Health Education Officer- Father Inclusion - Karitane

Position open: Health Education Officer – Father Inclusion

Join the Village Connect team…

• Make a real impact by supporting fathers and strengthening families.
• Work in a collaborative, community-focused environment.
• Partner within the community to improve access to parenting services for fathers.

POSITION TITLE:    Health Education Officer – Father Inclusion (Village Connect)

DEPARTMENT:    Community Programs

OPERATIONAL BASE:    Campbelltown/Carramar (travel across SWS required)

CLASSIFICATION:    Health Education Officer, Graduate / non graduate

STATUS:    16hrs P/W. Contract end: June 30, 2026 (with potential for extension)

VACCINATION CATEGORY:    A

RESPONSIBLE TO:     Village Connect Team Leader / Program Lead Systems Navigator

About Village Connect

Village Connect is a pilot project funded by the Department of Communities and Justice, under the Investment Approach for Social Impact Strategy.  Karitane, and partners, Uniting and Sonder, provide holistic, wrap around supports to people pregnant or parenting, living in Southwest Sydney and have prioritised young parents since commencement in 2023. 

Village Connect uses a holistic, social health, model of care.  Our priority is to meet parents where they are on their parenting journey in a judgement free and flexible manner. Trust building for sustained engagement is a priority for our entire team.

The Village Connect team is expanding to accommodate parents of any age and one of our focus areas will be to increase father engagement. Services are predominantly accessed by women, and we would like to change this, increasing the number of fathers receiving supports so we can have greater holistic impact, improving outcomes for families in Southwest Sydney

About You

You will be a passionate Health Education Officer – Father Engagement, leading father-inclusive health education and community engagement strategies across Southwest Sydney. You will focus on building fathers’ confidence and parenting skills, fostering community connection, and strengthening partnerships with services that support dads.

You will also contribute to Karitane’s Father Inclusive Practice Working Group, embedding best-practice approaches and collaborative ways of working across Karitane services.

Essential Criteria – Each criteria below must be addressed in your cover letter

• Experience in health education, community engagement, or family support roles.
• Strong facilitation skills and ability to deliver interactive and engaging group sessions.
• Ability to build partnerships and collaborate across multidisciplinary networks.
• Understanding of father-inclusive practice and commitment to gender equity in parenting.
• Knowledge of cultural safety, child protection, and trauma-informed approaches.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Flexibility to work evenings/weekends to meet fathers’ availability.

Desirable criteria:

• Qualifications in health promotion, education, social work, or related fields.
• Knowledge of or experience working within the First 2000 days framework
• Previous operational experience in child and family support including case management experience, and delivery of evidence-based programs

RESPONSIBILITIES

Karitane programs provide safe, effective, evidence-based quality care consistent with the Karitane vision and values and adhere to the Professional and NSW Health code of conduct.

Key Responsibilities INCLUDE

• Tailor and deliver evidence-based health education programs that will best suit fathers including parenting skills, child development, and family wellbeing.
• Engage fathers through inclusive, low-barrier activities such as online or evening drop in opportunities, developing a support network, and connecting with fathers who already access other programs (this may include mental health groups, fathering groups, etc).
• Work with internal and external partners to improve access to universal and existing services for fathers including Village Connect.
• Coordinate with services and networks focused on fathers to strengthen referral pathways and joint initiatives.
• Support Karitane’s Father Inclusive Practice Working Group and promote consistent, evidence-informed approaches.
• Contribute to program development, evaluation, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure cultural safety and inclusion for diverse communities, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, culturally and linguistically diverse families and individuals with a disability or learning difficulty.

• Participate and contribute to this innovative team underpinned by Karitane’s values of respect, innovation, excellence and collaboration.
• Engage in consultation with parents ensuring service system challenges are understood and parents have input to the design of supports.
• Keep accurate and complete records, information secure and privacy policies and requirements.
• Take reasonable care work health and safety in accordance with legislative requirements and policies and procedures.

NOTE: Whilst father focussed, you will also be required to work with and alongside mothers and children (this may include supporting current Village Connect services and those being expanded).

Why join the Karitane Team?

Karitane is a registered Family Friendly Workplace implementing standards that support employers to elevate their workplace culture and practices to be more gender equal and family friendly. 

Karitane is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We actively work to ensure our environment and services reflect and meet the needs of all families, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, people with disability, fathers, and LGBTQIA+ families.

Karitane is committed to providing a safe, inclusive, and empowering environment for all children and young people. We are dedicated to upholding the Child Safe Standards, all staff share responsibility for maintaining a child safe culture.

Karitane values and learns from the voices of those with lived and living experience, regularly participating in consultation, co-design and co-creation with parents we support and our diverse staff teams, to improve our services.  If you’re a parent or carer and meet the essential criteria, we encourage you to apply.

How to Apply

Submit your CV and a cover letter addressing the essential criteria to jo.ubilla@health.nsw.gov.au

Any enquires via email or mobile: - 0448 145 187

Applications close: Friday 20^th March 2026