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Director's message
“It was a time when the unthinkable became the thinkable and the impossible really happened” ― Arundhati Roy, 1997, The God of Small Things
As 2020 is drawing to a close many of you will be breathing a sigh of relief. It feels appropriate then to end the year with an important reflection that points to hope for 2021, perhaps even a COVID-19 silver lining: the immutable has become mutable. For years entrenched systems and process have been ‘too hard’ to shift, yet the COVID-19 pandemic has forced swift and significant change, and a greater openness to new ways of thinking. In one year we have had free childcare, telehealth available for all communities regardless of where you live, accommodation provided for homeless families, provision of a living wage benefit (JobSeeker) and in Victoria, significant commitments to improve and expand social housing and fund kindergarten for 3-year-olds.
At the Centre for Community Child Health we are committed to health and developmental equity for all children, but this will be harder to achieve through the disproportionate COVID-19 burden on children, families and communities. However, this year has taught us that we can think differently, move quicker and make changes for significant impact.
In this newsletter we share some of the recent successes of the Centre to give you a flavour of the possibilities for 2021. I’m delighted to announce that our By Five – Wimmera Southern Mallee Specialist Paediatric Support Partnership has been awarded a 2020 Victorian Early Years Award in the category of Creating Collaborative Community Partnerships. You can hear more about this partnership in our Thriving Children, Thriving Communities series where we bring together clinicians, researchers, practitioners, community members and policymakers to tackle issues of significance in the area of equity and innovation in early childhood.
We also continue our efforts to use evidence for advocacy and we have developed a diversity of resources for families of children with a disability, and for schools and teachers during COVID-19.
With a challenging 2020 coming to a close I would like to acknowledge and thank the wonderful hardworking and dedicated team at the Centre for Community Child Health and our many partners. We wish you and your families a restful, safe and joyous end of the year and a 2021 that is full of hope and the possible.
"Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different" ― Arundhati Roy, 2020
Professor Sharon Goldfeld
Director, Centre for Community Child Health
Supporting children and families
Winner! 2020 VEY award | Creating Collaborative Community Partnerships
By Five’s innovative partnership is helping more families in regional Victoria to access specialist paediatric care locally, and has been recognised by the Victorian Early Years (VEY) Awards 2020.
Navigating the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
A new series of resources from raisingchildren.net.au provides parents and carers of children with disability and developmental delay with practical advice about getting started in the NDIS.
Childhood adversity
Addressing childhood adversity is crucial for post-COVID-19 recovery
Children are experiencing a range of adversities as a result of COVID-19 with long-term health impacts likely to be felt well into the future. Using the existing evidence will be critical in planning and implementing the road to recovery. Read the MJA InSight article.
How to address adversity and the impact on children's mental health
A new report by The Centre of Research Excellence in Childhood Adversity and Mental Health explores the interventions that may prevent or reduce the negative effects of adverse childhood experiences on children’s mental health.
Nurse home visiting
Research impact
Congratulations to Professor Sharon Goldfeld on being awarded the Marles Medal in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine (STEMM) for excellence in research impact for the right@home study.
Research spotlight
right@home is a nurse home visiting program designed to promote family wellbeing and child development. The program places nurses in children’s homes from birth to two years old, regularly, to support mothers to develop parenting skills.
Research evidence
Nurse home visiting programs have gained policy appeal, and this recent systematic review provides evidence of their benefits for families experiencing disadvantage.
Health and service system innovation
How are early childhood services adapting to COVID-19?
Our latest blog post looks at ways that services in Hume, Casey and Latrobe are using quality improvement to adapt. Learn how they are re-engaging families and re-thinking how to measure impact.
GenV launches social awareness campaign
Generation Victoria (GenV) invites parents to learn more about how they and their baby could be part of this statewide health initiative. Watch a short video with baby Mia, one of 170,000 children who could soon be part of the project.
Platforms shaping agricultural practice
How well does Platforms – our community-led approach to change – resonate beyond early childhood? Find out how Platforms has been applied to develop a decision-making framework to guide work in the Queensland agricultural sector.
Platforms Guide
The Platforms guide is designed to support services, community groups and governments to successfully implement the Platforms approach in a community.
Supporting educators and students
Supporting Schools in a time of COVID-19
Supporting Schools in a time of COVID-19 (SSCOVID) is a free online professional learning opportunity to help teachers support primary students' mental health and wellbeing.
Promoting wellbeing and learning in the middle years
The Centre for Adolescent Health has released a new policy brief, Promoting wellbeing and learning in the middle years: an opportune time for intervention.
Thriving Children, Thriving Communities series
Our 2020 webinar series united clinicians, researchers, practitioners, community members and policymakers to explore issues of significance to community child health. Access the series recordings below, and stay tuned for more in 2021.
Webinar 1 Pushing the boundaries: using telehealth to improve regional access and care
Policy Brief
Our latest Policy Brief focuses on telehealth and the opportunity to use existing services more effectively to embed paediatric expertise in regional primary care.
Feature publication
Professor Harriet Hiscock and team look at the wait times and out‐of‐pocket costs for children attending private specialists for initial mental health appointments and examines the differences between metro and rural areas. How long and how much? Wait times and costs for initial private child mental health appointments
2021 training courses
11, 18 & 25 February I Reflective Practice [Register]
3 March I Difficult Conversations: How do we have them? [Register]
10 March I Self-care for healthcare and early years professionals [Register]
18 & 25 March I Engaging families: Building and sustaining helpful relationships [Register]
27 April I Introduction to the Family Partnership Model [Register]
Ask us about our customised training options or send us a query at training.ccch@rch.org.au
The Centre for Community Child Health is a department of The Royal Children’s Hospital and research group of Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. The Centre contributes to improving the health, development and wellbeing of children by identifying, synthesising and translating the best evidence to inform policy, service delivery, practice and parenting.
