Role title: Senior Social Worker - Pathways to Community Living Initiative
Role type: Permanent part time. 19 hours per week
Role grade: Senior Social Worker level 4
Department and location: Community Mental Health Service, St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst
Salary: $126,524 - $129,591 + super. Pro rata
Better and fairer care. Always.
We are St Vincent’s Health Australia, Australia’s largest not-for-profit provider of health and aged care services.
Founded by The Sisters of Charity in 1857, our +30,000 healthcare superheroes operate public and private hospitals, residential aged care, community and virtual care, and outreach programs.
About the role
The Pathways to Community Living Initiative (PCLI) is a key program of the NSW Mental Health Reform, established to address the needs of people who have had long mental health inpatients stays (over 365 days) or those who are at risk of long stays, to enable consumers to transition to meaningful lives in the community.
Deliver high-quality, evidence-based healthcare, comprehensive assessments, and care planning for individuals experiencing serious, persistent mental illness and complex needs.
Connect clients with mainstream and specialist support services to improve long-term health, wellbeing, and recovery outcomes.
Work flexibly across mental health inpatient and community settings under the PCLI program, focusing on transition planning and follow-up for long-stay consumers (including cross-LHD transitions).
Provide expert clinical advice and guidance to clinicians across all mental health teams to ensure seamless continuity of care for PCLI-eligible patients.
Build robust relationships with community partners and provide critical in-reach support as upcoming SLS services are established.
08:30 – 17:00 weekday shifts.
About you
Proven experience providing autonomous, high-level casework and complex assessments for individuals with complex mental health, co-occurring drug and alcohol issues, and psychosocial needs like homelessness.
Demonstrated competence in evidence-based crisis intervention, trauma-informed counselling, grief and loss support, and short-term solution-focused interventions within a strengths-based framework.
Strong practice experience and legislative knowledge across trauma, domestic violence, child protection, victims of crime, guardianship, sudden death, and the coronial process.
Experience providing clinical supervision and the ability to lead clinical planning, research, quality improvement initiatives, and staff education projects.
Excellent computer literacy, strong verbal and written communication skills for collaborating with diverse stakeholders, and a current unrestricted Driver’s licence.
Why work at St Vincent’s?
Join us on our mission to provide care to all, including the most at-risk people in our community
Discounted access to many gyms for you and your family with Fitness Passport
Access to discounted private health insurance with Medibank
Access to a government salary sacrifice program. Make a proportion of your salary tax-free
Committed to financial support for educational development, scholarship programs, paid study leave
Moving from NSW Health? Your eligible accrued leave entitlements will be transferred over. (As restrictions apply to the amount and type of leave that can transfer, feel free to discuss this with our team during the recruitment process)
About the hospital
In this role you will be based at St Vincent’s hospital, Darlinghurst.
A busy inner-city hospital in a beautiful location
Surrounded by great cafes, galleries and theatres, parks, nightlife, and nearby glorious beaches
A place of expert clinical care for at-risk people
Closely partnered with universities & affiliated research institutes, many of which are located on-campus
Centres of excellence include heart & lung transplantation, bone marrow transplantation, cardiology, cancer care, AIDS/HIV, respiratory medicine, mental health, homeless health, drug & alcohol services, and correctional health
Sponsorship / work rights for Australia
Please note, visa sponsorship is not available for this position. For this role you must be an Australian or New Zealand citizen or have an Australia visa that grants you the work rights necessary for the role.
Pre-employment checks
Your employment is conditional upon the completion of all role-required pre-employment checks, including relevant immunisations.
Equal opportunity
We celebrate diversity & inclusion and are committed to equal employment opportunity for everyone.
As part of our commitment to reconciliation we encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to apply and join us in delivering care that heals body, mind, spirit and community.
How to apply
The closing date for applications is 23 June 2026. Please apply at your earliest convenience as we will be interviewing strong candidates as you apply.
Please submit your resume and a brief cover letter highlighting how your interest, skills, and experience align with each of the things listed in the About You section of this job advert.
Respectfully, this role is not open to recruitment agencies.
At St Vincent's we acknowledge the importance of creating a work environment that is welcoming, safe, equitable and inclusive for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Employees. As part of our Commitment to Reconciliation and Closing the Gap in employment related outcomes, we encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
For further information, visit https /www.svha.org.au/about-us/reconciliation or get in contact at indigenouscareers@svha.org.au
View Reconciliation Action Plan
The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) has been providing outstanding care for Victoria's children and their families for over 147 years.
We are the major specialist paediatric hospital in Victoria and our care extends to children from Tasmania, southern New South Wales and other states around Australia and overseas.
With a passionate, highly skilled and committed staff campus wide of over 5,000, we provide a full range of clinical services, tertiary care and health promotion and prevention programs for children and young people.
We are the designated state-wide major trauma centre for paediatrics in Victoria and a Nationally Funded Centre for cardiac and liver transplantation.
When it comes to training and research we partner with the very best. Our campus partners, the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI) and The University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics, along with the RCH Foundation, are on site with the hospital in Parkville. Together, we are committed to improving the health outcomes for children today and in the future.
In 2016–17, more than 85,654 children attended our Emergency Department, 322,291 specialist clinic appointments were held which was almost 70,000 more than the previous year, more than 17,000 surgeries were performed and more than 48,552 children were admitted to our wards.
