Mental Health Practitioner – Supporting Recovery Program

Do you want to do therapeutic work with children and young people where you have the time, support and clinical environment to make a genuine difference?

We’re looking for an experienced Mental Health Practitioner, Children & Young People to join Supporting Recovery, providing specialist therapeutic support to children and young people impacted by family, domestic and sexual violence (FDSV).

This is an opportunity to do meaningful, longer-term therapeutic work, supported by a team that understands the complexity of trauma and the importance of working at the child or young person’s pace.

Supporting Recovery provides mental health care for up to two years, giving you time to build trusting therapeutic relationships, work creatively and support genuine recovery.

If you are passionate about therapeutic work with children and young people, understand trauma and FDSV, and value a supportive clinical environment, we’d love to hear from you.

Why you’ll love this role

• Do meaningful, longer-term therapeutic work rather than being limited to brief intervention.
• Work specifically with children and young people aged 5 years and over.
• Bring creativity, play and developmentally responsive approaches into your therapeutic work.
• Be part of a supportive environment with regular clinical supervision, case consultation and professional development.
• Work alongside other mental health and child and family professionals, with opportunities for collaboration and consultation.
• Work alongside care coordination and other supports, so therapy is part of a broader response to the needs of children, young people and families.
• Enjoy flexible and hybrid working arrangements, generous salary packaging and a range of employee wellbeing benefits.

About Supporting Recovery

Delivered collaboratively by CatholicCare Sydney and Anglicare, Supporting Recovery is a specialist mental health program for people whose mental health and wellbeing have been impacted by recent or historical family, domestic and sexual violence.

Children and young people aged 5 years and over can access therapeutic support, with parents, carers and families involved where appropriate to support their recovery.

Our Mental Health Practitioners work alongside care coordinators and other professionals to provide an integrated response, recognising that recovery from trauma can involve much more than individual therapy alone.

About the role

As a Mental Health Practitioner for Children & Young People, your focus will be on supporting children and young people in ways that work for them.

You will understand that children do not always communicate their experiences through words. You’ll be able to adapt your approach to each child or young person’s age, developmental stage, strengths, culture, communication needs and preferred ways of engaging.

For some children this might involve talking. For others, it may involve play, creativity, art, movement or other developmentally appropriate ways of expressing themselves and making sense of their experiences.

We value practitioners who bring warmth, curiosity and creativity alongside strong clinical thinking.

You will also have the support to do this complex work well through clinical supervision, case consultation, professional development and connection with other professionals working with children, young people and families.

What you’ll be doing

You will:

• Provide trauma-informed assessment and therapeutic intervention to children and young people impacted by FDSV, tailored to their developmental stage, strengths and needs.
• Build safe, trusting therapeutic relationships, using developmentally appropriate, play-based, creative and expressive approaches where appropriate.
• Develop individualised treatment plans and deliver evidence-informed therapeutic interventions that support recovery.
• Work collaboratively with parents, carers and families, where appropriate and safe, to strengthen outcomes for children and young people.
• Assess and respond to mental health, trauma, risk and safety needs within your professional scope.
• Collaborate with care coordinators, mental health practitioners and other services to provide coordinated support.
• Participate in clinical supervision, case consultation, reflective practice and professional development.
• Maintain high-quality clinical documentation and contribute to a service that is welcoming, culturally safe, accessible and inclusive.

About you

You are an experienced mental health practitioner who is passionate about creating safe therapeutic spaces where children and young people can connect, express themselves and recover from trauma.

You can build engagement through warmth, curiosity and creativity while bringing strong clinical judgement and an understanding of trauma, development, attachment, mental health, risk and safety.

You value collaboration, are comfortable working alongside families and other professionals, and know when to seek consultation and draw on the expertise of others.

To be successful in this role, you will have:

• A relevant tertiary qualification in psychology, counselling, social work, mental health nursing or a related discipline.
• Registration or eligibility for membership with the relevant professional body, such as AHPRA, ACA, PACFA or AASW, as appropriate to your profession.
• At least two years’ relevant experience providing therapeutic support to children and/or young people.
• Demonstrated experience working therapeutically with children, young people and/or families impacted by family, domestic and/or sexual violence.
• Strong knowledge and experience in trauma-informed, child-centred and developmentally responsive practice.
• Demonstrated ability to build safe and effective therapeutic relationships with children and young people and adapt your approach to their age, developmental stage, strengths, needs and preferred ways of communicating.
• The ability to assess and respond appropriately to mental health needs, trauma, risk and safety concerns.
• The ability to work collaboratively with parents, carers, families and other professionals.
• A commitment to culturally safe, inclusive and accessible practice.
• A current NSW Driver Licence, Working with Children Check and the right to work in Australia.

We’d particularly love to hear from you if you have experience or training in:

• Play therapy or therapeutic play approaches
• Art therapy, expressive therapies or other creative therapeutic approaches
• Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT)
• EMDR with children and adolescents
• Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)
• Circle of Security
• Triple P or Parent Management Training
• Attachment-focused or developmental trauma approaches
• Family systems approaches
• Therapeutic work with children and families from CALD communities
• Therapeutic work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people and families

You don’t need to bring experience in every approach. We’re interested in the depth of your practice, your ability to connect with children and young people, and your commitment to continuing to learn and grow.

If this sounds like the kind of therapeutic work you want to be doing, we’d love to hear from you.

Please submit your resume and a cover letter outlining how your skills, knowledge and experience meet the requirements of the role.

Applications close 5 November 2026, unless the position is filled earlier. We will commence reviewing applications and interviewing suitable candidates as applications are received, so we encourage you to apply early.

Need More Information? 

Please contact Jordyn Madden - Practice Manager - ******************************

People are at the core of everything we do: from supporting and enhancing the wellbeing of our clients to the nurturing and development of our staff and their career aspirations.

CatholicCare Sydney is a leading not-for-profit and the social services agency of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, supporting people from all walks of life. We’re an organisation that promotes diversity and inclusion and commits to the growth and wellbeing of our staff, empowering them to make a positive change to the community.

We welcome applications from individuals of all ages, identities, abilities, and cultures, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, member of the LGBTQI+ community, and people living with disabilities.

CatholicCare requires the preferred applicant to undertake a National Criminal History Record Check prior to employment, and for some roles, a Working with Children Check and/or NDIS Worker Screening Check may be required.