A Bright Future for at risk kids
Lisa Knightbridge, Hannah Maynard, Amy Marshall and Jennie Vormwald
A range of organisations in the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula region are reaping the benefits of Monash University Occupational Therapy (OT) students’ knowledge as part of the course’s Participatory Community Practice (PCP) unit.
As part of their course, third and fourth year OT students are required to work with a local organisation to address a community or population health issue.
The unit requires the students to apply and further develop the knowledge, skills and expertise necessary for them to investigate, plan, implement, manage, evaluate and report on a community orientated project. In doing so, they develop their project management skills as well as communication, negotiation and collaboration skills in a real life, work place setting.
In reality, the experience for the students, the host organisation and the ‘clients’ has been much more inspiring.
Two of the students, Hannah Maynard and Amy Marshall have been working with Carrum Downs Primary School to investigate the establishment of a school-based educational toy library for preschool children.
The project came about after the Australian Early Development Index results showed that children in the Carrum Downs area were significantly behind in their developmental skills, including their school readiness development, compared with the rest of the state.
“In many cases, they had double the chance of being vulnerable or at risk in their developmental outcomes, putting them at a huge disadvantage before they even started school,” Hannah Maynard said.
While the students saw the establishment of the educational toy library as beneficial, Hannah and Amy were keen to further enhance the program for both the children and their families. By working with the parents and grandparents to help them understand the value of play ‘The Bright Futures Learning Through Play Program’ was developed.
The program runs weekly play sessions at the school to provide families with the opportunity to see how a range of toys and other play resources can enhance their child’s developmental skills.
Passionate about the opportunity to make a difference, Hannah and Amy developed a proposal to gain funding for the project. They successfully secured a $10,000 grant from Anglicare, which has allowed them to extend the program to children up to 12-years-of-age as well as employ a program facilitator.
The program has been running for about three months with many of the children and their families already benefitting from the project. Sessions focus on using play to support a range of skills, including development of physical, cognitive, social and emotional skills. Families are also able to borrow a variety of toys to take home.
PCP coordinator Lisa Knightbridge, explained that this is just one of the many projects that has given community organisations in the local area an opportunity to change community or population outcomes.
“In many cases, these organisations know what the issues are but they do not have the information, resources or expertise to resolve them,” Ms Knightbridge said.
“There is no better example of a win-win situation. The students are developing important skills to prepare them for professional practice, the host organisation is getting a valuable deliverable and support for a project that might otherwise be unmanageable, and in many cases a broader community group reaps the benefits.”