Our Child Focused Practice online program was launched at Hindmarsh on Wednesday, 9 September. There were fifty people in attendance including, and most importantly, children.The event had a strong child focus theme and a lively atmosphere with colourful balloons decorating the room. Taylor Power-Smith gave the Kaurna Welcome to Country and the event was MC’ed by Milly Eddington, a past Take Control youth consultant and one of the voices on the Child Focused Practice online program. Aiden, a 14-year-old local guitarist, wowed the audience with his original songs as well as a few well-known covers. Relationships Australia SA’s Together 4 Kids team was strongly involved in the launch, providing activities for the children. Staff member Nadia was also on hand to share her balloon magic with the gathering.
The Child Focused Practice course was developed for the South Australian homelessness and family violence sector. This online program came out of the face to face training that our staff member Deanna Rohrsheim has been delivering as part of her team leader role in Together 4 Kids over the last five years. Together 4 Kids was given money to put the training online to make it free and accessible to the sector. Upon joining RASA’s Communication and Development team, Deanna quickly became accustomed to the online platforms and their delivery, and alongside teammate Josh Bull and the rest of the team, was able to deliver a high quality course that has been peer reviewed by the sector. To learn more about Deanna’s journey, you can read about it on the Australian Childhood Foundation blog here.
We encourage everyone working closely with children and families to complete the Child Focused Practice course. It can be accessed for free by clicking here.
Photos from the launch event can also be seen by visiting Facebook here.