stakeholders at all levels.
4. High-level computer and keyboard skills with proven experience in a variety of software programs that includes Microsoft Suite.
5. Demonstrates understanding of, and adherence to, safety and quality standards, Work Health and Safety and the positive patient experience and displays behaviour consistent with CHS’s values of reliable, progressive, respectful, and kind.

Work environment description

The following work environment description outlines the inherent requirements of the role and indicates how frequently each of these requirements would need to be performed. Please note that the ACT Public Service is committed to providing reasonable adjustments and ensuring all individuals have equal opportunities in the workplace.