Janine Gardner brings nearly 18 years of experience in brain injury services to the international accrediting organization.
Cherry Hill, NJ – Janine Gardner, Director of Adult Day Services for Bancroft NeuroRehab, has been selected to serve as a surveyor for CARF International, an independent accrediting organization for health and human services providers.
Bancroft’s brain injury programs have earned CARF’s highest level of accreditation, a three-year accreditation that reflects an organization’s commitment to meeting rigorous standards for quality and continuous improvement. Gardner also chairs the Brain Injury Services CARF Survey Committee, helping to guide Bancroft NeuroRehab’s ongoing accreditation efforts.
Now, as a CARF surveyor, Gardner will bring nearly 18 years of experience at Bancroft to organizations outside its walls. She will visit other providers to evaluate programs against CARF standards, share her expertise, and identify opportunities for continued improvement.
The role also gives Gardner an opportunity to learn from other organizations and bring new ideas and perspectives back to Bancroft.
“It is a benefit to have a CARF surveyor as an employee of Bancroft because it adds that additional level of knowledge and insight,” Gardner says.
Becoming a CARF Surveyor
Becoming a CARF surveyor involved several months of selection and training. Prospective surveyors must first be referred by a current CARF surveyor. Gardner received that referral after leading Bancroft NeuroRehab through its own CARF survey. She then completed competency-based training and testing before advancing to an intensive three-day session at CARF headquarters in Tucson, Arizona.
The three-day session simulated an actual CARF survey. Gardner worked as part of a team, applying CARF standards and navigating the types of situations surveyors encounter when evaluating an organization. CARF staff observed and evaluated participants throughout the exercise.
After successfully completing the training, Gardner became an official CARF surveyor. She recently completed her first survey in Maine, working alongside an experienced CARF surveyor who served as her mentor.
A Career in Brain Injury Services
Gardner joined Bancroft in 2008 as a case coordinator and has spent her entire Bancroft career in Brain Injury Services. She later served as a residential manager before spending 12 years as Director of Residential. In 2025, she became Director of Adult Day Services for Bancroft NeuroRehab.
That experience has given Gardner a broad perspective on supporting individuals with brain injuries across residential and day services, as well as the systems and standards that help programs continually improve.
Her selection as a CARF surveyor creates an opportunity to bring that experience to other providers while continuing to strengthen the work at Bancroft.
“I like to feel that any space, any room, any place that I put my feet in, that I have a positive impact,” Gardner says. “And that I leave that place and that space better than what it was before. Just a little bit.”
