Senior Recovery and Housing Practitioner - Looking Ahead Program

Full-Time | SCHADS Level 6 | ADO EligibleMelbourne | Head Office and outreach across Western, Inner Eastern and Southern Melbourne

Strengthen practice. Support recovery. Help create pathways beyond crisis.

Are you a highly experienced family violence practitioner who wants to guide complex practice, support the development of other practitioners and remain meaningfully connected to direct client work?

Refuge Victoria is seeking a Senior Recovery and Housing Practitioner to join our new Looking Ahead Program, an integrated housing and recovery initiative supporting victim survivors to move from crisis accommodation towards longer-term safety, secure housing and independence.

About Refuge Victoria

Refuge Victoria is an independent not-for-profit specialist family violence organisation and one of Victoria’s largest providers of specialist family violence refuge accommodation.

We support people experiencing serious risk from family violence through refuge and crisis accommodation, safety planning, specialist case management and assistance to build safer and more independent lives.

Our vision is for people escaping family violence to live safe and free. Our work is guided by our values of being Compassionate, Empowering, Collaborative, Committed and acting with Integrity.

About the Looking Ahead Program

Looking Ahead is Refuge Victoria’s new integrated rapid housing and recovery initiative.

Support begins while victim survivors are residing in specialist family violence crisis accommodation and continues as they transition into longer-term housing, with graduated outreach support provided over 18–24 months.





The program prioritises victim survivors experiencing repeated crisis presentations and complex barriers to housing, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victim survivors, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, people living with disability, temporary visa holders and LGBTIQA+ people.

Looking Ahead is grounded in three principles:

- Safety remains paramount throughout recovery.
- Housing is the foundation for recovery, not the end goal.
- Recovery is client-led and recognises each person’s strengths, goals and aspirations.

Case management is guided by the Empowerment Star, supporting collaborative goal setting, client-led Action Plans, regular review and meaningful outcomes measurement.

About the role

Reporting to the Team Leader – Looking Ahead, you will hold a caseload with a focus on complex, high-risk or multi-system presentations while also providing senior practice guidance, mentoring, case review and secondary consultation to other practitioners.

You will support high-quality and consistent practice across family violence risk assessment and management, housing and tenancy pathways, recovery planning, multi-agency coordination and culturally safe responses to complex barriers.

You will:

- Provide skilled secondary consultation and practice guidance on complex family violence risk, safety planning, housing transitions,



disengagement, ethical issues and service access barriers.
- Hold a complex caseload and deliver coordinated in-reach and outreach support across the full Looking Ahead journey.
- Undertake comprehensive MARAM assessment, reassessment and safety planning.
- Use the Empowerment Star to co-design and review client-led Action Plans.
- Support coordinated responses where clients are navigating multiple systems, services or barriers.
- Mentor and coach practitioners to strengthen assessment, analysis, professional judgement, documentation and case planning.
- Work closely with the Housing and Tenancy Worker to integrate housing access and sustainment with safety and recovery goals.
- Contribute to practice resources, program procedures, outcomes reporting and continuous improvement.
- Build strong partnerships with crisis services, housing providers, Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, LGBTIQA+ specialist services and other community partners.

The role has no formal direct reports. This is a senior practice position rather than a line-management role. Formal supervision, performance management, leave approval and employment decisions remain with the Team Leader or relevant manager.

Regular outreach is required across Western, Inner Eastern and Southern Melbourne, including work in crisis accommodation, client homes, Refuge Victoria offices and community settings.

About you

We are looking for an experienced practitioner who combines advanced practice knowledge with calm, collaborative and development-focused senior practice leadership.

You will demonstrate:

- Advanced family violence prac

📌 Senior Recovery and Housing Practitioner (Melbourne)
🏢 Refuge Victoria
📍 Melbourne