Psychotherapist

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He Tāngata, He Tāngata, He Tāngata.  What is the greatest thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people

About the Opportunity

The Psychotherapist is a key member of our Health Team and plays a vital role in providing  secondary mental health psychotherapy services to the tane in our care with mental health and addictions concerns.

What you’ll be doing 

You will be delivering psychotherapy services within a multi-disciplinary team, monitoring, promulgating and promoting best practice in the delivery of mental health services within the whare ora unit and wider prison environment.

Your duties will include:

• Providing mental health services in conjunction with the mental health and addictions team
• Manage an appropriate case-load of tane  and groups with responsibility for the initial screening, assessments including risk assessments, case formulation and treatment of tane
• Ensures tane has adequate explanation of the effects, consequences and alternatives of proposed treatment options and right to self-determination (informed consent)
• Writing of assessment, formulation, treatment and discharge summary/reports.  Also, contribute to the creation of other treatment and planning reports within the whare ora unit and greater prison context. Ensuring documentation is accurate, reflects the clinical situation and maintains confidentiality of information.  This includes documentation in paper records, MedTech, Integrated Offender Management System (IOMS) and Meganexus
• Apply research and data analysis skills
• Evaluate the relevance of psychological theories and practices for the Aotearoa / New Zealand context
• Demonstrate a clear understanding of ethical and legal issues involved in psychotherapy  practices
• Observe and undertake therapy with a range of tane and presenting problems using therapeutic modalities appropriate to the prison context
• Run group therapy sessions
• Develop and run group sessions e.g. psycho-educational, support, CBT/DBT/ACT and therapy groups
• Participate in the assessment process as per local protocols for tane at-risk of suicide and/or self-harm in conjunction with the mental health and addictions team
• Actively manage tane with identified risk in collaboration with the wider team, ensuring tane is aware of the plan of care, this is documented appropriately
• Provide mental health education appropriate to the needs of the tane opportunistically and on a regular scheduled basis
• Make referrals to other health professionals appropriately
• Work collaboratively with the Forensic mental health team for tane with complex mental health needs

About you - your ideal skills & experience 

• You will be registered with the NZ Board of Psychotherapist or General
• 2 years plus postgraduate experience
• Experience with working with Addictions
• Experience with dual diagnosis (desirable)
• Demonstrate understanding of the ‘Treaty of Waitangi”, its principles and related contemporary issues
• Understand and apply tikanga Māori in the Prison environment
• Demonstrate understanding of the concept of kaupapa and its application to the Prison
• Good understanding of how to utilise a structured approaches to facilitate mental health wellness
• Exhibit excellent knowledge and high level competence in the assessment and treatment of a wide spectrum of psychological problems in adults including extensive experience in the use of psychological assessment tools
• You will have the ability to relate positively with a prisoner client-group or similar
• Demonstrate an understanding of the social and clinical variables associated with major offence categories (e.g. sexual offending; violent offending) and their impact on mental health
• You will have the ability to work as part of a multidisciplinary team providing psychological services and programs
• Demonstrate a high level of written and oral communication skills and the ability to negotiate and interact effectively with a wide range of community, specialist and management groups
• Ability to administrate and manage data in electronic formats and databases
• Demonstrate knowledge of, or the ability to rapidly acquire knowledge of, legislative provisions and modern correctional management practices and operations within a Prison, including the principles of best practice program delivery

You do not need to match every listed expectation to apply for this position. If you like the look of the role, we’d love to hear from you.

This is a position of trust and responsibility and to support this we will conduct a thorough probity assessment, which includes a police check as an essential selection component for this role.

Benefits

Working at Auckland South Corrections Facility offers many benefits, including:

• An opportunity to grow your career in a company with an international footprint
• Free onsite parking
• Medical insurance discount
• Staff discount with selected major retail stores
• Ongoing free mental health and counselling support
• Grow your professional network
• Work with a passionate team of professionals and learn from experts in the field

About us – Serco & proud

At Serco, not only is the nature of the work we do important, but everyone has a vital role to play from caring for vulnerable people to managing complex public services. We are a team of 50,000+ globally and 14,000+ in Asia Pacific responsible for delivering essential public services in areas including defence, justice, immigration, healthcare, facilities management & citizen services. To learn more please visit www.serco.com/aspac

Why Join Us

You’d be joining a company that delivers essential public services (in partnership with governments) that impact a better future for communities, & those in our care

You’ll get to have an impact on how we do things: Enjoy being part of a driven team with a collaborative culture that values decision-makers & action.

We Invest in you: Accelerate your career through our learning & development opportunities – think skills based training, defined career pathways & fantastic internal mobility opportunities across the group!

If you’re inspired to make a positive difference, apply now.

For additional questions, or to learn more, please contact Paula van Zijl – Talent Acquisition Partner: +64 9 250 5977

Serco’s values of Trust, Care, Innovation and Pride underpin everything we do. We are curious, creative and collaborative. Our people matter and make a difference every day.
 

We seek and celebrate diversity and encourage applications from all backgrounds and cultures including Māori and Pasifika, LGTBQI+, veterans and people with disability. By joining Serco you will have access to Employee Networks led by colleagues who are passionate about diversity, inclusion and belonging.