Making people
the priority

Caraniche has been delivering innovative psychological and behavioural health services for over 30 years.

We work with government departments, community agencies, private organisations and individuals around the country, across all aspects of mental and behavioural health.

In March 2023, we became part of the WISE Employment Group, a national, values aligned not-for-profit that works with a wide range of clients addressing the barriers they experience in finding employment.

Being part of WISE means Caraniche also now has not-for-profit status. While we still provide some programs as a fee-for-service model, all revenue is re-invested into the organisation to help further improve and expand our services.

Ultimately, this will enable Caraniche to increase the number of people we can support, to achieve positive outcomes for more and more people.

“At the heart of everything we do are connections that better lives”.

Our Purpose and Values

Our values guide us every day to ensure we deliver on our purpose

Purpose

Connections that better lives.

Caraniche Values

Integrity
We are committed to ethical, reliable & transparent service delivery.

Excellence
We strive to provide professional service of the highest quality.

Innovation
We develop creative solutions that facilitate leadership and realise individual and collective potential.

Partnership
We pursue collaborative and supportive partnerships.

Our Story

From strong foundations Caraniche continues to grow

Caraniche was formed in Melbourne in 1993 by a group of women committed to making high quality, independent psychological services accessible to disadvantaged and at-risk clients.

We began by designing and delivering rehabilitation programs in the prison system. Soon after, we extended our services into the community with the aim of helping people get their lives back in control. Before long, and still to this day, our combination of evidence-based program design and skilled, authentic clinicians was in demand across the community, government and corporate sectors.

“We are proud to have grown our Melbourne based service to a national organisation, supporting diverse clients across a wide range of challenging situations”.

Reconciliation Action Plan

Caraniche makes a commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to support self-determination in the work we do.

Caraniche acknowledges the past and continuing harms of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, families, and communities as well as resilience in the face of systemic disempowerment. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work and live, and sovereignty to that land has never been ceded.

We make a commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: our partners, clients, staff, and friends. We will listen to, learn from and work with, always aiming to support self-determination in the ways we work and the work we do. This commitment is formalised in our second Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan. Progress on our plan can be found in the 2024 RAP Progress Report.

We acknowledge and work to reduce the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the justice system as well as high rates of mental illness, substance use and suicidality.

Corporate and Social Responsibility

Caraniche works to improve the lives of vulnerable and marginalised members of our community.

Caraniche was founded to improve the lives of vulnerable and marginalised members of our community, including people who have offended, those with mental health issues, people with drug and alcohol addiction, and young people.

Our focus is helping people create positive life change. As we grow, we continue to support disadvantaged people and extend our impact through our pro bono, fundraising and corporate responsibility initiatives.

We have provided pro bono support to the following agencies: STREAT, Worawa College, McAuley Services for Women, Melbourne Indigenous Transition School, the APS.

Gender Pay Gap

Our performance

From our origins as a female owned and female led psychology company to becoming a not for profit organisation owned by WISE Employment in 2023, Caraniche has always been an exemplar of female entrepreneurship and gender equality.

Our average gender pay gap (GPG) is 1.1%. Our median GPG sits at 5.6% which compares favourably with the sector median of 9.3%.

Caraniche is a predominantly female workforce with 86% of our employees being women – this is reflective of the broader health and welfare sector. The proportion of women at all levels of our organisation is consistent, except the upper middle quartile which has 79% women. With a staff team of 174, our GPG data is very sensitive to individual appointments which can have a significant impact on our GPG, as does the exclusion of Executive salaries from the calculation, given that three of our four Executives are women.

We are aware that our Board composition does not reflect the gender composition across the organisation and we will be aiming to address that through our Board renewal process over the coming years.

Child Safety policy

Child safety and our statement of commitment

Caraniche is committed to safety and wellbeing of all children and young people.
We want children to be safe, happy and empowered.
We support and respect all children, clients, staff, and volunteers.
We are committed to the safety, participation and empowerment of all children.
Caraniche has zero tolerance for child abuse, and all allegations and safety concerns will be treated very seriously and consistently with our robust policies and procedures.
We have legal and moral obligations to contact authorities when we are worried about a child’s safety, which we follow rigorously.
Caraniche is committed to preventing child abuse, identifying risks early, and removing and reducing these risks.
Caraniche has robust human resources and recruitment practices to reduce the risk of child abuse by new and existing board members, staff and volunteers.
Caraniche is committed to training and educating our board members, staff and volunteers on child abuse risks.
We are committed to the cultural safety of Aboriginal children, the cultural safety of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and to providing a safe environment for children with a disability.
We have specific policies and procedures in place that support our board members, staff and volunteers to achieve these commitments.