21
WARWICK
local school per term. SLP Emily
and I were looking forward to run-
ning the annual
Ready Steady Prep
groups in Term 4, and a
Book Club
for referred children in Prep/1.
This year, I also had the chance
to run a
Parent Sensory Processing
workshop and psychologist Bec
and I also prepared to host the first
SleepWise
parent education group
(
for parents/carers with children
with sleeping difficulties) in Term 4.
IN OUR COMMUNITY
BUSHkids Warwick is continuing
to build up its reputation as a
valuable and reliable service in our
community. The support we have
received for both the 2011 and
2012
annual Golf Days was very
encouraging, and our team being
presented with the
Business
Excellence Community Award
was
another highlight of the year.
We have seen families who access
the service show amazing support
and gratitude, with monetary
donations, and items such as an
iPad, scooter board and therapy
software. We also ran our
Jumpers
and Jaz
z tree-decorating workshop
this year, which again was lots
of fun to have the opportunity to
interact with children and families
away from regular intervention or
group sessions.
As a team, we have continued our
efforts to build relationships with
fellow service providers in our
community, including our referrers
(
particularly schools and guidance
officers), the Red Cross family
support team, CYMHS and
Queensland Health and Education
Queensland providers. We also
met with the visiting Q.Health
paediatricians earlier this year,
which was a great opportunity to
identify the ‘gaps’ in services that
exist in our community, particularly
in parent support and education.
Regarding professional networking,
I continue to attend the Paediatric
OT Special Interest groups at the
Toowoomba Base Hospital, and
have enjoyed working more closely
with the Education Queensland OT
to attempt to best meet the needs of
children in our community.
IN OUR OFFICE
The Warwick team continues to
be very supportive, caring and
inspiring team, who are lots of fun
to work with! The donation of an
iPad to our centre has been really
beneficial, with all team members
using it for both individual sessions
and groups.
During 2012 we have continued
to grow our resources, however
appropriate storage continues to be
an issue. The space restrictions and
safety surrounding this has been
discussed throughout the year, with
head office staff and the OT mentor,
Karlee Wiles, visiting the centre
in January to address and work
through the identified issues.
In consultations with Brisbane,
ideas with most merit – including
an extension to the building to
allow an outdoor area, relocation to
a more suitable building, or a split
centre with the old BUSHkids
centre (now rental) – have been
tabled.
We are looking forward to further
consultation with council and head
office regarding possible solutions
to this issue, particularly as our
service and FHSW groups become
increasingly popular.
Reflections by
RebeccaWright
THEYEAR IN GENERAL
Generally the year within the
Warwick centre was very positive.
We had a smooth transition from
our SLP Francesca to Emily.
The outlook of BUSHkids Warwick
from a community perspective
appears to be very good. We are
well-supported and families place a
lot of trust in our organisation.
AROUND OURAREA
The Warwick region is quite stable
in terms of the community and
industry, there are usually minimal
amounts of change in the area.
We’ve had no major disasters this
year, unlike our previous year.
ACTIVITYAND OUTPUTS
Warwick centre is always buzzing
with little feet in and out of our
centre. In 2012 parenting programs
have remained popular, as well
as the afternoon group programs
for children. Families have made
concerted efforts to attend their
appointments in a timely fashion,
which we greatly appreciate, and
there is no doubt this has been
contributing to better outcomes.
IN OUR COMMUNITY
Our Warwick community has
always been supportive of our
valuable service in town and, with
limited private practice services
available in the Warwick region,
BUSHkids is certainly in demand.
Community
awareness of our
service has increased due to
our prese
nce at the 2012 Business
Excellence Awards, where the
Warwick team was fortunate
enough to win the Community
Service award. Following this
award and a few newspaper
appearances, a noticeable increase
in positive feedback and support
from local businesses, community
groups (such as Rotary Sunrise)
and individuals was observed.
BUSHkids Warwick Golf Day has
been strongly supported again by
the community, and the presence of
this as an annual event on the social
calendar now seems assured.