Job Description

About our Employment Registers:

Welcome, and thank you for your interest in this Employment Register.

Our Registers are for use by non-employees. Current employees should lodge their interest for additional hours/duties on the intranet Expression of Interest page.

Registers provide a mechanism to recruit to casual vacancies. They may also be used to fill short, fixed term vacancies where normal recruitment processes are not practicable.

For permanent and more lengthy fixed term vacancies, please look at the individual advertisements on www.jobs.tas.gov.au

This Register will remain open until 30 June 2026 and will be reviewed on a regular basis.

Please note a fixed-term and casual employment register is not a vacancy and inclusion on a register does not guarantee any offer of employment will be made.

This Register:

We welcome applications from Registered Nurses with specialist qualifications in mental health and also those who are looking for a pathway into the specialism or to broaden their current skills and experience.

We offer diverse opportunities to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team with consumers across the lifespan in a variety of settings including inpatient and residential services, hospital in the home, community, forensic and correctional health.

FAQs

Why work in mental health?

• We are privileged to walk alongside our consumers, their friends and families in their recovery journey, nurses working in mental health describe a real sense of ‘making a difference’ in their day to day work.
• No two days are the same in mental health. Some days may be structured with planned appointments or 1:1 time, others may involve responding to an emergency and thinking on your feet.
• There are opportunities to work in a wide variety of settings including those that provide supervision and those that require a high degree of autonomy.
• The Tasmanian Mental Health Reform Program will expand and redesign mental health services, adopting a ‘no wrong door’ approach. The next two years will see the opening of integrated care hubs in collaboration with our community sector partners, drawing on the Safe Haven Café and Recovery College models. We are enhancing our response to suicidal distress and acute needs and opening new 24-hour community-based beds.

What skills do I need to work in mental health?

• You will need your core nursing skills including critical thinking, nursing assessment, care planning, monitoring and observation and medication safety.
• You must be compassionate and empathic.
• Be an effective communicator able to establish therapeutic relationships with consumers and their friends and families.
• Be self-aware and use reflective practice.
• Be interested in people from all walks of life and have a non-judgemental attitude.
• Have excellent interpersonal skills including active listening.
• Have the ability to remain calm and use de-escalation skills.

Will I lose my general nursing skills?

• We welcome those with sound general nursing skills – mental health consumers face significant physical health disparities that we are seeking to address through improved physical health monitoring and intervention.

What can the Statewide Mental Health Service offer?

• We are a friendly and relatively small service providing opportunities to follow the career path of your choice across a range of closely allied services.
• Flexible working arrangements – opportunities to work part-time or occasional shifts.
• We are improving access to core mental health nursing skills training including the Connecting with People suicide mitigation approach.
• We will work with you to identify which service areas are a good match for your skill set, track your progress and explore developmental opportunities with you.

Essential Requirements

• Registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia as a Registered Nurse

The Head of the State Service has determined that the person nominated for this position is to satisfy a pre-employment check before taking up the appointment, promotion or transfer. The following checks are to be conducted:

1) Conviction check in the following areas:
a) Crimes of violence;
b) Sex related offences;
c) Serious drug offences;
d) Crimes involving dishonesty.

2) Identification check.

3) Disciplinary action in previous employment check.

Please note: For some roles you may be required to hold a current Tasmanian Working with Children Registration. You will be notified if you are required to obtain this prior to commencing employment.

Please also note that access to the Grade 4 salary range $96,558 - $102,908 is subject to successful application for progression to Grade 4.

How to apply

Applications will only be accepted online. This ensures important questions about you are answered. Please click the "Apply now" button on this screen.

You will be prompted to complete an online application form, provide a 1-2 page application detailing your experience, skills and knowledge as they relate to the role and attach your resume. Please note that attachments must be in Microsoft Word or PDF format.

Referee details are submitted as part of the online application so make sure you have the contact details for two referees before applying.

Download the Statement of Duties and any Associated Documents

We encourage you to review the Applicant Guide and Statement of Duties, prior to applying for an overview of the duties, program, selection process and selection criteria.

• Generic Registered Nurse - Mental Health G3-4 (May 2024) WWCR CSU.docx
• Generic Registered Nurse - Mental Health G3-4 (May 2024) WWCR CSU.pdf

Applicant Guide

• Department of Health - Applicant Guide June 22.pdf
• Department of Health - Applicant Guide June 22.docx

More information

For further information please email: rnregister.mhss@ths.tas.gov.au