News archive
May 2009
Congratulations to the Learning Hubs that have been awarded Healthy Start Development Grants
As part of the evaluation of the first three years of Healthy Start, Learning Hubs reported that having financial resources was a key facilitating factor for effective capacity building. In response to this, Learning Hubs across the country were recently offered the opportunity to apply for Healthy Start Development Grants.
10 Learning Hubs have been successful in their applications, and will be using the funding in the next few months to resource activities in their local community, such as: hosting forums, developing community directories, developing peer mentoring strategies, delivering workshops, disseminating resources, library development, resourcing parent groups, expanding the focus of existing parent groups, and developing resources for professionals.
Keep an eye on the Local Stories area of the Healthy Start website to read more in the future about how these Learning Hubs went with actioning their plans.
January 2009
Healthy Start Hub Strategy published as a Promising practice
The Healthy Start Promising Practice Profile is now available for download from the Australian Insititute of Family Services (AIFS) website here.
“A Promising Practice Profile (PPP) is a summary document that explains a particular practice or set of practices (ways of working) that have helped to achieve a project’s objectives. It comprises a description of the “key ingredients” of a program/project, what was done, or what particular ways of working were important. It also includes a summary of the existing evidence base about what is known about the effectiveness or relevance of this practice, information about how a particular practice or set of practices within a program worked on the ground (how it worked and what made it work), and the evidence linking the practice to outcomes (evidence that it worked).”
Thank you to Learning Hub members across Australia that have contributed information over the life of the Healthy Start project thus far, and have helped make the Healthy Start Learning Hub strategy a promising practice.
October 2008
Understanding and Planning Support (UPS) resource to be trialed through Healthy Start
The UPS was developed by Dr. Margaret Spencer as part of doctoral research funded by the Australian Research Council. The development of the UPS was supported by the University of Sydney and NSW Family Services in partnership. The UPS has been empirically tested in the NSW Family Services sector and proved to have utility.
A version of the UPS has been specifically designed to be used by family support workers and other professionals who are working with a parent (or parents) with learning difficulties and wish to develop a collaborative understanding and plan with regards to support. The UPS is used by the worker in the family home to facilitate a conversation with parents bout their support needs and to collaboratively design a support plan.
The number of sessions required to understand and plan support using UPS will vary from parent to parent. It is recommended that the process be undertaken over approximately 4 home visits in order to develop an initial support plan. The UPS can be used on an ongoing basis to review and re-negotiate support.
In 2009 the resource will be trialled as part of the Healthy Start initiative.
October 2008
Second Step by Step DVD in development
Following the popularity of the Step by Step Baby Care DVD, we are pleased to announce that a new DVD in the series is in the final stages of production: Step by Step Everyday Interactions.
The Step by Step: Everyday Interactions DVD is a tool for teaching parents with a learning difficulty the skills that are important for everyday interactions with their young children. The DVD was funded by the Victorian Department of Human Services and produced in partnership with the Parenting Research Centre.
The DVD shows parents with learning difficulties using these skills and gives step by step demonstrations of each skill. Skills covered on the DVD include:
· Positive attention
· Praise
· Talking to your child
· Keeping your child busy
The Everyday Interactions DVD is currently in the final production stage and through the Healthy Start initiative, a trial of the DVD will commence early in 2009.
August 2008
Healthy Start Research Findings
The Healthy Start Final Evaluation Report has been submitted to FAHCSIA. This report contained key findings of the research component of the Healthy Start strategy. We are currently working on developing summaries of the key findings and learnings from our evaluation. We will post these on the website in the very near future. Planning for the next phase of Healthy Start, based on these key findings, is currently underway and details regarding Healthy Start activities over the next 12 months will be announced soon.
May 2008
Healthy Start Research Forum
A research forum exploring how the Healthy Start strategy has built capacity for improving outcomes for parents with learning difficulties and their young children was held in Melbourne on 20 May. Keynote addresses were provided by Professor Gwynnyth Llewellyn from the University of Sydney and Robyn Mildon from the Parenting Research Centre. Learning hub convenors and practitioners also shared their achievements and experiences.
Click here to download a copy of the Healthy Start booklet distributed
Click here to view the keynote presentations given
April 2008
WA Government Sustaining Healthy Start Learning Hubs
The WA government (Population Health) has committed $30,000 to Healthy Start Learning Hubs in WA for the 2008-2009 financial year. This funding will support activities of the four learning hubs in WA including:
- Better equipping practitioners to support indigenous parents with learning difficulties in WA.
- Training learning hub members in the Parenting Young Children and Healthy and Safe: An Australian Parent Education Kit programs.
- Training child health nurses and other practitioners in the use of Healthy Start for Me and My Baby and the Count Me In Too package (developed by the Allied Health and Education Learning Hub).
- Providing a group for mothers with learning difficulties using the Australian Supported Learning Program: Me and My Community program which focuses on community participation.
This funding will help to sustain activities of the Healthy Start Learning Hubs across WA, and these activities will be lead and coordinated by Wanslea Family Services who host the Wanslea West Metro Learning Hub.
For more information about Healthy Start activities in WA go to (http://www.healthystart.net.au/learning.php?p=find_a_learning_hub&s=7)
February 2008
Learning Hubs recognised as Promising Practice.
The Healthy Start Learning Hub strategy has been recognised as a Promising Practice by the Communities and Families Clearinghouse Australia (CAFCA). The Healthy Start National team submitted an application for consideration in round 2 of the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy (SFCS) Promising Practice Profiles. All submissions are subject to an independent peer review panel and successful applications are listed on the CAFCA website.
Congratulations to all the Healthy Start Learning Hubs whose work in their local communities has resulted in Healthy Start Learning Hubs being recognised as a promising practice.
Read more about the promising practice profiles at http://www.aifs.gov.au/cafca/ppp/ppp.html
January 2008
Learning Hub develops new training resource
The Allied Health and Education Hub in WA, together with Therapy Focus and Metropolitan Services Coordination have produced a train-the trainer package for use by service providers that work with parents with a learning difficulty; including those from indigenous or multicultural backgrounds.
The development of the training package was one of the key goals identified in the Allied Health & Education Learning Hub’s Local Area Action Plan (LAAP). The Hub has kindly made this resource available for use by other Healthy Start practitioners, and can be downloaded from their Learning Hub Profile page.
To find out more about what the Allied Health and Education Hub has been up to, you can view their LAAP and Hub of the Month Questions at their Learning Hub Profile page, and a case study about the Learning Hub establishing a resource library at the Local Stories page.
January 2008
Healthy Start Sustainability Forum
In November 2007, major stakeholders from government agencies and key organisations from every state and territory got together with the Healthy Start team and Healthy Start State Leaders to discuss the sustainability of Healthy Start.
Key messages to come out of the forum included …
- maintaining a focus on child outcomes
- maintaining a focus on evidence based practice and translating research into practice
- maintaining a national Healthy Start presence is important
- individual states and territories may play a role in sustaining Healthy Start into the future
- Particularly valuable aspects of the initiative include the website, practitioner training, learning hubs and the on-line unit of study
Over the next 6 months the Healthy Start team will be further developing a sustainability plan and putting this into action across Australia.
November 2007
Healthy Start Learning Hubs receive community awards.
The Healthy Start Team would like to congratulate the Parents with Intellectual Disability Learning Hub (VIC) and the VicEast Learning Hub (VIC) fortheir success in receiving the 2007 NAPCAN Child Friendly Community awards.
The awards were presented on the 24th October, by the Child Safety Commissioner Mr Bernie Geary OAM, at NAPCAN’s ‘Creative Outrageous Day’ in Melbourne.
The National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, (NAPCAN) works with professionals and practitioners to develop strategies for the prevention of Child abuse and neglect, to assist parents and carers in best practice for parenting, and to inspire all Australians, through their social change initiative: Child Friendly Australia, to take responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of children by making local communities child friendly.
The Parents with Intellectual Disability Hub is convened by Romy Same and Allison Dalziel. The VicEast Hub is convened by Ann Johnson and Michelle Birkic. These two hubs both won awards in 2006 for creating child friendly communities and won the 2007 award for sustaining child friendly communities. Congratulations to both hubs and all the hub members for their great work.
>> See photos from the awards
September 2007
Local Stories now available on the Healthy Start website
The Healthy Start Team would like to congratulate the Allied Health and Education Learning Hub for being the first Learning Hub in Australia to have a ‘Local Stories’ profile on the Healthy Start website.
The new Local Stories page can be found in the Learning Hubs section of the website, and features real life stories about events and resources that Learning Hubs have been working on as part of their Local Area Action Plans (LAAPs).
If your Learning Hub would like to be profiled for a Local Story, please contact the Healthy Start Team to find out more.
September 2007
Step by Step DVD
On 20th July over 60 practitioners and industry experts from around Melbourne attended the launch of the Step by Step Baby Care DVD, at the O'Connell Family Centre.
The Step by Step Baby Care DVD is a supported parenting education resource for maternal and child health nurses, doctors, midwives, community health centres and other professionals who support parents with a learning difficulty. It shows real parents demonstrating the basic baby care tasks of making up formula, cleaning and sterilising bottles, bathing and washing babies. It uses best practice teaching strategies which have been shown to be effective in teaching parents with learning difficulties.
The DVD was jointly developed by the O'Connell Family Centre and the Parenting Research Centre, with funding from the Jack Brockhoff Foundation.
September 2007
Phase 2 training complete
The Healthy Start Team has trained over 400 practitioners across Australia in one of two evidence-informed parenting programs. 25 training events have been offered across the country since April 2006, with over 260 Practitioners attending the Parenting Young Children(PYC)training and over 140 practitioners attending the Healthy and Safe(H&S)training.
August 2007
First practitioners to receive Certificates of Completion for PYC Program.
Congratulations to Faye Ridley and Lyn Gleeson, from Wanslea Family Services in WA, for being the first practitioners in Australia to complete the three phases of training in Parenting Young Children (PYC).
Faye and Lyn are the first officially certified PYC practitioners to use the program with a family and provide the national team with pre-, post- and follow-up data.
Between the two of them, Faye and Lyn have used PYC with 6 families, providing a best practice program to these families and providing valuable data for the national evaluation of Healthy Start.
August 2007
Popular website downloads
Since the beginning of the year we have had over 7,500 Practitioner Resource downloads from the Healthy Start website. The most popular resources can be found at the Healthy Start website in the Practitioner Resources and Reports and Presentations sections.
Of particular popularity are the practice point documents; two of which were only uploaded and announced recently. Also in the top ten downloads are the practitioner tip sheets, the best practice paper, & the Healthy Start PowerPoint presentations. The practitioner FAQs closely follow in popularity, with download numbers placing them within the top 20.
1 September 2006
VPC name change to PRC
On 1 September the Victorian Parenting Centre became the Parenting Research Centre. We have changed our name in recognition of the new national focus on research to better resource parents and health practitioners, and to accommodate the expanding interests and collaborative reach of the organisation.
Over the past 10 years, we have grown in the number of highly qualified staff who support our increasingly diverse projects and programs, and in the collaborative partnerships we have built to improve the quality of information we provide to help parents raise children well.
Our new name and our new look will take us forward to meet the next decade with increased confidence, operational strength and intellectual rigour, and I invite you to join us on this exciting stage of our development.
Warren Cann
Director, Parenting Research Centre
Download media release
July 2006
Strengthening Every Family
A DVD, Strengthening Every Family, is available to order from the Parenting Research Centre. The DVD presents interviews with parents with learning difficulties who have asked to remain anonymous, so their faces are obscured. The parents in the DVD talk about a number of issues and give their views on significant topics about parenting including:
-
good things about being a parent,
-
challenges of being a parent,
-
how they best learn new skills, and
-
their experiences with services.
The purposes of the DVD are to:
-
Provide an opportunity to hear about parenting issues from the perspective of parents with learning difficulties.
-
To highlight factors considered important by parents with learning difficulties regarding the support they need and how they best can learn.
-
To gain an understanding of the experience of parents with learning difficulties in the service system.
Copyright is held by the Parenting Research Centre and Office of the Public Advocate, 2003. The DVD may not be reproduced or copied. It is not available on video. The cost to order a copy is $12.75, which includes GST & postage, and is payable by cheque or EFT. To order one or more copies, please email healthystart@parentingrc.org.auand ensure you provide your postal address.
April 2006
Healthy Start for Me and My Baby
The Parenting Education Resource known as the Health Care Tool Kit is now to be known as Healthy Start for Me and My Baby. The program promotes the health and well being of pregnant women with learning difficulties, during the antenatal period and birth.
7 March 2006
Professional Training
Information on professional trainingin two Parenting Education Resources, Parenting Young Children (PYC) and Healthy & Safe (H&S). An Australian Parent Education Kit, is now available on the website. For more information and to obtain a registration form, please contact your Learning Hub Convenor.
5 October 2005
Healthy Start: New website helps practitioners and families
www.healthystart.net.au | 
