BUSHkids Annual Report 2018-2019

ECEI EarlyStart Bundaberg

CASE STUDY: BUNDABERG Craig is no longer afraid of the rain

The Bundaberg team is our longest-established EarlyStart team and has continued to work across the four key areas of ECEI: • community engagement • individual planning • community capacity-building • initial supports. We continue to receive a large number of referrals and are in demand from early learning centres to run group programs. The Bundaberg service continues to receive significant support from the community in supporting our organisation and energetically fundraising on our behalf. Local sporting club The Waves raised more than $12,000 at a Golf Day, with the proceeds donated to BUSHkids, while a project to build an outdoor area and sensory garden was completed with the support of the FoBk Bundaberg and two Rotary Clubs: Sunrise and Bundaberg East. We are so grateful for everyone’s efforts: thank-you! We were also represented on the local NAIDOC committee in Bundaberg, helping to organise the NAIDOC march — an event which was well-supported and helped highlight the Indigenous communities in our Bundaberg service area. BUSHkids also attended ATSI Day on 4 August, as well as various NAIDOC play-and-learn and family fun days. The team also works closely with Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters (HIPPY) and the Bundaberg Neighbourhood Centre , where a playgroup is facilitated once a week. We have also developed a partnership with Burnett Mary Regional Group (BMRG) and jointly co-ordinated the children’s area at Oceanfest , Bundaberg’s annual seafood festival, as part of our community engagement strategy. The team also worked closely with Wide Bay Kids and held shared events to provide joint services for families, and also supported programs at the Read To Me Day at the Childers, Gin Gin and Bundaberg libraries.

Craig* is a 5-year-old boy who started working with BUSHkids after Simone — our EarlyStart team’s Social Worker — visited Craig’s school class to observe another child. She noticed that Craig began to vomit as it started to rain, and his teacher explained that Craig experienced anxiety when it rained or it became cloudy and looked like it may rain. After talking with Craig’s parents, he was assessed as having emotional and social delays, and some speech sound challenges. The main concern for Craig’s parents was around his limited emotional recognition, cognitive thought patterns about rain, and his ability to self-regulate and control his emotions when he became anxious. Craig and his dad met Simone for fortnightly sessions after school where he learnt all about emotions, how to identify what he was feeling, how this made him feel on the inside (‘good’ or ‘yucky’) and techniques to help him feel calm. He learnt how to externalise and control his ‘worry monster’ and how to change his thought patterns and self-talk about his worries and fears. After six sessions Craig said, “I don’t need to see Simone anymore, because I am not scared of the rain anymore.” Craig’s parents say he is now doing really well. He no longer has any fears, or experiences any vomiting when it gets cloudy or rains — and has also conquered other fears: he is now able to confidently jump into the pool at swimming lessons, something he would never have attempted before his support from BUSHkids!

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