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Australian Indigenous HealthBulletin
 

Let’s start: parent-child program

 

Overview

The Let's start: parent-child program is a targeted early intervention program to help parents and young children deal with emotional and behavioural challenges. It is a therapeutically oriented group parenting program that focuses on supporting children's social-emotional development during the transition to school. Let's start aims to improve parenting knowledge and skills, parental confidence and mental health, as well as to enhance the quality of parent-child relationships.

The project is based on the Exploring together preschool program and has been modified for the Northern Territory context, specifically the Indigenous communities. It is currently being delivered in remote communities on the Tiwi Islands and in the Victoria-Daly Rivers region. Let's start is the only available parenting program specifically developed for Aboriginal parents and families with evidence for its effectiveness. It has been developed over years of experience in work with Aboriginal children and families, and is responsive to kinship, culture, and Aboriginal family values.

The Let's start project targets children aged 4 - 7 years experiencing emotional and behavioural problems. It runs for 10 weeks during the school term and involves weekly two hour sessions with child and parent. An evaluation of the project found it increased parental confidence and assertiveness, strengthened parent-child relationships, and improved child's behaviour and social skills.

Contacts

Let's start program
Administration
Ph: (08) 8943 5043
Mobile: 0407 604 167 or 0419 976 033
Fax: (08) 8943 5010
Email: letsstart@menzies.edu.au

Gary Robinson
Project Leader
Menzies School of Health Research
Centre for Child Development & Education
PO Box 41096
Casuarina NT 0811
Ph: (08) 8943 5002
Email: Gary.Robinson@menzies.edu.au

Related publications

Mares S, Robinson G (2012)

Culture, context and therapeutic processes: delivering a parent-child intervention in a remote Aboriginal community.

Australasian Psychiatry; 20(2): 102-107

Robinson G, Mares S, Jones Y, Stock C, Hallenstein B, Branchut V (2012)

Let’s start: a program for Territory parents and children.

Darwin: Centre for Child Development and Education, Menzies School of Health Research

Stock C, Mares S, Robinson G (2012)

Telling and re-telling stories: the use of narrative and drawing in a group intervention with parents and children in a remote Aboriginal community.

The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy; 33(2): 157-150

Robinson G, Tyler W (2005)

Ngaripirliga’ajirri: cross-cultural issues in evaluating an Indigenous early intervention program.

Paper presented at the TASA Conference 2005. 6-8 December 2005, Unversity of Tasmania

Littlefield L, Burke S, Trinder M, Woolcock C, Story K, et al (2000)

Exploring together program: implementation and outcomes.

Carlton, Vic: Victorian Parenting Centre

Evaluated publications

Robinson G, Zubrick SR, Silburn S, Tyler W, Jones Y, D’Aprano A, McGuinness K, Cubillo C, Bell M, Stock C (2009)

Let’s Start: Exploring Together: an early intervention program for Northern Territory children and families: final evaluation report.

Darwin: School for Social and Policy Research, Institute of Advanced Studies, Charles Darwin University

Links

 
Last updated: 29 November 2012
 
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