A new program aimed at empowering parents and communities is headed to the Central Goldfields Shire.
Announced this week by Go Goldfields, the program follows conversations with almost 200 parents and carers which revealed 88 percent of respondents would select a friend-to-friend, or peer-to-peer parenting program as their first choice of programs offered by the organisation’s Every Child, Every Chance initiative.
“So that’s what we are bringing to the shire,” Go Goldfields manager Carolyn Bartholomeusz said in a statement.
“Introducing Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities (EPEC).
“Developed and tested by the UK Centre for Parent and Child Support, EPEC encompasses the best of current theoretical and practical knowledge and provides an alternative model to practitioner-led parenting interventions.
“Go Goldfields will become the next Australian EPEC site in partnership with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute who will support us to implement and sustain EPEC and deliver training to the EPEC Practitioner Facilitators.”
Ms Bartholomeusz said EPEC is “not just another parenting program facilitated by professionals alone”, instead the program brings practitioners and parents together as partners in “a culture of shared practice”.
“The dynamic of local parents working within the system, alongside practitioners, spans the boundary between services and families disengaged from the system,” she said.
“The active involvement of Parent Facilitators in EPEC gives credibility to the system in the eyes of families that have previously found services difficult to access.
“This model allows for learnings and responsibilities to be carried forward, shared and branch out into the broader community.
“This will ultimately shift parenting behaviours, children’s futures and social vitality throughout the shire.
“We are now seeking expressions of interest from local children and families services practitioners to become EPEC Practitioner Facilitators.”
Go Goldfields’ Every Child, Every Chance initiative focuses on children from the early stages of pregnancy to eight years of age.
The initiative is designed to bring together community, business, government and not-for-profit partners to ensure every child in the shire has every chance to grow up safe, healthy and confident.
It follows research undertaken by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute which found while the shire receives a fair share of programs and services directed at early years education and development, more can be done to shape these to a local context and meet specific family needs.
The initiative focuses on a number of identified priority areas, including supported and healthy pregnancies, confident and connected new parents, safe and secure children, valued early years education and care and ensuring children have a great start to school.
Go Goldfields is hosting a morning tea at its headquarters for locals to find out more about EPEC on Thursday, November 24.
This Q&A session is designed to provide information for practitioners and their managers interested in undertaking the training in February 2022 (in this case practitioners refers to people already engaged in service delivery or education with families and children).
RSVP by Tuesday, November 22 to Jodieb@cgoldshire.vic.gov.au
