In 2025-26, our strategic focus is on deepening the National Centre’s impact through embedding lived experience leadership, strengthening cross-sector partnerships and enhancing our ability to translate evidence into practice and policy.
In July, the Board endorsed three strategic impact goals:
- Empower victims and survivors by embedding lived and living experience across all facets of our work – this includes a new framework, deeper community partnerships and workforce capability-building.
- Build sector capability and responsiveness by translating research into practice and enabling professionals, organisations and communities to deliver trauma-informed responses to child sexual abuse. Key initiatives include expanding access to The Change Academy and influencing education pathways.
- Drive policy, systems and culture reform by mobilising our maturing research base to inform national policy, shape reform agendas and support long-term cultural change.
To support these strategic goals, we’ve revised our internal structure. The changes reflect our evolution into a more mature, strategically aligned organisation with a greater emphasis on systems reform, sector capability and lived experience integration. Our new executive team now includes:
- Director, Lived Experience – Dr Lucy Knox, leading co-design and lived experience integration across all functions.
- Director, Policy and Systems Reform – Claire Gallagher, overseeing policy translation, systems change and strategic influence.
- Director, Sector Capability – Jo Warneke, driving continuous learning and trauma-informed practice across the sector.
Reflecting on our journey to date, in just four years the National Centre has:
- Invested nearly $3 million in research, commissioning over 40 projects.
- Delivered Australia’s first Community Attitudes Study on child sexual abuse.
- Launched The Change Academy, a professional learning hub for practitioners and communities.
- Developed evidence-informed tools for trauma-aware practice.
- Engaged thousands through webinars, events and campaigns – building a strong, connected community.
Our new structure ensures we have the capacity, capability and cohesion to deliver on our strategic ambitions – creating real and lasting change for victims and survivors, practitioners, communities and systems nationwide.
