Description
- Northern Adelaide Local Health Network – Northern Mental Health – SALISBURY SA 5108
- Salary: $73,710 - $89,981 p.a. plus Superannuation and Salary Sacrifice benefits – AHP1
- Salary: $94,997 - $110,052 p.a. plus Superannuation and Salary Sacrifice benefits – AHP2
- Ongoing Full-Time
About the Role:
The Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN) is seeking a passionate and dedicated Occupational Therapist to join our team within the Adult Acute Inpatient Mental Health Service.
NALHN is a leading provider of public healthcare services in South Australia. Adelaide's northern communities include some of the state's most complex and underserved populations. The Adult Acute Inpatient Mental Health team is at the centre of that care. If you're an Occupational Therapist ready to apply your skills where they matter most, this full-time ongoing role offers genuine clinical depth and a team that supports you.
As an Occupational Therapist, you will play a crucial role in supporting individuals with mental health challenges, helping them to regain independence, improve their quality of life and achieve their personal goals. You will work collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team, providing evidence-based assessments, interventions and promoting recovery-oriented practices.
Inpatient occupational therapy provides a unique opportunity to build meaningful relationships with consumers, families and carers. Through a trauma-informed approach, you’ll work alongside people during challenging times, creating safe, respectful connections that support recovery and meaningful participation in everyday life.
Working within the NALHN Adult Acute Inpatient Mental Health Team, you will deliver occupational therapy assessment and intervention to adults experiencing acute mental health episodes in an inpatient setting. Your scope will include:
- Delivering evidence-based therapeutic interventions, including sensory approaches that support recovery and community reintegration
- Planning, facilitation, and evaluation of a group program, which provide opportunity for engagement in meaningful activity and social connection
- Conducting discipline-specific assessments to inform individualised treatment planning and support needs, including but not limited to NDIS
- Collaborating within a multidisciplinary team including psychiatry, nursing, social work, psychology, and lived experience
- Contributing to complex discharge planning, which includes liaison with community mental health services across the northern Adelaide region, NGO and private service providers, and other key stakeholders
- Involvement in education and support for occupational therapy students during placement
- Engaging in quality improvement initiatives aimed at enhancing patient experiences during admissions
You will be joining a friendly multidisciplinary team and have an opportunity to learn from other disciplines. Regular structured discipline-specific supervision will be provided, and there will be an opportunity to participate in regular in-services, including discipline-specific professional development.
About You:
Are you a dedicated, compassionate and enthusiastic Occupational Therapist looking for an opportunity to join a dynamic, growing healthcare network where you will be part of a supportive team delivering high-quality care to the community?
Already working in mental health or interested in developing your skills in this area? If so, then this could be the opportunity for you. This position will offer you professional growth opportunities within a supportive and inclusive culture where you will make a significant contribution to individuals' care.
Exceptional communication skills, a passion for mental health and a commitment to delivering high-quality care are essential. There will be opportunities for career progression and further opportunities to work within other mental health settings.
Join our team and be part of a forward-thinking organisation dedicated to improving the health and well-being of South Australians.
About Us:
The Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN) is a leading provider of public healthcare services in South Australia, and one of the largest employers in northern Adelaide.
NALHN serves over 400,000 people in northern Adelaide with a comprehensive range of high-quality healthcare services, including emergency, surgical, obstetric, neonatal, paediatric, oncology, geriatric, palliative care and rehabilitation, and mental health care, as well as primary health care services with a focus on community health promotion and chronic disease management.
With a commitment for ongoing upgrades to our facilities and the introduction of new services, our priority is delivering exceptional health and wellbeing services that enhance the quality of life for our community.
Our 300-plus Allied Health professionals play an integral role in multidisciplinary teams delivering outstanding care to patients across our acute, subacute and hospital avoidance services.
At NALHN Everyone Has a Story, Everyone Matters, Everyone Contributes and Everyone Grows.
At NALHN, we have a strong commitment to providing a clinically interesting professional experience, with structured and supportive education and professional development, and career progression pathways.
Some feedback from current employees about working as Allied Health Professionals in NALHN includes:
“My favourite part about working in NALHN is the close working relationships we have across Allied Health to optimise patient care.”
“I feel like I’m part of a growing and developing service.”
“I love the great team dynamic and the culture of learning and support.”
Our Local Health Network Sites and Services:
NALHN provides a range of hospital (inpatient), outpatient, community and home-based services across multiple sites in Adelaide’s north and north-eastern suburbs, including Aboriginal health, mental health, and GP services.
Lyell McEwin Hospital – the major hospital in northern Adelaide for emergency care, complex and multi-day surgery, medicine, obstetric, paediatrics and outpatient services.
Modbury Hospital – a general hospital with emergency care, elective surgery, medicine, outpatient and sub-acute services, rehabilitation, geriatric and palliative care.
Mental Health Services – adult and older persons mental health services and statewide forensic mental health services, across hospital and community settings.
Watto Purrunna Aboriginal Primary Health Care Services – provides culturally responsive primary healthcare services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in-hospital and across four community sites.
Primary Health Care Services – including GP Plus sites at Elizabeth, Modbury and Gilles Plains.
Benefits of working at NALHN:
From salary packaging to flexible working arrangements, a large range of opportunities for movement and career progression, you’ll find there are lots of benefits of working with Northern Adelaide Local Health Network.
Incremental wage increases in-line with the Allied Health Professionals, Assistants and Psychologists Enterprise Agreement 2025
Access to experienced clinicians across a broad range of expertise, who are supportive of collegial sharing of skills and knowledge in different therapies and client presentations.
Salary packaging is an option for saving money by paying for some of your everyday expenses from your salary before it is taxed.
Relocation assistance may be available for successful applicants from interstate or overseas.
NALHN supports and fosters a culture in which employees feel they belong and feel safe at work. The culture aims to encourage all people to use their talents and to be valued and rewarded for their contributions.
In addition to this, other benefits of working as an Occupational Therapist in NALHN include:
- Professional development opportunities. We have a well-established Allied Health Education unit which offers high-quality, targeted in-house training, and under the current enterprise agreement staff are also eligible for a Professional Development Allowance and entitled to claim reimbursement of eligible professional development expenses to allow you to continue to build upon your professional foundations
- Opportunities to participate in research. NALHN have an Allied Health Research Chair, who is able to work with clinicians and teams to support clinical research
- Regular clinical supervision, allowing you to receive individualised support, learning and development to help you achieve your career goals
SA Health is committed to providing an inclusive workplace that embraces diversity and inclusion for all employees. We strongly encourage applications from people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent, culturally diverse backgrounds, members of the LGBTIQA+SB community and people who live with disability and/or neurodivergence.
We are committed to making workplace adjustments to provide a positive and supportive work environment. You are encouraged to let us know if have any support or access requirements during the recruitment process and beyond to ensure you can perform at your best.
The South Australian public sector promotes diversity and flexible ways of working including part-time. Applicants are encouraged to discuss the flexible working arrangements for this role.
Appointment will be subject to a satisfactory Criminal History Check.
Check(s):
- DHS Working With Children Check (WWCC)
- National Police Check (National Police Certificate) for vulnerable person-related employment screening – apply to any of the accredited bodies approved to offer a service direct to the public. Accreditation is provided by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. See our National Police Certificate accredited bodies page for links to lodge screening requests.
Immunisation Risk for this position is – Category A (direct contact with blood or body substances)
SA Health Services are required to implement the Addressing vaccine preventable disease: Occupational assessment, screening and vaccination policy in the workplace.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants are encouraged to apply. Job Ref: 940621
Enquiries:
Suzzanne Porcaro
Principal Occupational Therapist
Phone: 0410 049 288
E-mail: suzzanne.porcaro@sa.gov.au
Application Closing Date:
17 July 2026 – 11.55PM
Role Description and Further Information:
940621 - Occupational Therapist -Mental Health - AHP1 - Role Description.pdf
940621 - Occupational Therapist -Mental Health - AHP2 - Role Description.pdf
* Refer to the SA Health Career Website – How to apply for further information.
For further information and to apply visit www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/careers and search for Job Ref: 940621
