Mental Health, Justice Health and Alcohol and Drug Services (MHJHADS) provides support to youth and adults via inpatient and outpatient settings, community health centres, justice health facilities and other community settings, including people’s homes. MHJHADS aims to be socially inclusive and operate within a recovery-focussed and/or harm minimisation approach.

ACMHS teams operate across the Australian Capital Territory, adhering to either the Adult Community Mental Health Model of Care or the Older Persons Community Mental Health Model of Care depending on area of practice. ACMHS program area services the community’s mental health needs in the areas of intake, recovery, supported and therapeutic accommodation, therapy, older persons, neuropsychology, assertive community outreach, homeless outreach, and intensive home treatment.

Specifically, this position is for the Assertive Community Outreach Team (ACOS). ACOS is a multidisciplinary team who provide assertive outreach treatment in the community for persons who present with severe mental illness, primarily a psychotic disorder or severe bipolar disorder, and enduring symptoms despite treatment. Persons who receive treatment and care through ACOS typically have had a history of poor engagement with mental health services and poor response to treatment and require assertive follow-up to manage frequent relapses, significant impairment in functioning, and significant risk issues, such as homelessness and suicide. ACOS operates extended hours from 8:30am to 9:00pm, 7 days per week, to ensure flexibility and continuity of care. This is a shift working position, and you will be required to participate in the full rotating roster.

The position involves providing clinical management in a shared team environment, supervising staff, and providing clinical oversight to the team. The applicant will be highly motivated to engage in consultative and educative practices with families, carers, and other agencies. ACOS is situated at the City Community Health Centre (CCHC), though a large portion of clinical work is completed via outreach interventions around the ACT.

Under limited direction of the ACOS Team leader you will perform clinical nursing activities in collaboration with the multidisciplinary team and the people who access the service. You will:

• As part of a multidisciplinary team, undertake the provision of assessment and brief evidence-based interventions based on recovery principles for persons with a severe mental illness and complex needs in a community-based setting.
• Provide high standard clinical discipline-specific expertise and work collaboratively with people, carers, and community agencies/other stakeholders to provide care co-ordination and educative practices.
• Exercise independent judgement on routine matters and perform critical tasks as directed.
• Complete case notes on the Digital Health Record (DHR) to the required standard and meet reporting and data collection requirements, as well as initiating, coordinating and leading quality improvement activities.
• As an active team member participate in the monitoring, research, and evaluation of mental health service provision.
• Undertake clinical supervision and engage in ongoing professional development activities.
• Work within the Mental Health Act 2015 and other relevant legislation that impact on clinical service delivery.
• Undertake other duties appropriate to this level of classification which contribute to the operation of the organisation.

Specific competencies include but are not limited to the following.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to communicate with influence.
• Expertise in making informed clinical decisions based on evidence, patient needs, and ethical considerations.
• Ability to work collaboratively and congenially with a wide range of people including peers, consumers, carers, managers, medical officers, internal and external organisations and stakeholders.
• High standards of ethical practice, especially in relation to patient confidentiality, consent, and mental health laws.
• Skills in promoting mental health awareness and educating patients and families about mental health conditions and resources.
• Ability to advocate for patients' rights and access to care, particularly in complex mental health settings.
• Commitment to continuous learning and improvement through regular reflection on professional practice.
• Commitment to involving patients in their care planning and respecting their autonomy and preferences.
• Understand and apply obligations for risk identification and safe practice within the clinical practice environment under the Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act 2011.

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

Essential

• Tertiary Qualification or related qualification in nursing.
• Registered or eligible for registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).
• Australian driver’s license.
• Have an understanding of how the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) indicators align with this role.

Desirable

• Post Graduate Qualification in Mental Health Nursing or working towards such.

Specific experience includes but is not limited to the following.

Essential

• A minimum of 4 years’ fulltime equivalent experience working professionally in Mental Health or a Post Graduate Qualification in Mental Health.
• Experience or knowledge of the CHS Exceptional Care Framework, and all other related frameworks.

Desirable

• Experience working in Adult Community Mental Health Services.
• Familiarity and experience with Clozapine treatment protocols.
• Experience working closely with the NDIS.

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

• Pre-employment National Police Check.
• Current registration issued under the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Act 2011 is required.
• Comply with Canberra Health Services Occupational Assessment, Screening and Vaccination policy.

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.
• Comply with all relevant clinical and/or competency standards.
• Be available for weekend and/or after-hours work.

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.

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

1. Under defined professional supervision, demonstrate an ability to undertake relevant assessment of people with severe mental illness, providing support within the multidisciplinary team, using evidence-based knowledge to ensure that nursing practice supports safe and quality health outcomes in partnership with consumers and carers.
2. An ability to demonstrate an understanding of the principles of recovery and the National Standards for Mental Health Services.
3. Effective communication skills and an understanding of and willingness to participate in, research, quality improvement activities and clinical supervision. An ability or willingness to learn record keeping that assists with service delivery with specific Partnership Programs to improve service delivery, trends, or needs.
4. Applied knowledge of current mental health services (both government and non-government) within the ACT and a knowledge of current mental health and other relevant legislation.
5. Demonstrates understanding of, and adherence to, safety and quality standards, Work Health and Safety and the positive patient experience. Displays behaviour consistent with CHS’s values of reliable, progressive, respectful, and kind.

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.

Administrative	Frequency
Telephone use	Frequently
General computer use	Frequently
Extensive keying/data entry	Occasionally
Graphical/analytical based	Never
Sitting at a desk	Frequently
Standing for long periods	Occasionally

Travel	Frequency
Frequent travel – multiple work sites	Frequently
Frequent travel – driving	Frequently

Physical demands	Frequency
Distance walking (large buildings or inter-building transit)	Occasionally
Working outdoors	Occasionally

Psychosocial demands	Frequency
Distressed People e.g. Emergency or grief situations	Occasionally
Aggressive & Uncooperative People e.g. drug / alcohol, dementia, mental illness	Frequently
Unpredictable People e.g. Dementia, mental illness, head injuries	Frequently
Restraining e.g. involvement in physical containment of clients/consumers	Never
Exposure to Distressing Situations e.g. Child abuse, viewing dead / mutilated bodies; verbal abuse; domestic violence; suicide	Occasionally

Specific hazards	Frequency
Working at heights	Never
Exposure to extreme temperatures	Never
Operation of heavy machinery e.g. forklift	Never
Confined spaces	Never
Excessive noise	Occasionally
Low lighting	Occasionally
Handling of dangerous goods/equipment e.g. gases; liquids; biological.	Occasionally
Slippery or uneven surfaces	Occasionally

Manual handling	Frequency
Lifting 0 – 9kg	Occasionally
Lifting 10 – 15kg	Never
Lifting 16kg+	Never
Climbing	Never
Running	Occasionally
Reaching	Occasionally
Kneeling	Never
Foot and leg movement	Occasionally
Hand, arm and grasping movements	Occasionally
Bending/squatting	Occasionally
Bend/Lean Forward from Waist/Trunk twisting	Occasionally
Push/pull	Occasionally
Sequential repetitive movements in a short amount of time	Never