Care Fast is seeking experienced Disability Support Workers to join a dedicated Supported Independent Living team in Carrum Downs, supporting two participants with complex psychosocial disability and high-level support needs.
This role is suited to mature, calm and confident support workers who have experience working with participants with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, emotional dysregulation, verbal aggression, medication refusal, and complex family dynamics.
You will be supporting a mother and son living in SIL. The role requires strong professional boundaries, safeguarding awareness, de-escalation skills, and the ability to follow behaviour support strategies and care team directions.
About the Role
As a Disability Support Worker, you will provide person-centred support within a SIL environment, assisting participants with daily living, emotional regulation, community access, personal routines, household tasks, and safe relationship boundaries.
This is not a standard support worker role. The successful applicants must be experienced, observant, confident with complex behaviours, and able to work within a structured support model.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide daily living support within a SIL home environment.
- Support participants with psychosocial disability, schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
- Use calm, respectful and non-confrontational communication.
- Implement behaviour support strategies and follow support plans.
- Identify early warning signs of escalation and apply de-escalation strategies.
- Support participants who may present with verbal aggression, distress, paranoia, delusions, or refusal of support.
- Provide prompting and support around medication routines, while following escalation procedures for medication refusal.
- Maintain clear professional boundaries between mother and son.
- Support safe and positive family interactions while monitoring risk.
- Identify and report safeguarding concerns, including coercive control, undue influence, financial exploitation, unsafe visitors, or third-party involvement.
- Support the Greek-speaking participant with basic communication using Google Translate or approved translation tools where appropriate.
- Escalate complex communication, consent, legal, medical or safeguarding matters for formal interpreter support.
- Complete accurate progress notes, incident reports and shift handovers.
- Follow Care Fast policies, duty of care requirements, and NDIS Code of Conduct expectations.
Essential Requirements
- Minimum 2–3 years’ experience as a Disability Support Worker.
- Previous experience supporting participants with psychosocial disability.
- Experience working with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, paranoia, delusions, emotional dysregulation, or complex mental health presentations.
- Experience managing verbal aggression, emotional escalation and refusal of support.
- Strong understanding of safeguarding, coercive control, professional boundaries and duty of care.
- Ability to safely manage mother-son relationship dynamics in a shared living environment.
- Ability to remain calm, respectful and consistent under pressure.
- Strong documentation and incident reporting skills.
- Current NDIS Worker Screening Check.
- Current Working with Children Check, if applicable.
- Current First Aid and CPR.
- Valid driver’s licence and access to a reliable vehicle.
- Willingness to work across day, evening, sleepover and weekend shifts.
Highly Regarded
- Greek-speaking applicants are strongly encouraged to apply.
- Experience in SIL or complex mental health accommodation settings.
- Mental Health First Aid training.
- Medication support training.
- Behaviour support training.
- Experience working with participants who have a history of housing instability, family conflict, coercive control, or safeguarding concerns.
Worker Attributes We Are Looking For
We are looking for support workers who are:
- Calm, mature and emotionally steady.
- Confident but not controlling.
- Respectful, patient and culturally sensitive.
- Skilled at building trust and rapport.
- Able to follow routines and structured support plans.
- Strong with boundaries and not easily influenced by family conflict.
- Comfortable working with complex behaviours and mental health presentations.
- Able to identify risk early and escalate appropriately.
- Reliable, consistent and committed to long-term participant outcomes.
What We Offer
- Opportunity to work with a supportive and experienced SIL provider.
- Ongoing supervision and team support.
- Participant-specific induction and training.
- Stable roster opportunities.
- Meaningful work supporting participants with complex needs to live safely and with dignity.
How to Apply
Please submit your resume and a short cover letter outlining your experience with psychosocial disability, complex behaviours, schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, safeguarding, and SIL support on [email protected]
Only applicants with relevant complex support experience will be considered.
Pay: $24.95 – $35.00 per hour
Application Question(s):
- Have you supported participants with psychosocial disability, including schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder?
- Can you describe a time when you successfully de-escalated a participant who was verbally aggressive, distressed, paranoid, or refusing support?
- Why do you believe you are suitable for a complex psychosocial SIL role?
Work Location: In person
