In Victoria, only those providers contracted by the Department of Health and Human Services are able to deliver KickStart.  To facilitate KickStart programs, clinicians employed within these agencies must complete three days of KickStart training and ongoing clinical supervision with Caraniche.  KickStart also has a Community of Practice that includes an online Facilitator Portal, access to KickStart resources, program updates, and discussion board.  Clinicians may also be required to undertake refresher training to maintain their registration as a KickStart facilitator.

Based on their significant experience working with offenders, Caraniche was commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a criminogenic AOD program aimed at moderate and high risk community based offenders.  KickStart was based on similar programs Caraniche developed for use in prisons, and is currently being trialled across five site by four different treatment providers.

In Victoria, all providers are contracted by the Department of Health and Human Services, and must undergo an endorsement process that includes 3 days of facilitator training and supervision, delivered by Caraniche.

KickStart is an evidence-based group program with program logic drawn from the principles of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and the Risk Needs Responsivity (RNR) model of offender treatment. Underlying the KickStart program is a set of theoretical explanations that describe substance use and behaviour change from a biopsychosocial perspective including; social learning, self-determination, biological, and offender-specific theories. By intervening in offenders’ thinking patterns, belief systems, and behaviours, KickStart aims to reduce offenders’ substance use, improve their lifestyle choices and health, and reduce criminogenic risks.

Using action research methodology, the pilot process allowed for continuous improvement across 5 programs, delivered between October 2015 to June 2016. The first pilot in 2015 achieved high completion rates and demonstrated significant behavioural change. To see the full details, visit our program page. The Victorian Department of Health & Human Services and Justice Health have since requested further variants of the program, including different program lengths and programs for individuals.

The Caraniche story began in Melbourne in 1993 when our first AOD contract was awarded to work in Victorian prisons. Since then, Caraniche has maintained and grown our prison based AOD treatment to become the state-wide drug and alcohol treatment provider in Victoria’s public prisons, delivering assessment, group and individual based treatment. In addition to our work with adults, we are the Victorian state-wide provider of rehabilitation services to the youth justice sector.

Caraniche also works with employers across Australia to deliver leading workplace wellbeing programs, including Employee Assistance Programs and Critical Incident Response.

We now employ a team of over 200 staff across the organisation, making Caraniche one of the largest and most diverse employers of psychologists and clinicians in Victoria.