24 Hour Treadmill Challenge raises over $928,000!

36 treadmills were kept in continuous motion for 24 hours from 9am Fri 25 May to 9am Fri 26 May raising over $928,000 for Very Special Kids.

To celebrate the end of the 24 hours we held an award ceremony congratulating the top fundraising efforts. The highest fundraising individual was awarded to Paul and Jane Hallam, who were running in a team dedicated to two very special brothers Sebastian and Charlie, who are supported by Very Special Kids.

Profiling our therapeutic team – Who is Svett?

Svett has been working as an Art Therapist at Very Special Kids since 2014. Her relationship with the children’s charity began with a two week pilot program ran by The Art Cabriolet in 2013, which proved so successful that it turned into a four day art therapy program led by Svett every week. Art Cabriolet is an organisation that provides art therapies for children enduring trauma and Very Special Kids is very grateful for her work with our children.

Upcoming Events 

Very Special Kids Fashion Sale
Malvern Town Hall, Malvern 
Sat 16 June, 9am - 3pm

Sibling Day
Very Special Kids, Malvern
Tues 3 July

Bereaved Sibling Day
Very Special Kids, Malvern
Wed 4 July

Coffee mornings

Want to know the dates and details of Metro Coffee Mornings for 2018? Download the flyer below. 

Decoding medical speak

At our most recent Family Advisory Committee meeting we had a representative from the Health Issues Centre come and train our family representatives on health literacy. As part of this training they were provided with the details of some helpful, plain English websites to help them “decode medical speak” and also to help ensure the information they were sourcing online was of high quality. 

Here is a list of suggested, reliable Australian websites:

Health direct
My Dr
Better Health Channel
National Prescribing Service

When you need to be heard

By Peggy Hogan, Family Support Practitioner at Very Special Kids

When you are feeling overwhelmed and filled with worry it can be very helpful to talk to a good listener or counsellor.

Having a skilled, trusted person listen allows you to tell your story knowing that it will be heard without judgment.

You can speak of feelings that may not have seen the light of day and experience some relief from the weight of those worries.