YvetteCamille

Hi all,

Im a registered mental health nurse in the UK, 4 years experience, Band 6 as a Dual Diagnosis Nurse.
Im currently starting the whole porcess of IETL test and skills assessment, have also registered with Go Matilda to help speed things up in terms of sorting paperwork etc.

My partner also works in substance misuse services but is not of a nursing background so will be looking for work in this area, he is a team leader band 7 but we dont expect that he will be able to find the same positions exactly.

My questions are these;
We are looking at Brisbane due to weather and relatively close to Gold Coast but we are having difficulties in find suitable work. There are tons of nursing jobs about so I'll be ok no doubt but not so much for him. Im worries that we'll get there and he wont be able to find him work. Are we looking at the right area (brisbane) for this type of work.

Any ideas or suggestions would be v.much appriciated guys thanks!

Yvette

bitzenpces

Hi YvetteCamille, welcome to BE. I've found a few websites for your partner to look at, hopefully some are new to you. I couldn't find much in the way of jobs being advertised at the moment, but I don't know if Queensland is still in school holiday mode, or if things are still a bit dire for jobs in the health sector at the moment. Some of the websites below have a lot of information about the ATOD sector in Queensland (and Australia), which would be useful background information. Having a basic understanding of Aboriginal health issues in general, plus alcohol/other drugs in particular, and cultural competency would also be important. You could always contact the websites to ask about the best site for job-searching. Using seek.com.au is also worthwhile, but you would probably need to use a variety of keywords when searching.

http://www.health.qld.gov.au/atod/ - see links for Health Professionals, Policies and Legislation, Prevention and Treatment
http://www.qnada.org.au/ - try to find out their member organisations, as QNADA seem to act as an umbrella, trying to be a network for the ATOD sector, but you might have more luck contacting the members directly
http://www.drugblog.net/category/jobs/
http://www.drugarm.com.au/content/home.asp?
Alcohol and Drug Foundation Queensland http://www.adfq.org/
http://www.adin.com.au/help-support-services/queensland
Holyoake http://www.connectingup.org/organisa...ake-queensland

There will probably be all sorts of NGOs involved in rehab and support services, such as Mission Australia, Salvation Army, etc, but you might well need the assistance of some of these organisations above to ferret them out. These are in addition to the QLD government services. Hope this helps. Good luck.

YvetteCamille

Thank you so much for those links and that info! Ill check those out. Looking forward to relocating and Im glad there'll be work in Brissy!

BASHO

Hi,
Not to be discouraging however perhaps you should be aware that the Queensland gov has recently fired about 15000 public servants including health employees , their long term record (several governments) regarding supporting mental health services is appalling and that the health services has just been , is going, through , a massive payroll trauma whereby people have been over payed , under payed and not paid due to installing a new IBM payroll system that just didn't work and didn't and didn't and--you get the idea--.

HOWEVER--the Gold Coast has just opened a new large hospital , I'm not sure whether they're even fully up and running as yet it may pay to do a bit of searching to see if they're staffed up ---

YvetteCamille

No that's great information thank you! I'd give my right arm to work on the coast but just wasn't seeing any jobs, ill be sure to check that new place out thank again! � ����

Grayling

The MH unit at the Gold coast has transferred to the new hospital already. There are only two wards and the existing staff transferred.

Queensland health have virtually stopped recruiting except for very specialised positions.

There may be private sector jobs but you will need to look for these.

I advise finding a job before you come over as Nursing jobs in Brisbane and the GC are not that easy to find and there is a lot of competition.

There are agencies advertised but they do not guarantee work.

YvetteCamille

Hi Grayling,

Thanks again for the info, where I live will obviously depend on where the work is for both myself and my partner, no point living somewhere if there are little job opportunities, looks like its a bad time for nursing in QLD

bitzenpces

It would be worth looking at WA for jobs for both of you, http://www.jobs.health.wa.gov.au/page.php?pageID=215 and http://www.wanada.org.au/Table/AOD-Jobs-Listing/.

Grayling

You would probably find a job eventually.....it may not be quite what you expect though. MH services here are very different to the UK and not in a good way

At present there are a lot of nurses looking for work plus hundreds of graduates with no job. You do not need any MH qualifications to work in MH so any shortfall is now being taken up by the general casual pool in hospitals.
Public hospitals mostly cater for very acute cases and treatment is very medicalised. Community services are virtually all case management of chronic illness.

Your best bet may be the private sector but IME they are more interested in profit than outcomes and are even more heavily medicalised.

What is your partner's core profession?

.......don't imagine that your grade in the UK will count for much....if you want a higher grade you have to compete for it and, again there is a lot of competition.

Mental health is an area that badly needs properly trained staff but that has been severely curtailed by the current government's cutbacks and Mental health's low priority.

Find a job first and then go where the job is

YvetteCamille

I am a registered mental health nurse as my core profession, however I have worked in forensic settings, acute inpatient services and community drug and mental health services, I would like a ward based job but again ill go where the work is. My plan (as im only just starting the process) would be to have skills ass etc, get visa then a couple of months before flying out start looking for work (as ive been told an employer wont wait too long for you to come over). Ive also been told that I probably wouldnt get a job secured until im in the country so Im expecting to go over jobless and look while im there, although im not sure how smart that is?

YvetteCamille

Thanks for the links!