Role: Team Leader - Mental Health (internally known as Complex Care Lead)
Reports to: Senior Manager Mental Health and Counselling Services
Location: Cooinda, Learmonth Road, Wendouree
Employment type: Ongoing, full time
Salary: $55.72 - $58.18 per hour
You know what good mental health care looks like. Now help build the team that delivers it.
Maybe you're already leading a mental health team.
Or maybe you're an experienced clinician who's become the person others naturally turn to for a second opinion, clinical guidance, support with a complex presentation or because you have a way of helping the people around you do their best work.
If you're ready to take that experience into people leadership, we'd like to hear from you.
This isn't a team that's already been built for you. You'll help build it.
This is a new leadership role within Ballarat Community Health's Mental Health and Counselling Services team, with genuine scope to help shape the future of our complex community mental health services.
You'll recruit and build a multidisciplinary team of around 10–12 people working across a diverse mix of programs, including forensic mental health, family violence, intensive peer support and the Wimmera Grampians Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) Care Program.
A clinician might come to you needing another perspective on a complex presentation. Someone else might need clinical supervision or support managing their workload. You might be recruiting your next team member, leading a case review, working through service demand or sitting down with the Senior Manager to look at what's working across a program and what needs to change.
This is a people leadership role, backed by strong clinical knowledge.
You'll lead and develop your team, provide clinical supervision and guidance, and keep an eye on the bigger picture – service delivery, quality, demand and whether the programs are achieving what they're there to do.
What you'll bring to the team
You have substantial mental health experience and the clinical judgement that comes with it. You understand complexity, risk, recovery-oriented practice and the realities of supporting people whose needs don't always fit neatly into one service or system.
Just as importantly, you want to lead people.
You might already have formal management experience, but it isn't the only way to demonstrate you're ready. Perhaps you've provided clinical supervision, mentored clinicians, led case reviews or projects, stepped into acting leadership responsibilities or become a trusted source of guidance within your team.
You'll be someone who can:
- Build a team, not just manage one. You'll help recruit your team and shape how they work together.
- Give people clarity and support. You can set expectations, provide useful feedback and have harder conversations when needed.
- Stay clinically grounded. You can help clinicians work through complex presentations, risk and appropriate care without needing to take over.
- See the bigger picture. You can work across disciplines and services, spot gaps and help improve how programs operate.
What you'll need
You'll hold a tertiary qualification in Mental Health Social Work, Mental Health Occupational Therapy, Mental Health Nursing, Psychology or Community Mental Health Support.
You'll also need current full registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) or current full membership with the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW).
What you'll get at BCH
Along with the opportunity to build and shape a new team, you'll have:
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Salary packaging – up to $15,900 for everyday living expenses and up to $2,650 meals and entertainment
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Excellent working conditions with a high sense of job satisfaction
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Flexible working arrangements
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Access to employee wellness programs and discounts
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The opportunity to influence how complex community mental health services develop across BCH.
About Ballarat Community Health
We're a not-for-profit community health organisation with around 300 people working across six locations in Ballarat and the Western Region.
For more than 45 years, we've been part of this community, providing health, wellbeing and social care that helps people get the support they need, when they need it.
For our Mental Health and Counselling Services team, that means providing community-based mental health support that responds to the person especially when their needs are complex and the path forward isn't straightforward.
If you’d like to know more about us visit our website http://www.bchc.org.au/
Further information, applications, and accessibility
For further enquiries about this role please contact Leanne Duggan, Senior Manager Mental Health and Counselling Services on telephone 0491 767 245
Applications close NO LATER THAN 11.59pm on Wednesday 16 September 2026
We’ll be reviewing applications as they come in and may close the position earlier, so we encourage you to apply early.
BCH is committed to inclusive and accessible recruitment. If you require adjustments during the recruitment process, please contact the People and Culture team at [email protected] and let us know.
Safety and Inclusion
BCH takes the safety, dignity and wellbeing of children, older people and vulnerable people seriously. We expect all staff to uphold these standards in their work.
We are committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce. We value different life experiences and perspectives and provide care to all members of our community, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, religion, cultural background, disability or sexual orientation.
