About Dawn House Women's Shelter

Dawn House is a service run by women, for women accompanied by children, as a safe place of refuge, counselling, and community education. In line with its feminist values and principles, Dawn House is committed to the pursuit of social justice and the preservation of dignity for all women and children.

Dawn House believes that women and children must have equitable access to civil, economic, political, cultural, and social rights necessary for the pursuit of self-fulfillment, self-determination and the achievement of optimal potential. To this end Dawn House actively encourages and supports women and children to achieve their personal and collective goals.

Our Vision

Women and Children are free from domestic and family violence and are supported in their journey to recovery.

Our Mission

To provide confidential refuge and a range of culturally safe support services for women and their children experiencing domestic and family violence, whilst promoting a feminist strengths-based response through advocacy and community education.

Position Overview

The Senior Domestic Violence Practitioner provides senior practice leadership, complex case consultation and day-to-day coordination of Dawn House’s domestic and family violence intervention service. The role supports safe, timely and high-quality responses to women and children escaping domestic and family violence, including intake, risk assessment, safety planning, crisis accommodation support, case management, referral, advocacy and practical information.

The position is based across Dawn House locations in Darwin, including the Shelter and Head Office, and may be required to work from other Dawn House locations to meet operational needs.

The role operates under the limited direction of the Operations Manager and is responsible for the following main areas:

· Provide senior domestic and family violence practice support, including complex and high-risk case consultation.

· Lead and support Domestic Violence Intervention Workers through day-to-day guidance, coaching, supervision, debriefing, case reviews and case allocation.

· Coordinate service delivery, including intake, referrals, case flow, escalation processes, service continuity, and collaboration with external stakeholders and interagency partners.

· Maintain quality and compliance through practice improvement, casework procedures, reporting, data management, file reviews, confidentiality and safe work practices aligned with Dawn House values.

Essential Criteria

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

· Substantial experience in domestic and family violence, crisis accommodation, homelessness, community services or a related human services setting, including complex or high-risk casework.

· Advanced understanding of domestic and family violence dynamics, coercive control, trauma, risk escalation, safety planning and the impacts of violence on women and children.

· Demonstrated ability to apply and model trauma-informed, strengths-based, feminist, culturally safe and client-centered practice with women and children experiencing domestic and family violence.

· Demonstrated ability to provide senior practice guidance, supervision, coaching, reflective practice and debriefing to frontline practitioners without formal line-management responsibility.

· Strong case coordination skills, including intake triage, case review, referral planning, recommendations about caseload allocation and management of competing casework priorities within delegation.

· Sound knowledge of child safety, mandatory reporting obligations, confidentiality, privacy, professional boundaries and relevant Northern Territory service systems.

· Ability to exercise judgement, make timely decisions within delegation, escalate risk appropriately and work with professional autonomy under management direction.

· Ability to contribute to the development, review and improvement of operational procedures, practice tools, templates and work practices in consultation with management.

· Strong written communication, case recording, data quality and reporting skills, including the ability to use SHIP or other client management systems.

· Sound stakeholder engagement skills, including the ability to liaise respectfully and advocate in case-specific matters with police, child protection, courts, housing, legal, health and community service providers.

· Hold a Northern Territory Police Clearance and Working with Children Clearance (Ochre Card).

· Current Northern Territory Driver License, or the ability to obtain one, and capacity to participate in after-hours or on-call arrangements where required.

Attributes:

· Commitment to the safety, dignity and self-determination of women and children experiencing domestic and family violence.

· Calm, confident and respectful manner when supporting clients, staff and stakeholders in complex or high-pressure situations.

· Sound judgement, discretion and accountability when managing risk, sensitive information and competing service demands.

· Collaborative senior practitioner style with the ability to support colleagues, model professional practice and maintain clear boundaries.

· Culturally respectful, inclusive and reflective approach to practice, including a commitment to culturally safe service responses.

· Resilience, self-awareness and willingness to use professional supervision, debriefing and professional development to support safe practice.

Qualifications:

(Essential)

· Relevant degree with substantial experience in Social Work, human services, social science, psychology, counselling, community services or a related discipline; or

· Associate diploma, diploma or other relevant qualification with substantial experience and demonstrated competence sufficient to perform the duties at Dawn House Level 6; or

· An equivalent combination of previous appointments, service, study, experience and expertise sufficient to meet the requirements of the role.

(Desirable)

· Postgraduate qualification or specialist training in domestic and family violence, trauma-informed practice, counselling, case management, practice mentoring or reflective supervision.

Desirable Criteria:

· Experience working in a women’s refuge, specialist domestic and family violence service, crisis accommodation service or comparable community services environment.

· Experience providing practice supervision, case consultation or day-to-day coordination to frontline workers.

· Experience working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and services operating in the Northern Territory context.

Key Duties

Senior domestic and family violence practice

Maintain a caseload including complex matters as required, including intake, risk assessment, safety planning, case planning, advocacy, referral and crisis accommodation support for women and children within delegated authority.

Practice leadership and supervision

Provide practice guidance, coaching, reflective practice and debriefing to Domestic Violence Intervention Workers within the role’s practice-support scope. Identify and escalate performance, workload, wellbeing or resourcing concerns to the Operations Manager, Team Leader or other authorised management role; does not conduct formal performance management or disciplinary processes.

Intake, allocation and service coordination

Support day-to-day intake and casework coordination, including triage, eligibility checks, referral pathways, case review, recommendations about allocation, escalation and service continuity within approved procedures and delegation.

Risk, safety and child safeguarding

Ensure high-risk matters are identified, documented, safety planned and escalated in accordance with Dawn House policies, child safety obligations, mandatory reporting requirements, relevant legislation and delegated authority.

Quality, procedure and practice improvement

Contribute to the development, review and improvement of casework procedures, practice tools, templates and work practices in consultation with the Operations Manager, and support consistent application across the team.

Records, data and reporting

Maintain accurate client records, SHIP data, case notes, assessments, safety plans, case plans and referral records for allocated work, and undertake delegated file reviews, reports or data quality checks as required.

Stakeholder engagement and advocacy

Participate in case conferences, interagency meetings and referral discussions within case-specific and delegated authority, and maintain constructive relationships with police, child protection, courts, housing, legal, health and community service providers.

Organisational contribution

Comply with Dawn House policies, privacy, confidentiality, WHS and professional conduct requirements, participate in professional supervision and development, and undertake other duties consistent with the Level 6 classification and senior practitioner role scope.

This is a female-designated position under section 35 of the Northern Territory Anti-Discrimination Act 1992.