Victoria
stories
ARISE WSW
ARISE WSW is a program for adolescents who use violence in the home. This therapeutic program supports the young person (aged between 12-17 years) and their family make meaning of the behaviour, repair relationships and build stronger connections inside and outside of the home. We work with young people, their parent/carer, family and support system. ACF and Brophy Family and Youth Services partner in this program across the Wimmera South West region of Victoria. The program is free and has outreach capacity. To make a referral call 1300 381 581 and ask for the ARISE WSW intake worker in Warrnambool.
Trauma-informed care at a preschool in Bairnsdale, VIC
Our early childhood team is working in partnership with Gippsland and East Gippsland Aboriginal Cooperative (GEGAC) in their preschool centre to put in place a trauma-informed and culturally strong approach to educating and supporting a group of 3-4-year-old children. This beautiful centre is set near parkland and offers traditional ways for children to learn about their cultural heritage. Our team has introduced ways of supporting the GEGAC staff to create opportunities for therapeutic forms of play. Children come to find healing in their relationships with their families who also come into the centre and are supported. The partnership between GEGAC, our team and the families becomes an important bridge helping children’s development to get back on track.
HEART (Warrnambool)
A therapeutic program for children, parents and families who have experienced family violence. In partnership with SW CASA, Brophy Family and Youth Services, Emma House and Winda-Mara, Austraian Childhood Foundation deliver dyadic, individual and family counselling, and group work, to children, parents and families living in the south west of Victoria. The program supports the healing and recovery from the experience of family violence, and works to build connection, attunement and re-establish relationships that have been ruptured by the violence. The program is funded by Family Safety Victoria.
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Providing therapy to children and young people who engage in harmful sexual behaviour in Shepparton and Mitcham
The Foundation pioneered a therapeutic program to help children and young people who engage in harmful sexual behaviour over 25 years ago. This program continues today in our Mitcham and Shepparton locations. Across the Eastern region, the Foundation provides Harmful Sexual Behaviour Treatment programs to young people over 10 years of age, who have engaged in harmful sexual behaviour towards themselves and others. Our team works with young people, their parents/carers, family, schools, police, Child Protection, and the broader support system to ensure they are safe and have access to the therapeutic support and counselling to stop the behaviour, making meaning of what is happening for them, and re-build healthy relationships around them. At times younger children can engage in sexual behaviour that is harmful. Our program supports children under 10 and their families to make meaning of this behaviour and support them to find healthy ways of communicating and having their needs met.