At North Richmond Community Health (NRCH) we are proud to deliver courageous health and community services that collaboratively address health inequity. We nurture a workforce that is passionate and diverse, with shared values and a strong commitment to making positive health impacts within the heart of North Richmond. With access to a variety of flexible work arrangements, health and wellbeing activities and a rich learning environment, our team members are consistently able to deepen their expertise by being part of impactful and world recognised community health solutions.
Part Time (0.8 FTE) | Ongoing
North Richmond
AOD Outreach & Community Engagement Program
We're looking for a Harm Reduction Peer Outreach Worker to join our Outreach & Community Engagement (OAE) team.
This is a unique peer role where your lived experience of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use is recognised as a valuable professional skill. Working as part of a multidisciplinary team, you'll build trusted relationships with people who use drugs (PWUD), providing assertive outreach, harm reduction education, care coordination and practical support throughout North Richmond.
The Outreach & Community Engagement team provide assertive outreach, complex care coordination and community engagement to improve health outcomes and support the local community.
Build trusting relationships with people who use drugs through assertive outreach.
Use your lived experience safely and purposefully to support engagement and recovery goals.
Deliver peer-led harm reduction education, mobile NSP services and naloxone education.
Respond to overdoses and connect people with health and community services.
Work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team using a shared care coordination model.
Build positive relationships with local residents, businesses and community members.
You'll be passionate about harm reduction and committed to meeting people where they're at, without judgement.
You'll also bring:
A lived experience of AOD and the ability to view AOD use through a harm reduction lens
Qualifications in AOD, community services, mental health or a related field (or willingness to complete AOD minimum competencies).
Experience supporting people experiencing complex health and social challenges.
A commitment to trauma-informed, person-centred practice.
Strong communication skills and the ability to build trusted relationships.
Experience working collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team.
At North Richmond Community Health, you'll join an organisation committed to health equity, social justice and reducing stigma.
We offer:
Salary packaging to increase your take-home pay.
Regular external supervision with a harm reduction peer expert.
Internal and external Communities of Practice for lived experience workers.
Ongoing professional development and reflective practice.
A supportive, inclusive workplace where lived experience is genuinely valued.
At NRCH, our values guide everything we do:
Working Together
Being Courageous
Embracing Diversity
Making a Difference
Our commitment to health equity
At NRCH, improving health equity is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that health is shaped by social and structural factors beyond clinical care and we work alongside individuals and communities to address barriers to health and wellbeing.
Inclusion and Belonging
At North Richmond Community Health (NRCH), we are committed to creating a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment for everyone. We celebrate diversity and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, cultures, identities, abilities and experiences, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, people with disability, LGBTQIA+ communities, and people of all ages.
Child Safety
NRCH is a Child Safe Organisation and has zero tolerance for all forms of child abuse. We are committed to the safety, participation and empowerment of children and young people. All staff and volunteers share responsibility for promoting and maintaining a child safe environment in accordance with the Victorian Child Safe Standards.
All appointments are subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks, which may include a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check, Working with Children Check, evidence of qualifications and registrations, proof of work rights, and evidence of immunisation requirements relevant to the role.
For questions about the role, please reach out to Ginny McKinnon (AOD Outreach Manager) ginnym@nrch.com.au
For support with your application, please contact Isabella Fisher (People and Culture Coordinator) ( isabellaf@nrch.com.au)
North Richmond Community Health began supporting the Richmond community on Wurundjeri land in 1974. Then called the North Richmond Family Care Centre, it was an organisation built to support the diverse needs of the 4,000 strong community members of the Langdon Park Ministry of Housing estate.
A group of progressive doctors approached the estate’s community-led Tenants Union in the early 1970s, and together they came up with the idea of a health centre that didn’t just provide vital medical services, but also fostered and supported the community.
Since it was opened, North Richmond Community Health has been a place for people of all linguistic backgrounds, physical, emotional and mental abilities, faiths and cultures. For 40 years, the community has come to our centre to meet, receive care, seek advice, socialise and celebrate.
In 1994, we received funding from the Victorian Department of Human Services to share its knowledge across the state, and the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health (CEH) was formed. In the last 21 years, CEH has continued to develop their expertise in health and wellbeing, human rights, cultural competence and health literacy.
North Richmond Community Health’s current building opened in late 2012. At that time, North Richmond Community Health was given the honour of an Aboriginal name by Wurundjeri Senior Elder Doreen Garvey-Wandin: Wulempuri-Kertheba, which translates from Woi wurrung as ‘staying healthy together’.
As an organisation, we pride ourselves on our commitment to working with refugees, asylum seekers, newly-arrived migrants, people of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, people who inject drugs and people of all socio-economic backgrounds.
We are constantly reiterating that commitment and developing it.
North Richmond Community Health has a long history, with many relationships in the community going back 40 years. We look forward to many more years of learning, working and building healthier communities.
