Janise Mitchell

Director

Janise is our Director and Deputy CEO of the Australian Childhood Foundation. She leads the CETC across all knowledge mobilisation, research, practice, government relations, and stakeholder engagement activities. Janise is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Southern Cross University.

Janise is a social worker and child rights advocate with extensive experience in child protection and therapeutic care. Janise has written and practised widely in therapeutic out-of-home care, from policy analysis to organisational change management.

Janise is a thought leader in therapeutic out-of-home care, with her 2008 Master of Social Work exploring the best practice elements of therapeutic foster care. She has led the evolution of the CETC from a state-based intermediary to a nationally recognised provider of training and knowledge mobilisation in the field of out-of-home care in tandem with her role as Deputy CEO of the Australian Childhood Foundation.

She is a Board member of The National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse and member of a range of National and State/Territory based Expert Panels and Advisory Groups.

Janise has published widely in academic journals and edited collections, including the Handbook of Therapeutic Care for Children: Evidenced informed approaches to working with traumatised children and adolescents in foster, kinship and adoptive care.

She lives on Wurundjeri Country.

Articles written by

Janise Mitchell

Submission to the NSW Advocate for Children and Young People: Special Inquiry: Children and Young People in Alternative Care Arrangements (ACAs)
Submission to the NSW Advocate for Children and Young People: Special Inquiry: Children and Young People in Alternative Care Arrangements (ACAs)
Alternative Care Arrangements are the symptom of a care system in crisis ACAs have no place in a modern trauma-informed and child-centred out-of-home care system....
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What do foster carers tell us about their support needs? – Research brief
What do foster carers tell us about their support needs? – Research brief
Foster carers are a crucial human resource in responding to children and young people who have experienced abuse, neglect, and trauma. The design and implementation...
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‘There was no support’: Getting kinship care support right
‘There was no support’: Getting kinship care support right
We did not and am still not receiving support requested or needed. Case managers or staff change without us being informed. Phone messages left at...
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Sibling placement in out-of-home care – Research brief
Sibling placement in out-of-home care – Research brief
The significance of sibling relationships for children and young people in out-of-home care is well documented by national and international scholars (Luu, Conley Wright, &...
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Understanding the needs of kinship carers in Australia – Research brief
Understanding the needs of kinship carers in Australia – Research brief
Kinship care placements in Australia are now more prevalent than foster care. They are the fastest growing form of out-of-home care in this country (AIHW,...
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Responding to behaviours that challenge – practice guide
Responding to behaviours that challenge – practice guide
Much has been written about understanding and managing the challenging pain-based behaviours of children and young people who have experienced trauma and live in therapeutic...
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The role of the therapeutic specialist in therapeutic care – Practice guide
The role of the therapeutic specialist in therapeutic care – Practice guide
This guide has been developed to describe and support the enactment of the role of the Therapeutic Specialist. The guide provides an overview of the...
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Responding to children and young people living in out-of-home care who engage in harmful sexual behaviour – Practice guide
Responding to children and young people living in out-of-home care who engage in harmful sexual behaviour – Practice guide
This practice guide aims to support carers and professionals working in and around the out of home care system to know how to best understand...
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Creating a balance between empowerment and limit setting in therapeutic care – Practice guide
Creating a balance between empowerment and limit setting in therapeutic care – Practice guide
This guide has been developed to support Therapeutic Care carers and staff to navigate the critical balance between empowering children and young people and setting...
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Pulse check survey
Pulse check survey
The ITC Pulse Check Survey and Outcome Report provides a point-in-time reflection on the experiences of the reform process by ITC agency staff. To this...
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Applying polyvagal theory to relationship-based therapeutic care – Practice tool
Applying polyvagal theory to relationship-based therapeutic care – Practice tool
Relationship-based practice is at the core of effective therapeutic care. Key to understanding how to build effective relationships with young people who have experienced trauma...
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Client mix and client matching in therapeutic care – Practice guide
Client mix and client matching in therapeutic care – Practice guide
Client mix and the process of client matching is one of the 10 Essential Elements underpinning the Intensive Therapeutic Care (ITC) system in New South...
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Minimum age of criminal responsibility in the ACT
Minimum age of criminal responsibility in the ACT
  This submission addresses the question of whether the age of criminal responsibility (MACR) should be increased and submits that the age should be raised...
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Safe Connections – A resource kit to support young people in care at risk of child sexual exploitation – Practice guide
Safe Connections – A resource kit to support young people in care at risk of child sexual exploitation – Practice guide
The Safe Connections resource kit has been designed for use with young people at risk of or experiencing child sexual exploitation in care. Child sexual...
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What makes a good therapeutic residential care worker? Practice guide
What makes a good therapeutic residential care worker? Practice guide
Trained staff and consistent rostering are essential elements of therapeutic residential care. The purpose of this guide is to consider more broadly what makes an...
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Client mix and matching in intensive therapeutic care
Client mix and matching in intensive therapeutic care
Young people living in residential care are highly vulnerable and have commonly experienced a significant level of trauma and abuse. They often present with complex...
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The essential elements of therapeutic foster care – Research brief
The essential elements of therapeutic foster care – Research brief
As far back as 2002 in the creation of the Catalyst Program, Mitchell developed what was Australia’s first therapeutic foster care program and one of...
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The 10 essential elements of Intensive Therapeutic Care NSW – Practice guide
The 10 essential elements of Intensive Therapeutic Care NSW – Practice guide
This guide has been developed to describe the 10 Essential Elements that form the basis for Intensive Therapeutic Care (ITC) service provision in NSW. The...
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Care teams – Collaborative processes for creating healing and change – Practice guide
Care teams – Collaborative processes for creating healing and change – Practice guide
A care team approach is an essential element of therapeutic care. This guide has been developed to support the practice of collaboration and participation through...
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How do we create excellence in Intensive Therapeutic residential care practice?
How do we create excellence in Intensive Therapeutic residential care practice?
What creates high quality therapeutic residential care? This is the question often asked of agencies, of staff, of policy makers and of the young people...
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8 ways to support young people in residential care during COVID-19
8 ways to support young people in residential care during COVID-19
How do we keep to the therapeutic care principles of safety, consistency, predictability, and routine in a world that feels like it has turned upside...
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Reflective practice: enhancing practice in therapeutic care – Practice guide
Reflective practice: enhancing practice in therapeutic care – Practice guide
Reflective Practice is one of the 10 Essential Elements of Intensive Therapeutic Care. This guide has been developed to support Therapeutic Specialists to engage staff...
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Creating positive social climates and home-like environments in therapeutic care – Practice guide
Creating positive social climates and home-like environments in therapeutic care – Practice guide
This guide has been developed to support the implementation of Essential Element: Physical Environments from the Ten Essential Elements of Therapeutic Care. It explores how...
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An emerging paradigm – Welcome to our new therapeutic care blog
An emerging paradigm – Welcome to our new therapeutic care blog
Over the past two decades, the term therapeutic care has emerged as a new paradigm used to integrate constructs that had traditionally been considered separate...
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What are the 10 essential elements of the Intensive Therapeutic Care System in NSW?
What are the 10 essential elements of the Intensive Therapeutic Care System in NSW?
Concepts of ‘complexity’ and ‘evidence’ are often heard in discussions that seek to find ways to better meet the needs of traumatised young people requiring...
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