Child Protection Week--Western Region

CAMHS Western, FAYS Woodville District Centre, Port Mission Family Centre, Child and Youth Health Woodville Office, and the Playgroup Association, continued their collaborative initiatives as part of the promotion for Child Protection Week 2001.   Child Protection Week is coordinated annually by the National Association of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN).  This year, the group organised a "Family Fun Time" activity and a stall at the Port Canal Shopping Centre to raise community awareness about child abuse and neglect.

The "Family Fun Time" was held at the Port Mission Family Centre and open to all families in the local community.  Families enjoyed an afternoon of free activities that included a variety of craft activities, bubble-blowing, playdoh, some "Aussie Sports" activities selected by the Playgroup Association, face painting from students at Gepps Cross Girls High School, and a sausage sizzle. There was an abundance of information taken

Evaluation of domestic violence intervention kit

In 2001 Southern CAMHS joined the Conflict Management Research Group of the University of South Australia and several other agencies to form a research consortium to apply for an Attorney-General's grant to evaluate domestic violence services for children. Our proposal was to clinically evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention kit developed for children and parents by the Jannawi Family Centre in NSW. The video based kit, developed by Jannawi director, Chris Burke, centres on a series of stories told by a delightful group of puppets who portray the effects of domestic violence on children and the ways in which their families can help reduce that impact.

The application for funding was successful and was followed by a training course in using the kit. Several Southern CAMHS clinicians attended along with staff from schools, shelters and Aboriginal services. A research management committee will now lead a process to evaluate the effectiveness of the kit in helping to alleviate the adverse effects of domestic violence on children. An update on the evaluation will be made in later editions of Online.

Andrew Wood
Marion CAMHS

Young people with anxiety based school refusal: a pilot program