Financial Counsellor

About Care

Care is a charity which has been supporting the Canberra community since 1983. Through its legal, financial counselling and financial capabilities programs, Care provides access to free and confidential support, assistance and advocacy to people living on low to moderate incomes or who are experiencing financial difficulty. We believe in financial fairness for all.

Our Priorities

• Provide information, advice, advocacy, legal assistance and ongoing support for people in the community who experience financial hardship or exploitive lending practices.
• Work to educate the broader community about their rights, responsibilities, and options regarding financial issues and energy equity.
• Advocate systemic changes at a local and national level.
• Be an adaptive and innovative community sector partner.
• Constant service improvement to respond to the diverse needs of our client community and stakeholders.

Our values

Care fosters a positive workplace culture and strives to deliver quality services to meet the needs of the community. Our values underpin our work and are integral to achieving our strategic priorities.

Integrity: Our practices are professional, ethical, and human centred.

Inclusion: We seek to provide culturally appropriate and accessible services to all people in our community.

Diversity: We value and foster a diverse workforce and design services to reach a diverse target group.

Respect: We are respectful and work with compassion and empathy to support the people we work for and with.

As with all roles in the for-purpose sector, this position is funded within Care’s current operational and funding arrangements.

All Care employees must hold a Working with Vulnerable People Card for the ACT.

Position Description

Our financial counsellors are employed to:

• Provide financial counselling, information, options, support, advocacy, negotiation and referral in a confidential and non-judgmental manner to people experiencing financial stress. Financial counselling may be provided by telephone, live chat, online, email or in person;
• Undertake casework with clients who have high needs and require advocacy which may include the exploration of underlying issues impacting on the financial well-being of the client(s);

• Work collaboratively with other Programs at Care including making effective referrals;
• Participate in external facing community events from time to time; and
• Provide input into Care’s policy and advocacy initiatives.

Our Financial Counsellors work under the general direction of the Financial Counselling Director.

Financial Counsellors are required to understand the following:

• The client-counsellor relationship and the ethical and professional responsibilities of casework management;
• The skills and knowledge of a variety of financial capability strategies and the ability to relate the most appropriate method for specific situations;
• The legal and ethical responsibilities of file management;
• The ethics of referral and sound knowledge of an appropriate referral network;
• The links between financial problems and poverty related issues and the effect on the individual, the family, and the community; and
• Credit and debt law, including financial hardship options, bankruptcy, housing, utilities, telecommunication, Centrelink, Child Support, fines, dispute resolution and complaints.

As with all roles in the for-purpose sector, this position is funded within Care’s current operational and funding arrangements.

Duties

Service Delivery

• Answer National Debt Helpline calls and respond to live chat, email and in person enquiries.
• Conduct face to face and/or telephone financial counselling appointments.
• Improve people’s capacity to manage their finances and financial circumstances more effectively.
• Provide client-centred, independent and practical assistance, advocacy, options and information to people in financial difficulty. Assisting in the development of client budgets including the effective ongoing monitoring of expenditures.
• Carry out case work in accordance with program guidelines to provide assessments of client’s financial situation.
• Assist clients with appeals/complaints to internal and external dispute resolution services.
• Where appropriate, work with clients on underlying issues that contribute to or impact on, their financial situation and provide referrals to relevant services.
• Work with clients impacted by experiences such as family violence, gambling harm, mental and primary health diagnoses, unemployment, alcohol and drug addiction.
• Timely and accurate completion of client file notes in line with relevant legislation Provide case studies for policy, advocacy and reporting purposes.

Training, Supervision and Professional Development

• Undertake professional development activities to support the role and meet national accreditation standards.
• Attend relevant conferences/forums/events where appropriate.
• Participate in external professional supervision to meet national supervision standards.

Other

• Attend and participate in financial counselling team, staff and Financial Counsellor’s ACT Association (FC-ACT meetings).

• Develop and/or maintain links with other relevant organisations in the region.
• Support Care’s Community Education with community engagement.
• Assist in the identification of systemic issues arising from casework and in developing strategies for dealing with them.

A position description is attached.