The ENVISAGE Consortium, led by Australian Catholic University (ACU) (Associate Professor Laura Miller and Professor Christine Imms), were successful in securing $6.9 million in funding from the Department of Social Services to deliver ENVISAGE across all states and territories in Australia for two years. Perth Children’s Hospital are leading the WA consortium delivering the ENVISAGE program, delivered in conjunction with Kiind and Kids are Kids Therapy.
The Kids Project team members
Prof Jane Valentine, Dr Ashleigh Thornton, Sue-Anne Davidson, Brooke Sanderson, Kathryn Malley, Tina Zhang.
Project description
ENVISAGE is a validated evidence-based program of facilitated group workshops for parents and carers of young children, aged 0-8 years, with a newly identified disability or who have concerns regarding their child’s development. The program has been co-designed with parents, carers, service providers, health professionals and researchers to empower families.
Each workshop is informative, while empowering caregivers to recognise their own capacities, goals, competence, and capabilities to parent their child with an early-onset Neurodevelopmental Disability (NDD). The workshops address broad themes, but do not offer clinical services or advice to families about personal or child-specific matters. The themes include:
- modern concepts and thinking about health: World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Functioning (ICF) and its ‘F-words’ adaptation
- the centrality of ‘family’ in paediatric practice
- the importance of ‘development’ of child, siblings and family
- transactional relationship-informed approaches among child, family and environment
- the challenges and complexities of parenting a child with an impairment
- the importance of caregiver self-care, ways of thinking about it, and tools, and · communicating, collaborating, and connecting effectively with others.
“Meeting and sharing experiences with other caregivers was enlightening and opened up my world as I know I’m no longer alone on my journey” – Parent.
For more information, visit https://envisage.community/
Funding
ENVISAGE is funded by the Department of Social Services.