BUSHkids Annual Report 2019-20

ANNUAL REPORT 2019–2020

Wellbeing

BUSHkids has created a growing library of TIPSheets (TS) and InfoSheets (IS) to help parents, carers and teachers support kids and families through ‘COVID 2020’ and more generally into the future. They are proving great tools for parents and carers to support their kids and understand how BUSHkids may be able to help.

First priority – an INFOSheet outling a simple guide to using ZOOM for teleHealth services (IS1) – was quickly designed and distributed in mid-March, pivotal to the ensuing move to remote service delivery. Our Psychologists and Social Workers saw a need to support families through COVID-19 stresses and, as the situation developed, they worked to produce a range of TIPSsheets on evolving topics such as How to talk to children about COVID-19 (TS1), Juggling working from home and home learning (TS5) and, by early July, Transitioning back to school (TS6). These were complemented by a series of Wellbeing (WB) sheets containing information, strategies and resources covering Self- care for parents and carers (WB1), Mindfulness (WB2), and Children’s anxiety (WBs 3–4), to enable families to

The SP series addresses a range of speech-related subjects such as stuttering (SPs3 and 7), speech sounds (SP9), dummies and thumb sucking (SP8), and communicating without speech (SP11), while the OT range deals with topics like What is Occupational Therapy? (OT1), fine motor skills (OT13), handwriting (OTs 2 and 3), toileting and sensory processing (under development). The contents of our growing library all include a number of practical strategies that can be used in everyday situations to help kids develop, a small selection of key links (websites and books), simple step-by-step guides and checklists. These are available online at our website and Facebook page, as well as from our Service Centres.

Note: in anticipation of these resources being mostly printed at home by families, these sheets were designed with smaller images and minimal use of colour. This process accelerated plans by BUSHkids’ Speech Pathologists (SPs) and Occupational Therapists (OTs) to develop similar resources for parents, carers and teachers. These provide an understanding of how and when BUSHkids SPs and OTs can help with early developmental issues.

TOPIC SECTION 31 LIBRARY WELLBE NG

look after their mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 crisis.

WELLBEING TIPS