In-home support for flood-affected families

Social Futures is working with educators and families to help young children recover from flood-related trauma and thrive.

Our Strong Minds in the Early Years program is being delivered in preschools and homes in 2023.

We’re helping Northern Rivers kids build resilience through:

• in-home parent coaching
• play-based therapy
• storytelling
• creating safe spaces to talk.

In-home support available

Social Future is now offering a 10-session in-home parent coaching program to flood-affected families. The Strong Minds in the Early Years parent coaching program can help establish the right foundations for any child to have a better attachment and loving relationship with their parents and caregivers.  This can help children learn how to regulate emotions, build emotional resilience and grow into their confidence.

Strong Minds in the Early Years parent/caregiver coaching

Our in-home parent coaching program was developed to support caregivers in understanding and responding to the needs of young children affected by flood.

• Strong Minds in the Early Years is anchored in attachment theory and adult learning principles.
• Over the course of 10 in-home coaching sessions, caregivers receive extensive in-the-moment comments and opportunities to practice sensitive interactions and behaviours.
• The coaching program uniquely focuses on three distinct elements – helping caregivers to:
  • Nurture their distressed child
  • Avoid behaving in frightening ways
  • Follow their child’s lead with delight
• People’s own childhood experiences can interfere with their responses towards the child. We teach caregivers how to override ‘voices of the past’, (also known in other programs as shark music, or ghosts in the nursery).
• Strong Minds in the Early Year focuses on enhancing parental sensitivity to target infant development.
• It is a culturally competent intervention and effective for families from a wide range of languages and cultural backgrounds.

In every session, caregivers will hear about the positive things they are doing with the child. At the end of the program, caregivers receive a special gift and a greater understanding of attachment to the child.

To find out more, call 1800 719 625 or visit socialfutures.org.au/strong-minds-in-the-early-years.