AOD Practice Improvement Lead

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• Permanent part time - 30.4 hours per week
• Heidelberg location, with multiple public transport options
• Chance to work across youth and child community teams and in bed-based services.

Austin Health is the major provider of tertiary health services, health professional education and research across three campuses in the north-east of Melbourne and statewide. We have a highly engaged, diverse and collaborative workforce that is unified by our goal to help people live healthy and fulfilled lives. 

About the Department

The Mental Health Division provides care and services through a comprehensive range of teams to meet the needs of mental health consumers and carers throughout Victoria. Services are across Adult and Child and Adolescent and can be bed based or located in the community. 

The Child and Youth Mental Health Service (ICYMHS) sits within the Mental Health Division and provides tertiary mental health services to the north-eastern catchment of Melbourne (currently the local government areas of Banyule, Boroondara, Darebin, Nillumbik, Whittlesea, and Yarra). Young people eligible for the service are predominantly aged 0-18 years with several teams currently working with those aged up to 25 years.

About the role 

The AOD Practice Lead supports existing community based and bed-based services within the ICYMHS across all campuses- Heidelberg, MacLeod and Epping.  The role will implement integrated treatment, care and support for people with co-occurring mental illness and substance use and addiction.

The role is a capacity building role that will support practice improvements across the service through training, mentoring, modelling, introducing tools and resources to uplift service providers and build their knowledge, skills and confidence when working with people with mental health and substance use issues.

About you 

 To be successful in this role, you'll bring with you:

• Relevant professional qualification in a health-related discipline and current registration with the relevant professional board association or college.
• Relevant years of experience for a senior role as per the relevant EBA
• Understanding of harm reduction as a key concept underpinning approaches to client care in the Australian alcohol and drug sector as well as an appreciation of principles of recovery.
• Knowledge of recovery and collaborative clinical practice with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse.
• Experience and demonstrated skills in alcohol and other drug intake and assessment, integrated client care.
• Experience in the delivery of counselling, bridging support, brief intervention and care coordination.
• Demonstrated experience in providing evidenced-based treatment interventions including Relapse Prevention, Motivational Interviewing and Brief Intervention.

Our benefits 

Working at Austin Health means enjoying a strong sense of purpose, engaging in meaningful work every day. Our people also receive a variety of rewarding benefits, including: 

• Greater take-home pay through generous salary packaging, for living expenses, meals, and holiday accommodation. 
• A suite of wellness initiatives designed to support you, including discounted fitness memberships and special offers on health insurance, and a comprehensive wellbeing program. 
• Onsite childcare at Austin Hospital, easy access via public transport and car parking options. 
• Mentoring and career development opportunities. 

Work with us! 

We are committed to cultural safety and health equity for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander People. We celebrate, value, and include people of all backgrounds, genders, identities, cultures, bodies, and abilities. We welcome and support applications from talented people identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, people with disability, neurodiverse people, LGBTQIA+ and people of all ages and cultures. 

If you feel this role is right for you, we encourage your early application. Even if you don’t meet every single requirement, we encourage you to apply. What matters most is your passion, your drive and your willingness to learn and contribute. Applications will be reviewed as they are received, and interviews may take place prior to the closing date. This means we reserve the right to close a job ad prior to the advertised closing date. 

All appointments are made subject to a satisfactory National Police Check and if required, a Working with Children Check. If you require any reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process, you are welcome to reach out to the hiring manager: Sandy Robertson at Sandy.Robertson@austin.org.au

Interested in finding out more about this opportunity? Read the position description for further details. 

Application closing date: Wednesday 16 July 2025