ORGANISATIONAL OVERVIEW

At Ara Poutama Aotearoa (the Department of Corrections) our goal is to reduce re-offending, and underlying this is a strong commitment to public safety.

Our people care about our communities and want to make New Zealand a safer place to be. We do this by helping people lead crime-free lives, which means fewer victims and safer communities.

Corrections’ core role of managing the custodial and community-based sentences imposed by the Courts gives us the opportunity to change lives and shape futures. Of the 8,000 people who work at Corrections, the majority work directly with offenders in a variety of roles including probation officers, corrections officers, case managers, programme facilitators, nurses, community work supervisors, instructors and psychologists.

The Department of Corrections manages 18 prisons located from Northland to Invercargill and 160 Community Corrections sites in towns and cities across New Zealand where probation staff manages people serving non-custodial sentences and orders such as community work, home detention or parole.

The vast majority of the offenders the department works with live in the community, and most of those sentenced to a term of imprisonment will be released at some stage. Therefore it is in all our interests to ensure that when people leave Corrections they have the support and skills they need to live a crime-free life. We do this through targeted rehabilitation and reintegration, treatment, education and trade-training opportunities for offenders that will reduce the likelihood of re-offending.

You can help change lives and shape futures too.

Role Purpose

The primary purpose of the counsellor’s role is to work with women to address historical and current circumstances of trauma.

Specifically, the functions this position is accountable for are:

• Assessment of women’s trauma needs
• Development of treatment plans
• Engaging women in treatment of their trauma related needs
• Referring women to appropriate groups and agencies where necessary
• Support prison staff to manage women with trauma related needs and/or behaviours

Key Accountabilities

Key Accountability Areas:

Assessment, planning and treatment

Social Work Practice

• Assessment of the trauma needs of women referred to their services
• Plan the intensity and frequency of counselling for the woman based on needs assessment
• Develop treatment plans
• Conducting individual counselling sessions with women in line with their treatment plan
• Write outcome reports at the completion of treatment
• Where relevant, identifying further counselling needs for women on release from prison and refer as appropriate
• Innovation
• Develop innovative work with managers and staff from different disciplines to meet the objectives of the role
• Assess the need for group counselling work
• Plan and facilitate group counselling work, for example on building positive relationships
• Support prison staff to manage women with trauma related needs and behaviours
• Support other prison staff to understand and manage women suffering from trauma related symptoms through the provision of advice when requested and at multi-disciplinary meetings
• Supervision and administration
• Organise and participate in own supervision
• Participate in regular performance feedback with managers, both formal and informal
• Keep appropriate records of counselling work, ensuring they are kept securely and confidentially
• Use offender administration information systems for own purposes

Relationship management

• Develop and maintain sound working relationships with Departmental staff and external agencies
• Work in a collaborative manner with other prison staff to meet the needs of the women

Health and Safety

• Ensure that all work is carried out in a safe and responsible manner that does not compromise your own or the health and safety of others in the workplace.
• Comply with Departmental guidelines and policy statements on all matters of Occupational Health and Safety.

Relationships

Key Working Relationships:

Internal:

• Prison management
• Principal Adviser, Rehabilitation and Learning
• Health Centre Manager and other health staff
• Case managers
• Corrections Officers
• Departmental psychologists
• Social worker
• Community Probation

External:

• Local iwi/runanga and Māori Service Providers
• Community Service Providers
• Government Agencies and Social Services Providers
• Volunteer Groups

Person Specification

To be successful in this position you will need:

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Training and experience of the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy framework
• Minimum three years of counselling experience
• Sound knowledge and experience in working with women with trauma histories
• Flexible, safe and creative approaches in supporting vulnerable women
• Skills in group delivery would be advantageous
• Have effective communication skills, including being able to communicate verbally in a respectful and non-threatening manner that is tailored to the audience
• Ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with a wide range of people to facilitate the accomplishment of work goals
• Ability to maintain professional boundaries
• Ability to be flexible and adapt behaviour to reflect diverse situations and people, and deal positively with difficult situations and people
• Know when to seek guidance from others on matters of operational policy and procedure
• Effectively manage time and workload, taking responsibility for learning and development, while maintaining a balance between work and personal life
• Ability to use computer based systems
• Can operate effectively in a Māori cultural setting and has an understanding of the Treaty of Waitangi

Qualifications

• A relevant professional diploma or tertiary qualification in counselling
• Membership of a professional organisation is preferred

Other requirements

• Hold a clean and current driver’s licence.