LATEST NEWS
International Conference on Social Work in Health & Mental Health in Melbourne
CatholicCare's School, Student & Family Program (SSFP) spoke at the International Conference on Social Work in Health & Mental Health in November 2024 about the Kindy Kids Connect program.
CatholicCare's poster with relevant counselling data is available to download here.
Annual Reviews
The Annual Reviews of the School, Student and Family Program (SSFP) are available to download below. Additional counselling data is available to review within these reports.
School, Student and Family Program
The School, Student and Family Program (SSFP) at CatholicCare work collaboratively alongside school staff as well as Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong to ensure students have access to a range of support systems and services both internally and externally. Our counsellors provide a professional service that is responsive to the needs of people from diverse background. SSFP provides a range of services across 38 schools in the Catholic Diocese of Wollongong:
- Short term/brief counselling
- Case management
- Student consultation
- Mental Health Risk Assessments
- Child protection/mandatory reporting
- Support and advocacy
- Critical Incident Response
- Psychoeducation for school staff and parents
- Wellbeing programs for students
Keeping Kids Connected - Social-Emotional Wellbeing Programs
The concept of wellbeing and its close links to education and learning is well-documented. All ages of school children, from preschool students through to seniors preparing for adult life, can have their engagement and success in learning impacted by their wellbeing, or lack of it.
Within the School, Student & Family Program (SSFP), CatholicCare's data has indicated an increase in students accessing counselling services across schools in the Diocese of Wollongong in recent years. There have been changes to how children and young people learn, how teachers teach, and the world our children will grow up in will continue to change.
To respond to contemporary learning requirements, SSFP developed a proactive, preventative program called Kindy Kids Connect, which was first piloted in 2022. The program takes an early intervention approach, aiming to build resilience and a sense of belonging in children transitioning to kindergarten by developing their social-emotional skills.
Kindy Kids Connect has two components; classroom modules for students, and a series of psychoeducational packs for parents and educators to reinforce the learnings from the classroom modules. The modules and packs focus on topics such as building positive relationships, identifying emotions, and help seeking & safety.
Since the initial pilot in 2022, Kindy Kids Connect has rolled out to further schools in the Diocese of Wollongong, as well expanding to other year groups as Keeping Kids Connected.
More information, including psychoeducational flyers, are available to download below.
Educational Opportunities for Parents and Caregivers
Parents and Caregivers may be interested in our Family & Relationship Education which offer a practical 'hands-on' approach to parenting, assisting parents and caregivers to feel more confident and secure about their own parenting skills. These workshops include specialist courses, such as parenting after separation, parenting toddlers, raising resilient kids, making blended families work, plus many more.
If you are interested in these workshops, please see our calendar which can tell you what courses are running near you this term.
Please call CatholicCare on (02) 4227 1122 for more information.