BUSHkids Annual Report 21 | 22

Early Start Team BUSHkids transformed the way Allied Health clinicians within the ECA teams work in 2020-21, decentralising the teams based

Client case study – helping Grace Grace is a five-year-old girl who was referred to BUSHkids by her mum. Grace displayed developmental delay in several areas, in particular her physical development and her learning at school. Grace’s mumwas not sure what support would benefit Grace, nor who she could talk to for advice, and she needed help to be able to get Grace the support she needed. The team felt that Grace had some concerning physical delays for her age which were having a significant impact on her functional capacity and our NDIS ECA and Early Start teams worked together to help Grace and her mum. Grace was referred to our Early Start Physiotherapist in Maroochydore, to determine what supports we could provide to help. A home visit with Grace and her mumwas undertaken to better determine the family’s needs, and it became clear that Grace needed a block of support from BUSHkids and that both Grace and her mumwould also benefit from being linked to community organisations for further supports. Grace’s mum told the team how grateful she is for the support provided to them both by BUSHkids and feels she already has a better understanding of Grace’s needs and where to go for further assessment and a possible diagnosis – a great example of BUSHkids’ teams working together in a family-centred way to deliver services that a little girl and her mum desperately needed.

on their physical location to a virtual team – called the Early Start (ES) team – equitably supporting families across Queensland. The Early Start team employs clinicians across four disciplines – Occupational Therapy, Speech Pathology, Social Work and Physiotherapy – with access to Psychology consultations. This year there has been an increased focus on a transdisciplinary approach, allowing staff to not only learn more about their own discipline but also about other areas so they can operate in line with evidence-based best practice for families. This year the first AHA started with the ES team based on a successful pilot in other BUSHkids services and we now have four Early Start AHAs in the field. These are very important to the ES team to supplement the thin market of Allied Health staff in the more rural and remote parts of Queensland.

The virtual team was able to convene in person for a three-day workshop in Bundaberg in July, bringing together staff from Townsville to Caloundra. The work produced from this gathering greatly supported the wider Early Start teams with Functional Assessments and Case Management Meetings as well as educational opportunities for understanding milestones across the early years age span.

Through telepractice, the ESA clinicians are becoming more and more creative with their sessions. One of our Speech Pathologists is an ‘ace’ with a hot-glue gun in creating imaginative gadgets. She makes dinosaur earrings and necklaces, pom-pom headbands and glasses that Elton John would be proud of – and, whilst she enjoys making these wonderful products there is a very serious side as to why she does it. BUSHkids therapists do everything they can to engage the children in their telepractice sessions. The children may think they are just having some fun with a friend on the screen, but the reality is the children are working hard to develop skills that they are struggling with. This in turn encourages the successful outcomes for the children and their families.

Client case study: DFV BUSHkids provides family support services and will refer to specialist trauma services where families are experiencing domestic and family violence (as children often present with neurodiverse behaviours linked to trauma). One important partnership with Victims of Crime saw a child referred to BUSHkids’ Early Start team to support with violent behaviours and grief and loss, with the grandmother, who has guardianship. BUSHkids’ Social Worker linked the family with a GP to get a mental health plan for Psychology support and a care plan for Occupational Therapy. The family was linked with Victims of Crime services funded by Act for Kids.

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