Therapeutic Youth Worker

We Care NSW; Tweed Heads; On-site; AUD 60,000 - 76,000; Full time

Job summary

Matung Kunarr Aboriginal Corporation in Tweed Heads NSW is seeking experienced therapeutic youth workers to join the Out of Home Care team. You will provide direct care to children and young people living in residential placements who have faced trauma and may have disabilities, delivering supportive, trauma-informed care in a therapeutic environment.

The role focuses on building trusting relationships, supporting daily living tasks, and applying de-escalation and positive behaviour practices.

Qualifications

• Diploma in Community Services or equivalent.
• 3+ years' experience in Youth Work.
• Experience with Children with Complex Trauma and/or disability and high behavioural needs.
• Experience in child protection or out of home care services is preferred.
• Experience in positive behaviour support and data collection (incident reports, shift notes, ABC data).
• Strong emotional self-regulation and ability to maintain boundaries for safety and stability.
• Willingness to work a rotating roster (day, night, weekend, sleepovers).

Responsibilities

• Support young people to lead stable, purposeful lives, with hope.
• Assist with day-to-day living tasks and daily routines.
• Build trusting, therapeutic relationships with children and young people through mentoring and role modelling positive behaviour.
• Manage complex behaviours and deescalate using therapeutic practices.
• Maintain documentation, including incident reporting to a high standard.
• Participate in staff meetings, professional supervision, ongoing training and reflective practice sessions.

Skills

Emotional self-regulation

Mentoring

Positive behaviour support

De-escalation techniques

Documentation

Education

Diploma in Community Services or equivalent

Job description

Matung Kunarr Aboriginal Corporation is a provider of specialist Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Out Home Care and disability services. We are a Not for Profit, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO) dedicated to offering quality support services to children, young people and vulnerable adults. We offer out of home care services, behaviour support, allied health services, and disability support for people with psychosocial and physical challenges.

We are passionate about the wellbeing and care of the young people we support utilising our Matung Wannay (Courageous Children - Wonnarua language) Practice Framework to provide therapeutic care. The framework is based on building trusting, safe attachments and connections which are trauma informed, culturally safe, evidence based and align with our values.

About the role

We are seeking experienced therapeutic youth workers to join our team in Tweed Heads NSW. As a member of the Out of Home Care team, you will be providing direct care to children and young people living in residential care placements who have experienced childhood trauma, abuse or neglect and may have challenges with mental health, physical or psychosocial disability. The children and young people we support thrive in a therapeutic, safe, positive environment with experienced, supportive youth workers.

You will be a resilient, mature mentor with a focus on individualised, consistent care and a dedication to ensuring children and young people feel heard, valued and empowered. Your key responsibilities will be:

• Support young people to lead stable, purposeful lives, with hope
• Assist with day-to-day living tasks and daily routines
• Build trusting, therapeutic relationships with children and young people, supporting them through mentoring and role modelling positive behaviour
• Manage complex behaviours and deescalate applying therapeutic practices
• Maintain documentation, including incident reporting to a high standard
• Participate in staff meetings, professional supervision, ongoing training and reflective practice sessions.

Skills and experience

Qualifications - Diploma in Community Services or similar OR Minimum 3 year's experience in Youth Work.

Experience working with Children with Complex Trauma and/or disability and high behavioural needs

Experience working directly with children / young people and families with complex support needs and disabilities, preferably in child protection or out of home care services.

Experience in positive behaviour support and functional assessment data collection, including completing incident reports, shift notes, QR codes and ABC data.

Highly developed capacity for emotional self-regulation, including the capacity to set and maintain consistent boundaries to provide safety, stability and consistency.

Capacity and willingness to work a rotating roster including day, night, weekend and sleepover shifts.

Matung Kunarr Aboriginal Corporation is a child safe organisation committed to providing a safe environment where all children and young people are treated with respect and are protected from harm. We have zero tolerance for child abuse.

We encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people living with a disability and women.