• Hillmorton Hospital - South Community Mental Health Team
• Social Worker Permanent Full time 1.0FTE
• 0.3FTE Clinical Social Work Specialist & 0.7FTE Clinical Social Worker within the one role

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is firmly grounded in the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and is committed to building a health system that serves all New Zealanders.

About the Role

This is a dual-focused role, combining direct clinical work with professional leadership. You will hold a caseload of tāngata whaiora with serious mental illness, providing recovery-focused social work that supports recovery and wellbeing. You will lead by example - practicing advanced clinical skills, keeping accurate records, and managing your time effectively. As a key member of the multidisciplinary team, you will advocate for the social work perspective and ensure it informs clinical decision making and care planning.

Alongside your clinical responsibilities, you will provide administrative supervision and support effective caseload management with social workers. You will act as a resource person in top of scope social work areas to the wider team. You will support management with workforce development relating to social work – such as recruitment, students and mentoring of new staff. You will support the development of the social work profession at SMHS by assisting the Clinical Leader of Social Work with delegated tasks as required.

This position is an integral component of the South Community Leadership Team, providing clinical leadership in partnership with the Clinical Manager and Clinical Nurse Specialist to support the delivery of innovative, responsive, and evidence-based care.

About you

You are an experienced social worker with a strong background in mental health and a sound understanding of the complexities of supporting people living with serious mental illness. You bring credibility as a practitioner, the confidence to provide guidance to others and the ability to work collaboratively across a multidisciplinary team. You have sound knowledge of competency and practice frameworks relating to social work and your practice reflects this, including competency One: Competence to Practice Social Work with Māori.

You are ready to take on a senior leadership role where you can use your experience to support colleagues, strengthen practice and contribute to positive outcomes for tāngata whaiora and whānau.

You will bring:

• A recognised social work qualification and current registration with the New Zealand Social Workers Registration Board.
• Significant experience in social work, including experience in mental health.
• Strong clinical assessment, intervention, and caseload management skills.
• The ability to provide administrative supervision, guidance and mentoring to social workers.
• Effective communication, sound judgement and the ability to work collaboratively with the wider MDT and clinical leadership team.
• A commitment to recovery-focused, culturally responsive and equitable practice.

Please ensure you include a covering letter to highlight your relevant skillset and experience.

Working at Health New Zealand

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is dedicated to ensuring excellent healthcare for the people of New Zealand. We embrace a workforce that is diverse and inclusive so that we are better positioned to understand and service our community. We welcome applications from our diverse Māori, Pacific, disabled, and rainbow communities.

How to Apply

To apply please click “apply now.” All applications must be submitted through our online careers’ portal by Monday, 26th October. If you have any questions about the role, please contact Lisa Gray at [email protected]

We will review applications as received and may proceed with the recruitment process, before the closing date of this advert.