We work with government departments, community agencies and private organisations across the country to deliver positive client and customer outcomes.
“At the heart of everything we do are connections that better lives”.
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.
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, our combination of evidence-based program design and skilled, authentic clinicians was in demand across the community, government and corporate sectors.
In March 2023, Caraniche became part of the WISE Employment Group, a values aligned not-for-profit national organisation that works with a wide range of clients addressing the barriers they experience in finding employment. Being part of WISE presents new opportunities for Caraniche such as interstate growth and starting new AOD and mental health services to support WISE clients. Caraniche will also work together with WISE to pursue aligned growth opportunities.
“We are proud to have grown our Melbourne based service to a national organisation, supporting diverse clients across a wide range of challenging situations”.
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 2023 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.
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.
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.
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.
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At Caraniche we have a passion for helping people and driving lasting, effective transformation throughout the community. Our team are highly skilled and love playing a key role in supporting people to improve their lives.
Richard Cawsey
Former Chair of Board of Directors
Caraniche’s people are the reason for our success. At the forefront of our delivery is our team of over 150 skilled psychologists, social workers and counsellors. Our people deliver behaviour change, counselling and alcohol and other drug treatment services in Victorian Justice settings (including prisons and Youth Justice), community settings and in workplaces.
We are committed to high-quality service delivery and have established a Clinical Practice Division to provide best practice clinical supervision, evaluation and research capability. This division also houses our Graduate Clinic.
Phone: (03) 8417 0500
Level 1/260 Hoddle St, Abbotsford VIC 3067
Got any feedback?
Please email us at: admin@caraniche.com.au
We acknowledge and pay respect to the Traditional Owners of the lands upon which our services are delivered.
Caraniche acknowledges the support of the Victorian Government.
© 2022 Caraniche
