Youth Mental Health Practitioner Rotorua Community Youth Centre Trust location Bay of Plenty.

Imagine yourself working in an innovative youth-centric primary mental health, addictions and wellbeing service in Rotorua. If you are passionate about making a lasting difference in the lives of young people, then this may be the job for you.

Our successful candidate will be a fully registered health practitioner, i.e. social worker, psychologist, psychotherapist, DAPAANZ AoD Practitioner, Occupational Therapist, Registered Nurse or Counsellor (full member of NZAC who meets the criteria and has been accredited by the NZAC to work within the mental health and addictions services scope of practice). In addition, the successful candidate will have a background in mental health, plus a minimum of 3 years as a mental health practitioner.

As an exceptional and innovative experienced practitioner you will have the drive to work with, and support, young people (12 – 24 years) who are experiencing mild to moderate levels of distress, to realise their full potential. You will be highly mobile and flexible to enable the service to be integrated into community settings throughout the Rotorua rohe, where taiohi congregate and feel comfortable.

You will connect with taiohi in the community and support them to make positive transitions through life, enabling them to be happy, healthy and safe, and maintain a sense of wellbeing and purpose into their future.

Our service is underpinned by the Pūtake Nui approach and is directly linked to Tauwhirotanga (as expressed within the Model of Care Te Ara Tauwhirotanga). The service is delivered within a positive youth development framework and based within a well-established Youth One Stop Shop (Taihoi Tūrama - Rotorua Centre for Youth, formally known as Rotorua Community Youth Centre). You will therefore be working on an individual and group basis with rangatahi, colleagues, community and whānau.

It goes without saying that you will already have a strong knowledge of mental health and addictions; experience in primary mental health screening and triage; delivery of evidence informed therapy, treatment services and therapeutic interventions.

You will have some experience with group work, and providing mental health talk therapies (at a minimum). You will also have a proven ability to connect positively with young people and support them using a positive, strengths-based approach.

You need to be a self-starter who is goal orientated and committed to the health and wellbeing of young people. It is essential that you have strong communication and administrative skills, proven success in developing and maintaining strong client and inter-agency relationships, can work well on an individual and team basis, and most importantly, a passion for youth.