BUSHkids Annual Report 2011-2012

WARWICK

local school per term. SLP Emily and I were looking forward to run- ning the annual Ready Steady Prep groups in Term 4, and a Book Club for referred children in Prep/1. This year, I also had the chance to run a Parent Sensory Processing workshop and psychologist Bec and I also prepared to host the first SleepWise parent education group ( for parents/carers with children with sleeping difficulties) in Term 4. IN OUR COMMUNITY BUSHkids Warwick is continuing to build up its reputation as a valuable and reliable service in our community. The support we have received for both the 2011 and 2012 annual Golf Days was very encouraging, and our team being presented with the Business Excellence Community Award was another highlight of the year. We have seen families who access the service show amazing support and gratitude, with monetary donations, and items such as an iPad, scooter board and therapy software. We also ran our Jumpers and Jaz z tree-decorating workshop this year, which again was lots of fun to have the opportunity to interact with children and families away from regular intervention or group sessions. As a team, we have continued our efforts to build relationships with fellow service providers in our community, including our referrers ( particularly schools and guidance officers), the Red Cross family support team, CYMHS and Queensland Health and Education Queensland providers. We also met with the visiting Q.Health paediatricians earlier this year, which was a great opportunity to identify the ‘gaps’ in services that exist in our community, particularly in parent support and education.

Regarding professional networking, I continue to attend the Paediatric OT Special Interest groups at the Toowoomba Base Hospital, and have enjoyed working more closely with the Education Queensland OT to attempt to best meet the needs of children in our community. IN OUR OFFICE The Warwick team continues to be very supportive, caring and inspiring team, who are lots of fun to work with! The donation of an iPad to our centre has been really beneficial, with all team members using it for both individual sessions and groups. During 2012 we have continued to grow our resources, however appropriate storage continues to be an issue. The space restrictions and safety surrounding this has been discussed throughout the year, with head office staff and the OT mentor, Karlee Wiles, visiting the centre in January to address and work through the identified issues. In consultations with Brisbane, ideas with most merit – including an extension to the building to allow an outdoor area, relocation to a more suitable building, or a split centre with the old BUSHkids centre (now rental) – have been tabled. We are looking forward to further consultation with council and head office regarding possible solutions to this issue, particularly as our service and FHSW groups become increasingly popular. Reflections by RebeccaWright THEYEAR IN GENERAL Generally the year within the Warwick centre was very positive. We had a smooth transition from our SLP Francesca to Emily.

The outlook of BUSHkids Warwick from a community perspective appears to be very good. We are well-supported and families place a lot of trust in our organisation. AROUND OURAREA The Warwick region is quite stable in terms of the community and industry, there are usually minimal amounts of change in the area. We’ve had no major disasters this year, unlike our previous year. ACTIVITYAND OUTPUTS Warwick centre is always buzzing with little feet in and out of our centre. In 2012 parenting programs have remained popular, as well as the afternoon group programs for children. Families have made concerted efforts to attend their appointments in a timely fashion, which we greatly appreciate, and there is no doubt this has been contributing to better outcomes. IN OUR COMMUNITY Our Warwick community has always been supportive of our valuable service in town and, with limited private practice services available in the Warwick region, BUSHkids is certainly in demand. Community awareness of our service has increased due to our prese nce at the 2012 Business Excellence Awards, where the Warwick team was fortunate enough to win the Community Service award. Following this award and a few newspaper appearances, a noticeable increase in positive feedback and support from local businesses, community groups (such as Rotary Sunrise) and individuals was observed. BUSHkids Warwick Golf Day has been strongly supported again by the community, and the presence of this as an annual event on the social calendar now seems assured.

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