Partnerships Director

Across Australia, over one in five people have three or more legal needs in a given year. Many of them are some of the most vulnerable and marginalised in our community, making them hard to reach; and they are far more likely to raise their legal needs with a trusted health professional like a GP, community nurse or social worker, than with a lawyer. That’s why, since 2012, health and legal organisations have been building collaborations called health justice partnerships (HJPs) to improve their responsiveness and effectiveness in meeting health and legal needs in Australia. Adding a lawyer to the healthcare team means that healthcare professionals are more able to spot a legal problem and have someone nearby who can solve it. Legal problems can affect health, and HJPs mean that patients get better, more holistic healthcare. Working together, an HJP can better identify and respond to the legal and social needs that make it harder to be healthy and stop patients’ existing problems from reaching crisis point.

Health Justice Australia is the national centre for HJPs. We support the expansion and effectiveness of health justice partnerships through:

• Research and evaluation;

• Developing resources to support practitioners working in partnership; and

• Advocating policy solutions informed by the experiences of communities using health justice partnerships, and the professionals who support, to secure long-term, systemic reforms.

Health Justice Australia works to improve the health and justice of some of Australia’s most vulnerable communities. A national charity, we were established in 2016 through founding support from the Clayton Utz Foundation and Justice Connect. We are now looking for highly motivated people with a demonstrated capacity to work collaboratively to join us.

The Partnerships Director is a new position working directly with HJPs and their partner organisations. It is a key role in Health Justice Australia’s relationship with and support of HJPs and HJP practitioners. The Partnerships Director is highly skilled at working with people from a range of disciplines and organisations across a range of sectors. This role works particularly closely with community and private sector lawyers; health professionals in a wide range of settings; and policy-makers and funders from philanthropy and government.

Roles and responsibilities

• Work closely with HJPs to understand their service model, the nature of their partnerships, the outcomes they seek to achieve and their effectiveness in achieving those outcomes

• Develop, test and disseminate resources to support HJP best practice, including through the translation of research into practice

• Identify and establish processes to collect shared metrics across HJPs

• Work with HJP practitioners to implement the evidence of best practice to ensure their effectiveness

• Drive the expansion of HJPs nationally, including brokering new HJPs to meet identified needs

• Build and maintain engagement with Health Justice Australia by HJP practitioners and other stakeholders

• Develop and advocate policy and funding solutions to improve health and justice outcomes through partnership

• Manage advisory groups and other consultative processes related to HJP practice

• Attend and contribute to networks, events and forums across the health, justice and related sectors and representing Health Justice Australia in networks and events

• Other duties as required

Skills, knowledge and experience

• Specialist knowledge of professional practice in the areas of health and human services broadly, for example community legal assistance, primary health care, public health or social services

• Knowledge of organisational structures and systems in health and human (including community legal) service

• Knowledge of best practice in training, skills development and capacity building across the health and law systems

• Strong understanding of applied research including outcomes measurement in health and human services

• Degree and substantial experience in relevant fields of health, law, social services or social policy

• Demonstrated project and research management skills

• Highly accomplished communicator in both written and verbal contexts

• Ability to communicate complex concepts to non-specialist audiences

• Highly adept at working in partnership and collaboratively across a range of disciplines and areas of expertise

• Ability to manage and develop strategic projects and relationships within a multi-disciplinary environment

• Ability to be self-directed and highly motivated

• Strong understanding of the non-profit operating environment

• Commitment to the values of social justice, improving health and reducing legal need particularly for communities experiencing disadvantage

Organisational relationships

• Reports to CEO

• May have supervisory responsibilities

• Leads governance or advisory processes relating to HJPs