Catherine works in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University as a Senior Lecturer; she teaches Social Work Research in post-graduate courses. Her research affiliation is with the Criminal Justice Research Consortium (CJRC).

Catherine completed her doctoral study examining the impact of maternal incarceration on adolescents in 2009.This has led to broader ARC funded research examining the care planning needs and experiences of children when their primary carer is incarcerated. Catherine continues to be actively engaged in a range of collaborative research project.  Recent research includes: examining women's experiences exiting from prison in Victoria; investigating children's visiting programs in prisons; and describing preparedness for placement for social work students in Papua New Guinea. 

Before joining the Social Work Department at Monash, Catherine worked in direct practice for ten years sharing her time between Australia and Northern Ireland. Her direct practice experiences and interests include:casework with young people at risk' and in contact with the juvenile justice system; young parents and family violence.  Her recent books include, a co-authored text Research in social work and social care (with Assoc. Prof. Fiona McDermott);  co-editing of Children of Prisoners (Law in context) with Dr. Anna Eriksson (Criminology - Monash University) and co-editing of Imprisoned Fathers: responding to a growing concern (Child care in Practice) with Dr. Michelle Butler (Criminology - Queens University Belfast).  She is currently working with colleagues at Monash and Melbourne universities on a textbook examining co-production in the criminal justice sector.