Meerilinga’s services and programs for children, families and the community include:
- The Nutrition Program - this program works with schools, parents, child care centres and health professionals to encourage healthy eating in children throughout WA.
- Dads in the Early Years – a free state wide program supporting men in their role as fathers, and the agencies that support fathers
- Early Learning Program – This fun program for 3 and 4 year old children builds on the strengths, competencies and curiosities of each child with a strong focus on play.
- Resilience in Schools Program - Facilitated by Andrew Fuller, a clinical child psychologist and author of many books (most recently Tricky Kids) the workshops raise awareness of emotional resilience and offer strategies to enhance skills of resilience in children and adolescents. It also encourages teachers to use emotional resilience programs in the classroom.
- Meerilinga Training College – a registered training organisation with over 20 years experience in successfully training educators, child care and community workers throughout WA.
- Parent Link Services – a free service working with parents of children aged 0-5 years
- Aboriginal Parent Support Service – a free service working with Aboriginal parents of young children aged 0 – 3 years.
- Family Centres –provide a friendly place for families and community groups to meet. Both centres also house the local child health nurse, playgroups, children’s and adult educational or recreational activities.
The Nutrition Program
Meerilinga’s Nutrition Program began in 2003 with federal government funding to develop a web-based nutrition resource. The result was Lunch Box World. Parents will find useful information on:
- choosing and preparing lunch box foods,
- storing lunch box food to keep it looking and tasting fresh, and to prevent it spoiling.
- curriculum support materials for teachers.
- a section for pregnant women with lots of good food ideas and tips on how to avoid Listeria.
- the Lunch Box Buzz Booklet and poster series, a full colour booklet designed to encourage parents and children to work together to create healthy and interesting lunchbox meals.
Taste Bubs is Meerilinga’s focus in nutrition for 2008. Originally funded by the Telstra Foundation and Meerilinga Research Trust, this resource for child health nurses will help parents as their babies make the transition from breast feeding to solid foods.
Dads in the Early Years
Research indicates that men who are taking a more active fathering role, such as the ‘stay at home’ fathers, often say that the information and services offered to them is usually mother-focused and can be alienating.
Dads in the Early Years aims to bridge the gap between services and fathers by providing training, resources, information, and support – assisting services to become more ‘Dad Friendly’.
Service staff can also attend the ‘Working with Fathers’ training course to gain insight into the perspectives of fathers and develop an action plan to make their services more ‘dad friendly”.
Meerilinga Program Leader Gary Segal holds a weekly Dads and Kids Playgroup in the northern Perth suburb of Woodvale. The playgroup now has 12 fathers attending regularly with their young children. The DEY’s website provides an online Directory of Services with many information sheets on topics such as ‘Wet days fun’ or ‘Stages of play’.
Other Meerilinga resources include the Dads in the Early Years poster series and the Aboriginal poster series, in Nyoongar and English. |
