BUSHkids 2016-17 Annual Report

STAFF

Trudy McDonald is another of our Early Intervention Facilitators based in Kingaroy. Trudy has worked for BUSHkids for a little over two years and has recently completed her 3rd year of her Bachelor of Social Work degree with Central Queensland University.

“I love the diversity of my role,” Trudy notes. “I can go from providing a local kindy with a social emotional program, to supporting a specific family, to planning and liaising with key community stakeholders to achieve

“However, on the second day I received a call from the kindy, saying that they had gone to pick up the little girl but no one had come out of the house when the bus pulled up. I was obviously concerned, and when no-one answered the phone, I rushed round to the house to find mum asleep and her little girl sitting in the lounge dressed, shoes on and bag packed waiting to go to kindy. It was a very touching sight.” “Mum had been up half the night with the young twins and was exhausted, so I organised for the bus to come back to pick the young girl up and later caught up with mum and emphasised the importance of being there for the children, no matter how hard some nights were. “The following week I spoke to the kindy and they reported that since then, the little girl has always been ready for pick-up, and mum is out the front of the house with her waiting for the bus. This really touched me deeply, as I see a mum who loves her children but is finding life extremely difficult, and I see children who know they are loved and happy. I am so grateful BUSHkids can be there for this family and truly feel the BUSHkids service has not only played a big part in helping the little girl become ready for the start of prep next year, but has also helped the family feel they are supported and that someone cares about them.”

greater services for other families in our area”. “Recently I completed a 12 week Fun FRIENDS program at a small school and on the final day of the program, every one of the 17 students gave me a hand written thankyou letter telling me what they most liked about the program and what they had learnt. Those letters are worth more to me than gold. I truly felt I had made a difference and given them some valuable skills they can use into the future. “Working for BUSHkids can be so very rewarding. For a couple of years I have been supporting a mum who has six kids, four of them under five, including two young twins. Mum has not been well for some time and when I visited was often struggling to keep up with the demands of the family; however, she is also uncomfortable about opening up and letting people help her out. “I started supporting the two and three year olds, providing some social skills and play. I also used the Read and Grow program to introduce language and showed mum how to engage and support her child’s language development through the use of a storybook. “When the older girl turned four and was due to start prep the following January, I was conscious that she had never socialised outside of the family home. “After months of support and negotiation, and a visit to the local kindy, she started attending a pre-school program two days a week. It was a big step, and I was pleased that mum trusted my guidance enough to allow her child to go.

One of the 17 much-treasured letters presented toTrudy McDonald, one of our Early Intervention Facilitators in Kingaroy, following the conclusion of her Fun FRIENDS program.

Thanks to these staff members for sharing their stories – we look forward to seeing what all our teams can achieve over the coming 12 months!

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