Government - State (Government & Defence)
Policy Officer – Lived Experience, Advocacy and Reform Full Time Permanent Salary range: $106,025 to $117,363 pa and employer's contribution to superannuation and annual leave loading. The Mental Health Commission of NSW is seeking interested applicants for the position of Policy Officer – Lived Experience within the Advocacy and Reform team.
This is an exciting opportunity to join a small fast-paced team that is committed to providing a high standard of project management, policy development, and lived expertise to ensure the Commission achieves its required statutory functions and policy obligations.
The Advocacy and Reform team actively seeks the views of people with a lived experience of mental health issues and of caring, their families, and kinship groups to help shape the reform agenda, reduce stigma and discrimination, and promote general health and wellbeing.
The Commission is a small agency of about 30 FTE based in the Sydney CBD and working flexibly within hybrid workplace guidelines.
Primary Purpose of the Role The Policy Officer – Lived Experience will provide lived experience perspectives and input into the mental health and wellbeing reform program of work undertaken each year by the Advocacy and Reform team.
This includes providing well-researched advice, efficient project and secretariat support to the Manager, and high-quality project outputs (e.g., summaries, briefs, submissions, correspondence, speech notes, meeting papers, etc.
).
This role requires a resilient, highly energized individual who is capable of engaging with people with lived experience and caring, families, and kinship groups and other stakeholders through their highly developed written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills.
This is a designated lived experience role, and personal experience of mental health issues and recovery is required for this position.
Key Accountabilities Provide lived experience perspectives and input into the mental health and wellbeing program of work.Provide a range of project management and support services (including preparation of reports and briefs, implementing and monitoring project plans, etc.)
to ensure project outcomes are achieved to a high standard and within allocated budgets and timeframes.Undertake environmental scans and gap analyses to identify current and emerging priorities, with a focus on engaging with people with lived experience, caring, families, and kinship groups.Build and maintain a detailed knowledge of mental health sector issues and the role of key stakeholders, including people with lived experience, to effectively co-design and co-lead policy and research outcomes.Complete tasks within agreed timeframes and to agreed standards while managing other tasks at various stages of completion; responding effectively on a diverse range of complex and sensitive issues.Develop advice and position papers regarding systemic issues relating to mental health and wellbeing, and analyze information from a range of sources and stakeholders in a context of competing priorities and points of view.Providing sound, informed, and timely support and advice to the Commissioner on a range of public policy in a highly changeable policy and reform environment at the state and national level.Personal lived experience of mental health issues and recovery, and the ability to meaningfully and purposefully use lived experience to influence system reform.
Demonstrated experience working in designated lived experience (peer workforce) roles, and the ability to draw on understanding of the peer workforce and consumer and carer movements to inform work.Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to organize and present complex information in a clear, logical, and systematic way.Ability to engage with key stakeholders, including government agencies, community-managed organizations, and people with lived experience, carers, and kinship groups, on a range of Commission priority areas.Ability to display initiative, have sound organizational and project management skills, capacity to multi-task, and meet deadlines.Demonstrated ability to work independently or as a member of an effective, multi-disciplinary team.
Knowledge and understanding of the role of the NSW Mental Health Commission and experience working in the mental health sector.How to apply For applications to be considered, candidates must upload a current resume, a cover letter, and responses to the 2 targeted questions below.
The cover letter is to outline your capabilities and experience relevant to this role and should be no more than 2 pages.
The targeted questions are:
What interests you about the role?Describe a project you have led or supported which required you to engage with people with a lived experience.
How did you approach the engagement process, what were the key challenges, and how did you manage these challenges?Part of the assessment process may include additional online capability testing, skills testing, or work samples in accordance with the new Government Sector Employment Act 2013.
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