1. Home
  2. About
  3. Our organisation
  4. Specialist offices

Office of Professional Practice

The Office of Professional Practice provides practice leadership and development, fosters continuous improvement in service delivery and encourages practice excellence among Victorian health and human service professionals.
The focus of the Office of Professional Practice is on working with professionals to ensure practice occurs with the foremost regards for the safety and wellbeing of all clients.
On this page:

About the Office of Professional Practice

The Office of Professional Practice plays a critical role in ensuring the quality and consistency of practice across the operations divisions, including providing advice and assistance on complex cases.

Practice excellence is a critical element of achieving good client outcomes and quality service delivery. The office provides support and advice based on key principles including best interests and ensures the application of relevant legislation.

The office includes the:

  • Victorian Senior Practitioner Disability
  • State-wide Principal Practitioner Children and Families
  • State-wide Principal Practitioner Child Protection
  • State-wide Principal Practitioner Aboriginal Children and Families
  • State-wide Principal Practitioner Family Violence.

They support professionals to adopt leading practice approaches and to provide effective care for the safety of all clients.

The office is led by the Chief Practitioner Human Services and Executive Director. Through practice leadership, the Chief Practitioner drives ongoing best practice and ensures client safety is paramount. The role provides expert clinical advice from an individual and systemic perspective.

Functions of the office

The office:

  • delivers and models practice leadership and expert advice across 3 human service programs including child protection, disability and housing
  • leads and contributes to research and practice development initiatives within the organisation and in collaboration with other leading institutions
  • leads and promotes a learning culture that integrates evidence-based practice and critical reflection
  • provides subject matter advice and direction to the human services sector
  • works to support the rights of people subject to restrictive interventions and compulsory treatment, through the Victorian Senior Practitioner – Disability, and develops standards in relation to these services
  • responds to behaviours of concern
  • drives practice improvements through data analysis and synthesis
  • builds and supports workforce capability.

More information

If you have any concerns about the safety of a child go to the Children and families page.

Victorian Senior Practitioner

The Victorian Senior Practitioner is responsible for ensuring that the rights of persons who are subject to restrictive interventions and compulsory treatment are protected, and that appropriate standards in relation to restrictive interventions and compulsory treatment are complied with.

For more information, see the Victorian Senior Practitioner page.

Child Protection

The Office of Professional Practice provides a range of supports, information and services to build and foster the development and integration of best practice for the Victorian child protection program. The office produces and hosts a range of published and online resources to promote best practice and to support the professional development needs of the workforce. It undertakes case reviews on individual children and cohorts of children at risk.

Key portfolios areas are:

  • practice frameworks and risk assessment tools and guidance
  • child protection practice resources
  • coordination of the department's response to child death inquiries and Coronial matters
  • family violence
  • working with Aboriginal children and families
  • client safety
  • child sexual exploitation
  • Victoria Police liaison
  • Restricted Access Prisoners and Living in Prison with Mum Program
  • Critical case reviews and analysis of service systems.

Professional development and wellbeing

The Professional Development and Wellbeing Unit designs and delivers professional learning and development and wellbeing programs that are tailored for frontline staff. This includes the design and development of:

  • targeted professional development and learning requirements for all frontline workforces – housing, disability and child protection
  • leadership capability and professional development for the child protection workforce
  • wellbeing support for the child protection workforce.

Resources