Are you an experienced practitioner who can hold complexity, strengthen the practice around you and believes meaningful relationships and holistic support belong at the heart of your work?

RAYS is looking for a Senior Practitioner to join the Asha Program, providing experienced psychosocial practice alongside young people experiencing significant mental ill-health, trauma, social exclusion and other complex life circumstances.

This is a non-clinical senior practice role. You’ll bring strong psychosocial practice, judgement and leadership to complex support, helping young people navigate what is happening in their lives while strengthening the capability, consistency and responsiveness of the broader team.

About the role

As Senior Practitioner, you’ll combine direct practice with practice leadership.

You’ll work with young people and families through Asha’s two-worker model, delivering holistic mental health support alongside a clinical practitioner. Together, you’ll support recovery through meaningful engagement, community connection and genuine human care.

You’ll work with young people experiencing diagnosed, undiagnosed or emerging mental ill-health, alongside broader challenges such as housing instability, trauma, poverty, substance use, disengagement from education or employment and involvement with multiple service systems.

This is not a desk-based role. The work is relational, assertive and community-based, with support delivered in the places that make sense for each young person.

You will:

- Hold a caseload of young people requiring intensive psychosocial support, using assertive follow-up and flexible engagement where traditional service approaches have not been accessible or effective.
- Build trusted relationships with young people who may have had difficult or inconsistent experiences with services or faced barriers accessing traditional mental health care.
- Provide strengths-based psychosocial assessment, planning and support focused on what matters to the young person, including housing, relationships, education, employment, community connection, daily functioning, safety and access to other supports.
- Work alongside clinical practitioners and the multidisciplinary team, bringing psychosocial knowledge and context into shared assessment, planning and review.
- Provide senior practice guidance and reflective consultation to practitioners, particularly where situations, relationships or service systems are complex.
- Contribute to case review, helping practitioners think through risk, engagement, boundaries, ethical tensions and next steps.
- Model consistent, high-quality relational, trauma and poverty-informed, healing-centred and strengths-based practice across the team.
- Advocate alongside young people and families and build strong relationships with community organisations, health services and other partners to strengthen pathways and continuity of support.
- Identify emerging needs, barriers and practice issues, contributing to team learning, evaluation and continuous improvement.
- Maintain timely, accurate records and ensure practice meets organisational, funding, safeguarding, privacy and professional requirements.

About you





You’re an experienced practitioner who can work thoughtfully with complexity, uncertainty and competing needs.

You build genuine relationships while maintaining clear boundaries and sound judgement. You understand that behaviour makes sense in context, trust is earned through honesty and consistency, and sometimes the right response is to stay curious, seek another perspective or bring in clinical or specialist expertise.

You’re resilient, able to manage the uncertainty and emotional demands of outreach work, seek support when needed, and adapt your approach when something isn’t working.

You’re reflective and open-minded, willing to look inward and question how your own experiences, emotions, assumptions and patterns shape the way you relate to others. You examine your practice, learn from feedback and see personal growth as part of doing this work well.

You understand the interconnectedness of young people, families, communities and systems. You can respond to immediate practical needs while keeping sight of safety, belonging, connection and longer-term wellbeing.

As a senior practitioner, you don’t need to have every answer. You can help others think through complexity, challenge assumptions respectfully, offer guidance when needed and create space for reflective practice without taking over.

You’re dependable, adaptable and values-led. You follow through, contribute positively to team culture and bring unconditional positive regard and genuine care to your work with young people affected by trauma, poverty, homelessness, substance use, statutory systems and social exclusion.

You want to contribute to something meaningful. Your alignment with RAYS’ purpose and values is visible in how you work, how you treat people and how you contribute to the culture around you.

You’ll bring

- Significant experience providing psychosocial, youth, mental health, community or related support to young people with complex needs.
- Solid capability in intensive case management, assertive outreach and engaging young people who may be reluctant to access or remain connected with services.
- Demonstrated ability to provide senior practice guidance, mentoring, consultation or support to other practitioners.
- Strong understanding of relational, trauma-informed, healing-centred, recovery-oriented and strengths-based practice.
- Sound knowledge of mental health and psychosocial presentations, while understanding the boundaries between psychosocial and clinical practice.
- Strong judgement in relation to safety, risk, consent, confidentiality, professional boundaries, escalation and referral.
- Experience working collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams and with external services.
- Ability to navigate complex service systems and advocate effectively alongside young people and families.




- Demonstrated ability to work respectfully and culturally safely alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, families and communities.
- Capacity for deep self-reflection, ongoing learning and constructive contribution to team and organisational culture.
- Strong written communication, documentation and organisational skills.
- Flexibility to work across community settings and occasionally outside standard business hours.
- A clear commitment to child-secure practice, including listening to young people, respecting their rights and boundaries, recognising and responding to concerns, and helping create an environment where safety is everyone’s responsibility.

Relevant qualifications in social work, psychology, counselling, youth work, community services, mental health or a related discipline are welcomed. We also recognise substantial relevant practice experience, lived experience and expertise gained through other pathways.

Appointment is subject to RAYS’ child-safe recruitment and screening requirements, including relevant reference and background checks. You will also need:

- A current Queensland driver licence.
- A current Blue Card or the ability to obtain one.
- A current First Aid and CPR certificate or willingness to obtain these.

About RAYS

RAYS is a place-based community organisation working alongside young people and families across Redcliffe and Moreton Bay.

We work with people who are often missed, excluded or misunderstood by traditional systems. Through outreach, accessible spaces, practical support and trusted relationships, we create another way in, meeting people where they are and responding to what matters to them.

Our practice is relational, strengths-based, trauma and poverty-informed, and healing-centred. We recognise that safety, trust, belonging, agency, culture and connection are often the conditions that make meaningful change possible.

RAYS is committed to creating environments where children and young people are safe, respected, listened to and able to participate in decisions that affect them. Everyone who works with us shares responsibility for upholding their rights, safety and wellbeing and contributing to a strong child-safe culture.

What we offer you

- Competitive salary, negotiable based on experience, plus superannuation.
- Salary packaging benefits of up to $15,900 annually.
- Five weeks of annual leave each year.
- A positive, connected team culture where people enjoy working together, support each other and make space for humour and joy.
- Meaningful autonomy within a multidisciplinary team, with access to clinical expertise when clinical input is required.
- Regular reflective practice, supervision, case review and opportunities for ongoing professional development.

RAYS welcomes applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, neurodivergent people, people with disability, people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ people and people with relevant lived experience. We can make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

If you’re looking for a senior role where practice leadership means helping people think well, strengthening relationships and staying close to what matters to young people, we’d like to hear from you.

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📌 Senior Practitioner (Psychosocial) (Redcliffe)
🏢 Redcliffe Youth Space
📍 Redcliffe