Women’s Wellbeing and Sexual Assault Support Counsellor / Advocate

The Women’s Centre is a not-for-profit organisation supporting women and their children across Townsville and the surrounding region, including Ingham, Ayr, Charters Towers and the Townsville Women’s Correctional Facility. We provide a range of services including homelessness support, women’s health and wellbeing, sexual assault support, and a 24-hour interagency Sexual Assault Response Service.

At the heart of our work is a simple but powerful belief: women deserve safety, dignity, choice, voice and the opportunity to determine their own lives. Our practice is grounded in feminist principles, trauma-informed care, intersectionality, social justice and a commitment to challenging the individual and structural factors that contribute to women’s inequality and experiences of violence.

This is a rewarding and varied role where you will work alongside women to provide counselling, advocacy, casework and practical support. You will:

• Provide women-centred, trauma-informed counselling and support to women experiencing sexual assault, violence, trauma, homelessness, disadvantage and other life challenges.
• Provide holistic, wrap-around casework, advocacy, information and referral.
• Support women to navigate complex systems and connect with appropriate services and resources.
• Work from a feminist and intersectional understanding of violence against women and the social and structural factors that shape women's experiences.
• Provide culturally responsive and respectful support to First Nations women, recognising the ongoing impacts of colonisation, racism, dispossession and intergenerational trauma, as well as the strength, and resilience, of First Nations women and communities.
• Work respectfully with women from diverse backgrounds and experiences, including women from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, women living with disability and LGBTQIA+ women.
• Contribute to a team culture that values reflection, curiosity, kindness, professional growth and shared responsibility.

This role participates in (SART), providing an on-call 24-hour Sexual Assault Support Service to adults and children experiencing sexual assault as part of the SART interagency response across the Townsville region. The on-call roster is shared across team members and supported by team leaders. We recognise the additional demands of this work and staff are remunerated for on-call participation and call-outs. The roster is family friendly and we work with all team members and make it as flexible as possible, for example having set days, shorter periods of rostered time on and 12 hour fatigue breaks.

What makes this a great place to work? At the Women’s Centre, we value relationships, reflection, humour, kindness and looking out for one another. We want you to have a workplace where you can develop your practice, be supported and contribute your ideas and expertise. We offer:

• Internal and external professional supervision, as well as regular professional development and ongoing learning opportunities.
• Salary sacrificing.
• Paid birthday leave and Christmas closure periods to support rest, wellbeing and work-life balance.
• A supportive, collaborative team environment.

We are looking for someone who brings both professional capability and heart to this work. You will be someone who:

• Is passionate about supporting women, particularly women who have experienced sexual assault, violence, trauma, disadvantage or complex life circumstances.
• Has experience providing direct support – including counselling, case management and advocacy.
• Is comfortable working with complexity and can balance professional boundaries with warmth, compassion and genuine human connection.
• Understands the unique and ongoing impacts of colonisation, racism and intergenerational trauma on First Nations women, while also recognising First Nations women's strength, culture and expertise.
• Is reflective, curious and open to learning, and brings kindness, positive intent and commitment to contributing to a safe, and respectful team culture.

You will have a tertiary qualification in Social Work, Counselling, Psychology, Social Sciences or a related discipline, and/or relevant employment history and demonstrated experience in counselling, case management, advocacy or working alongside women and their families. We strongly encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to apply. The knowledge, culture, leadership and lived experience of First Nations women are important to feminist practice and to the work we do with women across our community.

It is a genuine occupational requirement of this position that it be filled by a woman, as permitted under Sections 25, 104 and 105 of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld).

Current Working with Children Blue Card. Current valid Queensland Driver’s Licence. Right to work in Australia (e.g. Australian/New Zealand passport, Australian/New Zealand birth certificate or citizenship certificate, or international passport and visa).