Wesley Mission Annual Report 2020 - Flipbook - Page 18
Families and children
Stronger families, safer futures
All children deserve a happy and healthy start to life.
Our job is to help families by providing the security, care
and support that is vital to a child’s development.
Wesley Brighter Futures focuses on
child safety at home
Building adults’ capacity to care for children is
a powerful way to ensure their children’s
wellbeing and safety. Wesley Brighter Futures’
mentoring and coaching approach helps
families rebuild while creating safe, nurturing
environments, so they can work through their
challenges and stay together. Challenges can
include domestic violence, drug and alcohol
misuse, poor mental health or parental
learning disabilities.
In 19/20, we partnered with Parenting
Research Centre to review our practice and
achieve improved wellbeing outcomes. The
SafeCare pilot continues in Wesley Brighter
Futures with some initial findings from the
external evaluation looking promising.
A mum, who’s successfully completed the
SafeCare program says, “I want to be a good
mum, so I thought, yes, I’ll give it a go… I feel
calmer, able to do more with the kids. I am
able to be there for my kids now.
Cultural connections strengthen
First Nations families
To better support families where Aboriginal
identity, cultural knowledge and connections
are important, Wesley Brighter Futures has
developed one identified team leader and
18
seven identified caseworker positions. This
includes a full team based in Nepean and
two caseworkers based in Blacktown.
Wesley Family Centres deliver early
intervention programs
Wesley Mission’s Targeted Early Intervention
(TEI) programs enable people experiencing
vulnerabilities to access varying levels of
care, to respond to their individual needs.
Wesley Mission’s TEI programs focus on a
child’s first 1,000 days:
• c
ommunity groups support parents with
children under the age of three through
playgroups, music and movement
classes. Groups are a soft-entry point for
children with further needs to be referred
to a caseworker and external supports
• programs increase parenting skills and
confidence of disadvantaged families, so
that parents can meet the emotional,
physical and developmental needs of
their children
• support for young parents includes,
building connections with local health
professionals and natural friendships with
other families in their area.
Wesley Brighter
Futures supported
2,851 clients
in 810
families
The Hills Childcare
supported 102
children and
their families
Wesley Mission’s TEI
programs supported
1,122 clients
and 2,806
family
members
Group programs in
Western Sydney
supported 400
clients
Journeying alongside mums towards
positive mental health outcomes
Nurses deliver care
and confidence
We understand motherhood can be challenging at times and we’re
committed to supporting mums with their mental health, so they
can achieve the best possible outcomes for their family.
Wesley Mission employs more than 130 nurses
through our hospitals, residential aged care
facilities, disability support services and home care.
One of the more unique settings for our nurses is as
part of our Mums and Kids Matter program team.
Since 2016, Wesley Mission has partnered with
NSW Ministry of Health to deliver the Mums
and Kids Matter pilot program. Offering
support in residential care or at home in the
community, the program provides tailored
mental health and parenting support to mums
living with complex mental health conditions
who have children under the age of five.
Here, our mental health nurses deliver
psychoeducation to equip mums with the skills to
understand and manage their mental health to
prevent relapses in the future. Child and family
nurses provide parenting support, including
mothercraft skills such as feeding, sleeping and
settling. Helping mums build confidence in their
ability to parent and seek support for their mental
health, creates the foundation for lifelong bonds
with their children and positive long-term outcomes
for the family.
In 2020, the Nous Group evaluated the
outcomes of our program, reporting that their
experience:
• s tatistically brought significant improvements
in health, social needs and family
functioning (as measured by clinical
outcome measures CAN-M, HoNOS and
NCFAS)
• saw a reduction in psychological distress
(K10 distress scale)
• increased confidence in parenting and
managing mental health (as per feedback
from mums we support).
In 19/20, Mums and Kids Matter
supported 84
mothers and their
children
The evaluation identified two opportunities to
further improve outcomes, including continuing
to build workforce capability, data monitoring
and further develop a consistent understanding
with referrers to determine who is best suited
to benefit from the program.
Feedback from mums we support indicates
that women valued the range of support
available:
• “ I would have suffered severely from
post-natal depression long term if I hadn’t
received support from the whole team.
Getting this assistance meant I became a
more confident mum.”
• “It changed my life. I had incredible help
with my goals, sorting out paperwork and
receiving counselling. The staff were
amazing.”
• “Exceeded my expectations. I have
recommended the program to others.”
“I love everything about what we do
here because it is all about empowering
women to know they are valued.”
Miriam, Program Manager,
Mums and Kids Matter
Since 2016, Mums and Kids Matter has
supported 200 women
and 346 children
from across NSW
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