The CRC community is made up of people with extensive and diverse experience in child protection and out-of-home care systems across Australia.
We engage with representatives from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, foster and kinship care providers, child protection advocates, psychologists, social workers, academics and other policy experts.
Our leadership
Jarrod Wheatley, Chair and Co-founder
Jarrod is Chair of the Centre for Relational Care. He is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Professional Individualised Care, a relationship-based model of out-of-home care. Since 2005 Jarrod has worked in youth sector management, including program development and implementation for refugees in Germany, coordinating a youth service in the Blue Mountains in NSW, as well as establishing the award-winning social venture Street Art Murals Australia. He was named the 2014 Youth Worker of the Year and the 2019 NSW Young Australian of the Year. Jarrod’s passion for social justice drives him to continuously look for sustainable innovation in the social sector.
Bernie Shakeshaft, Co-Founder
Bernie is a Co-Founder of the Centre for Relational Care, and the Founder and Director of BackTrack. Early in his career, he saw kids dropping out of school, getting into trouble, and falling through the cracks of a system that couldn't meet their needs. This inspired him to start BackTrack in 2006, with a shed, volunteers, and a mission to keep kids alive, out of jail, and chasing their dreams. BackTrack offers vulnerable young people holistic, flexible, and long-term support through educational, training, and diversionary activities, transitional employment, residential accommodation, and youth work. The BackTrack Network now supports other communities in regional NSW and QLD. Bernie was named Australian of the Year Local Hero (2020).
Sophi Bruce, Chief Executive Officer
Sophi is CEO with the Centre for Relational Care and Director of Adaptive Leadership Australia. Sophi's work centres around people, purpose, organisations and systems change. As co-founder of a systems-thinking research centre and a leader of programs and teams across a range of organisations and sectors, Sophi has developed a toolkit of human centred and practice-based methodologies that have directly contributed to national change initiatives and capability uplift in the UK and Australia. She holds an Industry Fellow role with the Institute for Public Policy and Governance at UTS where she spent a decade building leadership capacity across the public sector.
Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor, Elder in Residence
Aunty Rhonda is a Gadigal, Bidgigal and Yuin Elder. She is a compassionate advocate in the fields of social justice, human rights self-determination, decolonisation, self-governance, community strengthening and cultural revitalisation for the future generations. She is an Academic with a Masters in Aboriginal Studies, (Social and Emotional Well Being) and is currently pursuing her PhD in Memory, Solidarity and Relationships (Connecting Youth back to Country). In her capacity as the Elder in Residence at the Centre for Relational Care, Aunty Rhonda draws on her many years of cultural, political, historical knowledge and advocacy.
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Our team
Damian Cooper, SecretaryDamian's project leadership at the Department of Family and Community Services showcased his adeptness in driving service system improvements and stakeholder collaboration. His commitment to community includes past directorial roles at Youth Action and Policy Association of NSW and Gunedoo Child Protection Service. Damian is currently Company Secretary and Operations Manager of Professional Individualised Care.
Bronwyn Rosser, Communications and Events Advisor
Bronwyn is an experienced engagement and communications consultant with a strong background in stakeholder engagement, corporate communications and government relations. Bronwyn's career includes senior engagement roles in energy and infrastructure industries. She has IAP2 certifications in engagement and facilitation, and is a volunteer with the Pyjama Foundation, supporting their Love of Learning program for children in out-of-home care.
Jessica Hardiman, Advocacy and Engagement Coordinator
With a background in out-of-home care and system innovation, Jessica brings valuable firsthand insights into how the system operates and a deep passion for driving positive change. Jessica is dedicated to placing relationships and connection at the heart of care, working to transform the out-of-home care system into one that truly prioritises the relational well-being of children and families.
Our advisors
Dilip Balu, CRC Management Committee
Dilip is a co-founder of the Centre for Relational Care, and a proud Social Worker. He has deep experience of working within Out of Home Care, Mental Health, and Violence Prevention care systems going back over the last twenty years in casework, clinical, leadership, and management roles. Dilip now enjoys the freedom of working for himself and being creative in his practice as Psychotherapist, Supervisor, Trainer, and Systems Consultant. Dilip is a relational therapist at his core, and a systems thinker who has found various ways to engage in system transformation over the years; from practice, to research, and advocacy. Dilip brings his unwavering commitment to relational thinking and practice to his role with the CRC. He looks forward to building more fruitful connections and helping lead sustained, relationally-driven system change for those most vulnerable in our community.
Tracey Ashton, CRC Management Committee
Tracey brings over 25 years of experience in NSW's Education and Human Services sectors and is committed to promoting Aboriginal self-determination in all areas of social policy. Commencing her career as a teacher on the south coast of NSW, Tracey has worked in leadership roles in child protection and out-of-home care in the government and non-government sectors. She worked as an independent reviewer on the Family is Culture Review into Aboriginal children in out-of-home care, chaired by Professor Megan Davis, from 2016 until 2019. She currently works in service design, research, innovation and implementation support in a large out-of-home care provider. Tracey is a passionate advocate and ally for all children, parents, and families impacted by the child protection system, and she actively promotes the role of family and community in children’s lives. She co-founded Shoalhaven Illawarra Families Together (SHIFT) in NSW in 2022, which promotes family participation and inclusion in child protection and out-of-home care processes.
Vafa Ghazavi, CRC Management Committee
Vafa is a Lecturer in Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Sydney, where he specialises in the ethical dimensions of social, political and economic life. He was previously the inaugural Executive Director for Research and Policy at the James Martin Institute for Public Policy and before that taught political philosophy at the University of Oxford. Vafa has worked at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including in its policy planning branch, and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and served as an Australian diplomat in Afghanistan, the Balkans and to the United Nations. He has been a Visiting Researcher at Google DeepMind and a Carr Center Fellow at Harvard University. Vafa currently serves on the Research Committee of Amplify. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA) and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).