BUILDING FAMILIES
WHILE LIFE IS RETURNING TO NORMAL IN MANY WAYS, SOME POSITIVE VIRUS-LED CHANGES WILL STAY, WRITES LAUREN PRATT
PLAYGROUPS have gone digital and even with Far North Queenslanders easing out of lockdowns, it’s a service the Cairns Early Years Centre is looking to continue to help keep families connected.
The one-stop family support service for children aged 0-8 is located at Borrowdale Close in Bentley Park.
Centre manager Cassy Bishop says many people mistakenly believe the Cairns Early Years Centre & Kindergarten is a daycare centre, but it’s far from that.
The centre’s services are extensive, free to families and include everything from infant health checks and massage classes, supported playgroups and family support services to midwifery services, toy libraries, parenting programs, and more, with transport available to and from the centres for eligible members.
Cassy, a “born and bred” local, has an extensive history working with children.
Her foundations in the sector are in child protection, a field she worked in at Cape York Peninsula for eight years and is something she remains passionate about.
“For me, doing the intervention work is so important,” she says. “I am always about getting to the root of the problem and not applying a BandAid, and I think this is the best place for me to do that.
“I started as a child and family practitioner, so I was a frontline worker.”
She’s seen it all and coronavirus was just another opportunity to adapt how children and families can be supported.
“We had the shift to doing things a bit differently and being a bit innovative,” Ms Bishop said.
“We wanted to remain connected with our families. Isolation is probably one of the main reasons that parents come to playgroup with the kids – so they are not stuck at home.
“There was definitely an increase in parental anxiety and stress, and a lot of fear about getting out of the house with kids and the kids catching the virus or themselves catching the virus.
“For us, it was about increasing the amount of contact we have, checking in with people, referring them to other services, getting them access to other services.
“Some families don’t have a support network. A lot of our parents we work with are socially isolated, so they don’t have a lot of friends they can turn to for support.”
Contradictory information about coronavirus, particularly on social media, was a cause of stress for many parents, Ms Bishop said.
“For them it’s kind of hard to know what to believe and what’s right. More recently it’s been a lot better. People seem to be getting out a lot more.”
The centre, on Ms Bishop’s initiative, established private Facebook groups and live social media sessions with everything from nursery rhymes to the material from group work, something she says they will continue despite restrictions easing.
“Everybody will still prefer face-to-face, but I think this will open for more innovation now,” she said.
Ms Bishop, whose love of travel has been curbed by the virus for now, said she hoped to raise awareness of the centre’s extensive services for local families, which is what keeps her showing up every day, along with centre staff.
“Some of the families we’ve had have come through with three to four different kids and it’s beautiful to see the community and the family we’ve created,” she said. “Aside from the staff and the families we see, I guess it’s about being able to give back to the community I grew up in.” For more information about the Cairns Early Years Centre and other services it offers in the region, visit: www.benevolent.org.au or www.facebook.com/CairnsEYC