Community Engagement Coordinator

vsk.org.au

Very Special Kids believes that all children and young people have the right to
quality of life, no matter how long or short their life may be, and to achieve this a

child’s family must be equally supported.

Position Title: Community Engagement Coordinator

Enterprise

Agreement:
N/A Common Law Contract

Location: Very Special Kids (VSK) Malvern, VSK metro & regional hubs, and

outreach/community-based work

Department: Clinical Services

No. Direct

Reports:
0

Reporting To: General Manager Clinical Services

Job Purpose: The Community Engagement Coordinator plays a key role in increasing

awareness, understanding, and uptake of VSK services across Victoria. The

position develops and maintains strong relationships with health professionals,

health services, community organisations, education providers, and other

referral partners to strengthen referral pathways and improve access to

support for eligible children, young people, and families.

The role leads targeted awareness-building, service promotion and outreach

activities, with a particular focus on regional Victoria, underserved

communities, and areas of low service awareness and uptake. Success in the

role will be measured through increased awareness of VSK services, growth in

referrals and enquiries, strengthened stakeholder relationships, and improved

access to services for eligible families.

Skills &

Experience:

Qualifications

- Tertiary qualifications in nursing, allied health, public health or health

promotion

Experience Required

- Strong networking, influencing, presentation, and relationship

management skills.

- Excellent communication, collaboration, and facilitation skills, with the

ability to engage diverse audiences.

- Ability to engage sensitively with children, families, and communities

experiencing grief, loss, or complex needs.

- Knowledge of Victorian health, community services, and referral

systems.

- Current driver's licence and capacity to travel throughout Victoria.

Desirable

- Proven experience in developing and delivering awareness-building

initiatives, stakeholder engagement activities, and service promotion.

- Demonstrated success in building and maintaining productive

relationships with referrers, health professionals, community

organisations and external stakeholders.

vsk.org.au

- Experience increasing awareness, participation, referrals, or service

utilisation through targeted engagement and outreach initiatives.

- Strong organisational, project management, evaluation, and reporting

skills.

- Experience working in paediatric health, palliative care, disability,

family services or community health settings.

- Experience engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

communities

- Experience engaging culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

- Strong advocacy experience, with a proactive, community-facing

approach to building partnerships and advancing community

engagement and priorities.

Key Result

Areas and Core

Responsibilities:

Referral and Community Engagement

- Develop and implement targeted, region-specific engagement

strategies across Victoria to increase awareness, referrals and uptake

of VSK services, particularly in underserved communities.

- Strengthen referral pathways and improve access for eligible children,

young people and families by promoting awareness of VSK services,

eligibility criteria, supports and referral processes.

- Build trusted relationships with families, carers, referrers and

community stakeholders to support meaningful engagement with

paediatric palliative care services.

- Support culturally safe engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait





Islander communities and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD)

groups to improve awareness, access and equity.

- Represent VSK at health service meetings, community forums,

schools, networking events and other relevant organisations to foster

collaboration and improve understanding of paediatric palliative care.

Partnership and Service Development

- Collaborate with strategic partners including the Victorian Paediatric

Palliative Care Program, Royal Children’s Hospital and Monash

Children’s Hospital and other relevant organisations to strengthen

awareness and referral pathways.

- Identify, establish, and maintain partnerships and referral networks

with key community groups and organisations, health agencies,

schools, NGOs, and social services that strengthen access for children

with life‑limiting conditions and their families.

- Deliver education and engagement activities that increase

understanding of paediatric palliative care, VSK services, supports and

referral processes.

- Partner with clinical teams and community stakeholders to identify

service gaps, inform innovation and improve access and support for

children, young people and families.

- Contribute community insights and practice-based evidence to

support funding, grant and philanthropic opportunities.

Awareness, Advocacy and Awareness

- Plan and deliver awareness-building initiatives that increase

understanding of VSK services and paediatric palliative care.

- Support advocacy initiatives aligned with paediatric palliative care

priorities at local, regional or state levels informed by

community‑identified issues and lived experience.

- Support the development of promotional materials, presentations,

stakeholder communications, and engagement resources.

- Contribute to campaigns and initiatives that increase visibility,

awareness, and uptake of VSK services across Victoria.

- Champion awareness of paediatric palliative care to reduce

misconceptions and increase early connection to support services.

vsk.org.au

Evaluation and Reporting

- Monitor and evaluate community engagement activities, stakeholder

relationships, referral patterns and outreach outcomes to assess

impact, including changes in participation, connection and access to

inform continuous improvement.

- Maintain accurate stakeholder records, engagement databases,

activity reports, and referral trend information.

- Collect and analyse qualitative and quantitative data to measure the

effectiveness of awareness and engagement activities.

- Prepare reports, recommendations, and insights for management that

support continuous improvement and strategic planning.

- Use engagement and referral data to identify opportunities for service

promotion and targeted outreach activities.

Governance, Safety and Quality

- Ensure all activities at VSK are undertaken with compliance to all

safety and quality policies and procedures.

- Proactively identify and report risks and take a lead role in risk

mitigation strategies.

- Maintain compliance across VSK operations with the Child Safe

Standards.

- Prioritise staff well-being and people development opportunities to

ensure all VSK staff and volunteers enabled to provide optimal

support to all VSK stakeholders, including families and children.

Objectives and Key Results





Objectives

- Develop and implement a targeted regional engagement strategy that increases

awareness, referrals and service uptake across Victoria, particularly in regional,

underserved and underrepresented communities.

- Strengthen referral pathways, community connections and stakeholder partnerships

across health, education, community and social service sectors to improve access to VSK

services.

- Build culturally safe relationships and engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander communities, culturally diverse populations and other hard-to-reach groups to

promote equitable access to support.

- Increase community understanding of paediatric palliative care, VSK services and

available supports through targeted outreach, engagement and awareness initiatives,

enabling earlier access and improved participation in services.

Key Results

- Regional engagement strategy developed, implemented and reviewed annually.

- Increased awareness of VSK services across identified priority regions and community

groups

- Increase referral enquiries from priority regions and target audiences by an agreed

annual percentage or target number across stakeholders and community groups.

- Growth in stakeholder partnerships and referral networks across Victoria.

- Increased engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and

culturally diverse community groups.

- Measurable improvements in service awareness, community reach, and participation

rates.

- Community engagement data and insights regularly reported to support service planning

and continuous improvement

vsk.org.au

Quality, Safety, and Improvement

Very Special Kids employees have a responsibility and accountability to contribute to the

organisation’s commitment to Quality, Safety, and Improvement by:

- Acting in accordance and complying with all relevant Safety and Quality policies and

procedures

- Actively participating in management meetings, team meetings, staff forums, and other

sessions relevant to the role, and as required

- Supporting an inclusive environment where all individuals are treated fairly, with respect

and receive the same opportunities

- Identifying risks, reporting, and being actively involved in risk mitigation strategies

- Participating in and actively contributing to quality improvement programs

- Complying with the requirements of the National Safety & Quality Health Service

Standards

- Complying with all relevant clinical and/or competency standards

- Complying with the principles of Patient and Family Centred Care that relate to this

position

- Complying with the principles of Child Safe Standards that relate to this position

- Leading and providing supervision of volunteers directly involved in your work

Conditions of Employment

Hours:

Full time 38 hours/week (or pro-rata equivalent)

0.8-1.0 EFT negotiable

Salary

Packaging

Salary packaging available as Not for profit organisation as per Charity, Aged

Care and Disability Services - $15,900 + $2,650 (Meal Entertainment) =

$18,550

Tenure: Permanent Full-Time / Part-Time

General:

Employment with Very Special Kids is subject to a satisfactory Police Check, a

Working with Children Check and evidence of up-to-date COVID vaccination.

Clinical Services staff are required to provide evidence to demonstrate

vaccination against COVID-19 and seasonal flu vaccinations.

Privacy Statement: Personal Information may be collected and stored for the purpose of recruitment

and selection. The information will only be used and disclosed for the primary purpose of its

collection. Some exceptions exist. These may be obtained from the Privacy Officer.

📌 Community engagement coordinator (Malvern)
🏢 Very Special Kids
📍 Malvern