- Professional
- Office in Melbourne
Position
Brief Support Practitioner
Team
Family Services Team, Families & Community Program
Role Classification
SCHADS Level 5
Employment Type/Hours
Full Time, Permanent
Location
Sandringham and Frankston
Reports To
Team Leader – Family Services, Families & Community
Effective Date
October 2025
Overview of Program
The Families & Community Program at Family Life offers a range of services within the Bayside Peninsula catchment. This includes the Brief Support, Community Bubs, Integrated Family Services (IFS), Integrated Family Services Plus (IFS+) and Family Preservation & Reunification Response (FPRR) Programs. These programs are aimed at providing an enhanced response to families with significant needs, who have children under the age of 18 years old. Support is focused on strengthening the capacity of families to provide a safe, nurturing, and stable environment for their children. Support is also provided to vulnerable families and their children who are often involved with or at risk of entering the statutory Child Protection system.
The aim of our Family Services Programs is to provide parenting support based on the needs of families, to promote safety and wellbeing. The Practitioner’s roles are aimed at ensuring children are meeting their developmental milestones, and that their needs are being met through this direct work with the families.
Position Objective
The Brief Support Practitioner sits within the Family Services team in the Families & Community Program. This position works from both the Sandringham and Frankston Family Life Service Centres (Bunurong Land).
The Brief Support Practitioner provides short term phone-based support for vulnerable children and young people aged 0-17 and their families. Providing an informed, timely and client-centred response is critical as they support a range of clients where there are typically low-level complex needs and issues of risk and safety. As they work with families, the Brief Support Practitioner will utilise a trauma informed, feminist and strengths-based approach to ensure families are supported holistically.
The aim of the Brief Support Practitioner is to ensure families are provided with psychoeducation, resources, linkages to wrap around supports as well as strengthen parents’ responsiveness to their child’s developmental needs as families experience various challenges. This early intervention work is achieved through direct engagement with the parents as the primary client. The program aims to reduce the likelihood of families re-entering the service system in the future with a higher level of support needs or risk.
The Brief Support Program scope entails direct case-management work with families, responding to community referrals, participating in activities to raise program awareness and facilitating evidence-based group work programs. . The Brief Support Practitioner will provide a collaborative response to support, working closely with key stakeholders including Maternal and Child Health Nurses, schools / the Department of Education, the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing and other relevant professionals.
You will be supported by the organisation, line management and in collaboration with the broader team to develop the skills you require to thrive within the role Working from a lens of continuous improvement and within the program scope, there is capacity for adjustments to role responsibilities as they arise, in order to align with the community and sector needs.
Key Responsibilities
The key responsibilities include but are not limited to:
- Increasing parents’ capacity in meeting their child’s health, safety and developmental needs, and to build self-efficacy through psychoeducation and linkages to community, support and education.
- Using a trauma informed approach to promote family’s safety and stability through strong assessment, case plans and application of appropriate risk assessment frameworks, utilising the Best Interest Framework and MARAM risk assessment tools.
- Working effectively with parents and children from a range of backgrounds including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people from CALD backgrounds, people who are LGBTQIA+ and people with a disability.
- Providing a collaborative response to Family Violence, if identified, and to utilise this lens when providing brief support and completing referrals for ongoing Family Violence support.
- Carrying a specialist portfolio of group work, facilitating evidence-based groupwork programs designed to strengthen family capacity and provide psychoeducation.
- Delivering services to quality standards and complying with relevant legislation and contractual requirements. This includes relevant information sharing legislation (FVISS and CISS) and the MARAM framework.
- Engaging in regular supervision and critical reflection with the Team Leader/Practice Team.
- Participating in appropriate professional development, network meetings, Team Meetings and peer supervision, as directed by line management.
- Collecting, recording and maintaining all required documentation to evidence impact and effectiveness of service delivery in a complete, accurate and timely manner, as requested by the organisation’s standards and program contracts.
- Working from within a lens of continuous improvement to better both the programs service delivery processes and the greater service system. Flexibility to collaborate around these processes in order to best implement findings.
Key Selection Criteria
Bachelor level qualification in Social Work, Psychology, Social Sciences or equivalent.
Experience in supporting infants, children and/or adolescents and their families, implementing key theories and frameworks in practice such as: Best Interest Framework as defined under the CYFA 2005, Strengths-Based, Attachment, Systems Based, Family Inclusive, Feminist, MARAM and Community Based Approaches.
Ability to work effectively with families experiencing a range of complexities including Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drug misuse, Family Violence, Adolescent Violence, Sexual Abuse and Trauma and families who may be reluctant to engage with support services.
Experience in the delivery of intake and assessment and/or brief case management by effectively engaging clients via phone-based support, is advantageous.
Commitment to meeting the needs of at-risk families, children and young people guided by the organisation’s whole-of-family approach and community-based model of service delivery.
Ability to work effectively under pressure by responding appropriately to crises.
Ability to articulate and reflect upon personal and professional values and how this may impact on practice delivery.
Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain strong collaborative relationships and partnerships with key stakeholders, both internal and external.
Ability to work autonomously and adhere to timeframes as dictated by our funding bodies and Family Life process and policy.
High level verbal and written communication in order to comprehensively and effectively conduct risk assessment, complete case noting and administrative tasks, effectively utilising the organisation’s computer-based client management software.
Demonstrated proficiency with information technology including Microsoft Office suite, video conferencing platforms and client management systems.
