Disability Team Leader

The Team Leader is responsible for the leadership, coordination, and oversight of disability and community services. This role involves supervising a team of support workers to ensure the delivery of high quality, person-centered supports that promote independence, wellbeing, and community inclusion for clients receiving direct care. As the primary point of contact for internal and external stakeholders including families, allied health professionals, support coordinators, and government or non government agencies the Team Leader plays a pivotal role in building collaborative relationships that ensure integrated, holistic care. The Team Leader also leads incident management responses, monitors service quality, and ensures operational delivery aligns with participant goals and funding. This position includes responsibility for staff performance management, service scheduling across multiple sites, and the continuous implementation of sector best practice. The Team Leader ensures that services remain compliant with regulatory Practice Standards and organisational policies, while proactively identifying service improvements and managing associated risks.

Leadership and Staff Supervision

• Provide leadership, supervision and day-to-day support to Senior Support Workers and Support Workers across the designated locations.
• Participate in recruitment, induction, and onboarding of new staff, and contribute to building team capacity and cohesion across service sites.
• Identify staff development needs and implement training or coaching strategies to address gaps.

Stakeholder Engagement and Communication

• Act as the primary liaison for participants’ families, allied health providers, support coordinators, and external services. •
• Lead or participate in case conferences, plan reviews, and professional collaboration
• Escalate complex participant, family, or funding issues to management, and advocate for sustainable long term support solutions.

Service Coordination and Delivery Oversight

• Lead and plan support for people with disabilities across various services, ensuring alignment with individual support plans and participant goals
• Oversee the consistent implementation of behaviour support plans, health protocols and allied health recommendations, in consultation with relevant professionals.
• Monitor service utilisation against participant funding, identifying and responding to over- or under- utilization risks while ensuring client safety.
• Ensure service records and accounts are accurate, regularly updated, and comply with organizational standards.

Incident and Risk Management

• Review and respond to incident reports submitted by Support Workers, ensuring appropriate documentation, escalation and mitigating actions.
• Contribute to incident investigations and identify risk mitigation strategies.
• Maintain oversight of environmental and behavioral risks across all service sites and ensure proactive controls are in place.

Scheduling and Workforce Planning

• Support the development of staff rosters across designated houses, ensuring appropriate coverage, skill matching, and compliance with SCHADs award provisions.
• Respond to short-notice changes in availability and ensure suitable coverage has been sourced whilst minimizing conflicts with the SCHADs award.

Compliance and Quality Assurance

• Monitor the day-to-day operations for quality and compliance, reporting concerns to the Operations Manager.
• Support the Senior Support Worker and the Support Worker teams to maintain accurate and timely documentation, including progress notes, incident reports and all compliance requirements.
• Participate in internal audits, staff meetings, case conferences, and management reviews, contributing to the continuous improvement of the services.

Continuous Improvement and Practice Development

• Advocate within the broader Arete Care 2024 community on behalf of clients and their families, to support inclusion, participation, and respect for rights.
• Identify service delivery challenges and make recommendations for improvement to management.
• Support change management processes related to new policies, procedures, and compliance expectations.
• Facilitate or attend internal and community forums as required.

QUALIFICATION AND REQUIREMENTS:

• Tertiary qualifications in Mental Health, Disability, Social Work, Psychology or other relevant qualification.
• Recognised experience and knowledge in the field of disability and ability to apply policies and processes to meet challenges of known or evolving disability support situations would be expected. This includes:

1. Specialized and contemporary understanding of disability and an ability to apply this theoretical knowledge to client support.

2. Knowledge of and skill with coaching, supervision and planning practices. o Knowledge of complex conditions that impact on disability and the capacity to remain up to date with

3. Certificate IV in Disability Work (or higher) and prior experience as a Team Leader within Accommodation or the Advanced Certificate in Residential and Community Services or other qualification recognized within departmental guidelines as being equivalent is required and a copy must be provided with your application.

4. Updated Employee Working with Children Check (WWCC) card is required and will need to be provided prior to commencement of employment by the applicant. The currency will need to be maintained by the employee for the period of employment.

5. Full driver’s license.

6. Level 2 First Aid & CPR Certificate

7. Cleared to work against the requirements of the Department of Human Services operated Disability Worker Exclusion Scheme.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

It is the responsibility of every staff member to actively participate in the management of risk and to ensure a safe work environment for themselves, their co-workers and clients. This position description is subject to the Risk Management and Control Framework and Policy, and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Policy. The employee must ensure that prescribed tasks are performed subject to established risk assessments and safe work practices. To that end the following are also requirements of this role:

• Report all hazards observed including any potentially unsafe work practices as soon as praticeable
• Report all incidents of injury or near miss as soon as practicable.
• Actively participate in all professional development and training regarding Risk Management and OHS.
• Cooperate with any reasonable request for action to ensure the safety of self and others and the mitigation of risk to focus.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: From $44.58 per hour

Expected hours: 38 per week

Work Location: In person

Expected Start Date: 01/09/2025