Description

Mental Health Occupational Therapist

Ballarat Specialist School | Mental Health & Wellbeing Team
$93,265 - $109,967 + Supper |Paid School Holidays | PD Budget | Dedicated Therapy Space

Ongoing - starting 5th October 2026

Ballarat Specialist School is seeking a motivated and innovative Mental Health Occupational Therapist to join our multidisciplinary Mental Health and Wellbeing Team.

This is an opportunity to work differently.

Rather than operating from a traditional clinic-based model, you will work directly within the environments where students experience challenges — classrooms, playgrounds, therapy spaces and across the broader school community.

Your focus will be on understanding the factors impacting a student's regulation, behaviour, engagement and participation, then working alongside the student, their family, teachers, Education Support staff and other professionals to create practical supports that help them successfully engage in school.

A significant focus of the role will be supporting students experiencing complex mental health, behavioural and wellbeing needs, including students who have become disengaged from learning or are experiencing difficulty accessing the classroom environment.

Why you'll love working with us

We want to provide our Occupational Therapists with the time, resources and professional autonomy to do great work.

This role offers the benefits and security of working within the Victorian Government school system, combined with a level of clinical autonomy and resourcing that allows you to genuinely develop your practice.

Competitive Victorian Government salary
The position will be classified at Education Support Class, Level 1, Range 4 (ES 1-4) under the applicable Victorian Government Schools Agreement, with salary determined according to the successful applicant's classification and experience.

School-based working hours
Enjoy working predominantly within school hours, providing greater consistency and work-life balance than many traditional community, NDIS or private-practice caseloads.

Generous leave and paid school holidays
Enjoy the leave entitlements available through the Victorian Government school system, including paid school holiday periods, providing a working calendar that is difficult to match in many clinical settings.

Dedicated therapy spaces
You'll have access to dedicated spaces for individual therapy, small-group interventions, assessment, planning and collaborative work — while still having the flexibility to work directly within classrooms and other school environments.

A generous operational budget
We want our clinicians to have the resources they need to do their jobs effectively. You'll have access to a generous operational budget to support the development of therapy programs, resources, equipment and new initiatives.

Work as part of a genuine multidisciplinary team
You'll work alongside a multidisciplinary team of Allied Health, Mental Health, Wellbeing and Education professionals, with opportunities for regular collaboration, shared problem-solving and multidisciplinary intervention.

Dedicated professional development support
Continued professional growth is important to us. You'll have access to a professional development budget to support relevant training, courses and development opportunities.

Autonomy to create and innovate
This isn't a role where every hour of your week is dictated by billable appointments.

You'll have the autonomy to manage your caseload and referrals while identifying opportunities to develop new programs, staff training, group interventions, resources and whole-school initiatives that improve outcomes for our students.

Full-time preferred — part-time considered
We are ideally seeking a full-time Occupational Therapist, however we are very open to discussing part-time arrangements for the right applicant.

What will the role involve?

Your caseload will be diverse and may include:

Supporting students experiencing complex mental health and wellbeing needs.
- Assessing the occupational, environmental, sensory, emotional and functional factors contributing to school disengagement.
- Developing individualised strategies to support regulation, behaviour, participation and engagement.
- Supporting students who are struggling to attend, remain in or successfully participate in classroom environments.
- Developing practical plans to support students to progressively re-engage with school and learning.
- Working alongside classroom teams to understand the function and context of behaviours and develop proactive supports.
- Supporting students to develop regulation, coping, executive functioning, social participation and everyday functional skills.
- Delivering targeted 1:1 interventions and small-group programs.
- Designing and implementing preventative and early-intervention wellbeing programs.
- Providing coaching, modelling and professional learning for teachers and Education Support staff.
- Working collaboratively with the school's broader Allied Health, Wellbeing and Education teams.
- Contributing to multidisciplinary assessment, intervention planning and review.

More than a traditional Therapy Role

We are looking for an OT who wants to have an impact beyond individual therapy sessions.

You will have considerable autonomy to identify areas of need and develop responses that benefit individual students, classrooms and the broader school.

This could include developing:

- regulation programs
- classroom-based mental health supports
- behaviour and engagement interventions
- student re-engagement programs
- staff professional learning
- small-group therapeutic programs
- environmental modifications
- resources and frameworks for classroom teams
- new approaches to emerging student wellbeing needs
If you identify an opportunity to improve student participation or staff capability, we want you to have the initiative to explore it.

Why work at Ballarat Specialist School?

At Ballarat Specialist School, Occupational Therapy is embedded within the school environment rather than operating as an external service.

This means you can:

See the challenge in context.
Observe students in the classroom, playground and wider school environment rather than relying solely on reports or second hand information about what is occurring.

Intervene where it matters.
Trial strategies within the student's actual environment and adjust them in real time.

Build the capacity of the people around the student.
Work directly alongside teachers and Education Support staff so therapeutic strategies become part of everyday school practice.

Work collaboratively.
Be part of multidisciplinary Allied Health, Wellbeing and Education teams supporting students with diverse and complex needs.

Create and innovate.
Develop programs, resources, staff training and interventions in response to the needs you identify across the school.

See long-term outcomes.
Work with students over time and see therapeutic strategies translate into meaningful improvements in participation, engagement and independence.

The person we're looking for

This role will suit someone who enjoys autonomy.

You won't spend your day waiting for the next appointment to appear in your calendar. You'll be expected to manage your caseload, prioritise referrals, collaborate with teams and actively identify opportunities where Occupational Therapy can improve outcomes for students.

We want someone who sees a problem and thinks:

"What can we put in place to make this work better?"

If you are an Occupational Therapist who is passionate about mental health, participation and helping young people reconnect with education, we'd love to hear from you.

Join Ballarat Specialist School and help create the conditions in which every student can participate, engage and succeed.

Key Selection Criteria – Mental Health OT

1.      Mental Health Occupational Therapy Knowledge and Practice

Demonstrated knowledge, skills and experience in the provision of Occupational Therapy services to children and/or young people with complex mental health, emotional regulation, behavioural and wellbeing needs, including an understanding of how sensory, environmental, psychosocial and functional factors can influence a student's participation, engagement and behaviour.

2.      Assessment, Intervention and Student Re-engagement

Demonstrated ability to undertake relevant assessment, identify barriers to participation and develop, implement and evaluate evidence-informed Occupational Therapy interventions that support emotional regulation, behaviour, wellbeing, school engagement and successful participation in classroom and learning environments. This may include individual intervention, small-group programs, environmental modifications and classroom-based strategies.

3.      Capacity Building and Collaborative Practice

Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with students, families/carers, teachers, Education Support staff, Allied Health professionals, Wellbeing staff and relevant external services, including the ability to translate clinical knowledge into practical strategies, coaching and professional learning that builds the capacity of school staff to support students within their everyday environments.

4.      Initiative, Autonomy and Program Development

Demonstrated ability to work independently and proactively. Effectively manage a caseload and referral priorities, and identify emerging areas of student or school need. Demonstrated capacity to use initiative and clinical reasoning to develop innovative interventions, therapeutic programs, staff training and/or whole-school approaches that improve student mental health, regulation, engagement and participation.

5.      Evidence-Based Practice, Evaluation and Professional Development

Demonstrated commitment to evidence-based and reflective Occupational Therapy practice, including the ability to establish meaningful intervention goals, evaluate student and program outcomes, reflect on professional performance and modify intervention accordingly. Demonstrated commitment to ongoing professional learning relevant to mental health, disability, regulation, behaviour and contemporary Occupational Therapy practice.

6.      Communication, Professionalism and Multidisciplinary Practice

Demonstrated high-level written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex clinical information clearly and practically to students, families and staff. Maintain high-quality professional documentation and contribute effectively to multidisciplinary decision-making.

Requirements

We are looking for an Occupational Therapist who is:

• Passionate about supporting children and young people with complex needs.
  - Skilled or experienced in mental health, emotional regulation, behaviour support and/or psychosocial intervention.
  - Able to understand behaviour through an occupational, functional and environmental lens.
  - Confident working collaboratively with teachers, Education Support staff, families and multidisciplinary professionals.
  - Comfortable working with students individually, in groups and within their natural classroom environment.
  - Able to translate clinical knowledge into practical strategies that school staff can implement every day.
  - Highly organised and capable of independently managing referrals, caseload priorities and intervention planning.
  - Proactive, creative and willing to develop new programs rather than waiting for work to be allocated.
  - Motivated by capacity building — helping the adults around a student become more confident and effective in supporting them.

Experience within paediatrics, disability, youth mental health, behavioural intervention, community mental health or complex psychosocial practice would be highly regarded.