The year is coming quickly to an end with September almost gone! Grab a cuppa and read through our happenings and information for the month.

Have you looked at the latest uploads to our online training platform?

NEW: Module 8 - Explaining Bipolar Disorder is now available. Ian McKracken, Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist at Allambi Care, and Rhys Common, Psychologist, unpack Bipolar Disorder.

You can have a look at their content by clicking here. 

Module 7 - Foster Care Cultural Training is now available. Barry McGrady and Cassandra McCarthy, Cultural Support Officers, talk about cultural training for our Foster Carers.

You can have a look at their content by clicking here. 

Not sure about the online training and how to access the training platform? If you need help we are happy to walk you through it, visit this link. 

Face-to face ongoing training

When will we be presenting more ongoing training? We have made plans for training with Grahame Williams and Michael Burke in October, but this may have to carry over to next year if the strict COVID19 requirements aren’t removed. 

The Fostering and Permanency team is aware of how hard the last 18months has been on our Foster Carers and how you have shouldered extra responsibilities with homeschooling. Plans have been made with Seher Suhail (BCBA MSc Psych) to run some wellbeing training for Carers. Due to the nature of this training, it will have to be face-to-face so all our fingers are crossed that we can run it this year.

Meet Gabi Browning: Case Worker - Fostering and Permanency

Favourite Food: Sushi

To relax I: like to light a candle, run a bath and watch some Netflix. Usually Grey’s Anatomy or any reality TV show.

Currently listening to: Any true crime podcast! A recent favourite listen was Casefile’s Daniel Morcombe episode.

Best thing about my job: I love being able to have direct communication with the young people I work with, having the opportunity to know their individual personality and helping them to achieve their goals

Covid Anxiety in Young People 

Written by Nekia Stewart - Senior Psychologist - Therapeutic Services, Allambi Care Clinical Team

It is normal for children and young people to feel anxious or worried about COVID. We as adults experience anxiety and worry about COVID and the impact it is having on our lives. Children are very perceptive to changes in routine, changes in the mood of adults and they pick up on conversations being had within families and between the adults in their lives. COVID is everywhere and it is hard to hide from the overwhelming amount of COVID news. 

COVID restrictions bring a lot of challenges for our young people: being disconnected from and missing family and friends, being home schooled or missing out on attending day-care or preschool, missing out on milestone events such as birthdays and family celebrations. It can also raise a mixture of feelings ranging from sadness, loneliness, fear, and anxiety. 

It is important to keep a close eye on young people to watch out for signs they are struggling, particularly with anxiety.  

Some signs of anxiety in young people: 

• A sudden onset of physical symptoms – such as stomach aches or headaches
• Trouble sleeping and/or reports of nightmares in kids that are usually great sleepers
• Separation anxiety when caregivers are leaving the house or when kids need to leave their caregivers
• A change in behaviour and/or mood – this could look like tantrums, moodiness, meltdowns, irritability, being withdrawn
• Seeking excessive and frequent reassurance from caregivers
• Withdrawal from daily activities or fun activities

It is important to talk to kids about COVID. Some tips for having conversations with young people: 

• Pick the right time to talk: often children respond better to natural conversations rather than formal sit down talks as this raises internal alarm bells. Try talking to them in the car, on a walk or when they raise the topic to ask questions. 
• Ensure information is age-appropriate and tailored to their developmental age. It may be helpful to relate COVID to commonly known things – COVID is a virus like the flu – to help their understanding. 
• Encourage them to ask questions.
• Monitor and limit their exposure to information on the news or social media. 
• Provide reassurance and practical steps they can follow that allows them to feel in control of the situation. For example, it’s important we wear a mask, wash our hands, cover our coughs and sneezes, use hand sanitizer. 
• For older children, you can provide appropriate health information, such as the statistics on the growth of vaccination rates.

If your child is struggling, some tips for supporting them include: 

• Acknowledge, identify and validate their feelings rather than downplay them or brush them aside. For example, “You have been feeling really anxious because you are worried Mum might catch the virus and die. That must feel really scary”. 
• Avoid general sweeping statements of reassurance, such as “Everything will be fine”. 
• Get them to write or draw their feelings and worries instead of bottling them up.
• Give them practical steps to follow when they are feeling overwhelmed, this can include letting an adult know, taking a break and doing a fun distracting activity, taking deep breaths.
• Implement a basic daily routine, it may be helpful for young children to visually have this displayed or written out. 
• Build in regular fun activities, these can be marked out on a calendar, giving kids something to look forward to. 
• Use the time to make family memories – movie nights, beach or bushwalks, exploring the local LGA, pillow fights, making a cubby house, arts, and craft activities to decorate bedrooms.  
• Encourage good sleep hygiene – regular bedtime through the week, no electronics before bed, switching off phones, reading a book before bed with a caregiver. 
• Support children to keep in contact with friends and family through video calls, messages and sending letters. 

If you have any concerns with your child, please reach out to those who can support you. This may be your caseworker, GP, your child’s teacher (especially it there are concerns with school or schoolwork) and any health professional supporting your child.

Do you have someone who loves watching sea life? Sydney Aquarium live stream their sea life at:

Live Streams | SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium

Soundwalks

Having trouble getting children to focus or relax? 

Why not try taking them on a Soundwalk at home? Soundwalks help us get closer to nature, travel to faraway places or immerse ourselves in different cultures. They can paint rich, audio landscapes for children to explore, with different guided relaxations. You can use them for working through big feelings and letting go of stress, to finding joy or getting ready for the day. Soundwalks uses the soothing sounds of Australian nature to help kids connect with the present, and themselves.  ABC Kids Listen has a range of Soundwalks that you can play for your children. They describe them as “Let your ears take you on a wonderful journey to different parts of Australia as we explore the sounds of the natural world and discover all the amazing things you can see in your imagination. 

The Soundwalks vary in length from 5 minutes to 8 minutes You can pick what is relevant to your environment at the time. https://www.abc.net.au/kidslisten/soundwalks/archive/ 

Information courtesy of ABC Kids listen.

Looking for a quick treat to whip up with the kids? Nothing comes close to the Mars Bar Slice… unless you’ve tried the slice that “almost broke the internet”

Caramilk rice bubble slice

395g can sweetened condensed milk

100g butter, chopped

2tsp vanilla extract

2 x 180g blocks Caramilk chocolate, chopped

250g caramel-flavoured shortbread biscuits (you can use any plain sweet biscuit)

1 ½ cups rice bubbles

½ cup of coconut

1 ½ tsp vegetable oil

STEP 1: Grease a 20x30cm slice pan. Line the base and 2 long sides with baking paper, allowing the paper to overhang the long sides

STEP 2: Place the condensed milk, butter, vanilla and half the chocolate in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring for 5 minutes or until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

STEP 3: Place the biscuits in a food processor and process until they resemble fine crumbs. Transfer to a large bowl. Stir in the rice bubbles and coconut. Pour in the condensed milk mixture. Stir to combine. Press the mixture over the base of prepared pan. Cover and place in the fridge for 2-3 hours or until set.

STEP 4: Place the oil and remaining chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Stir with a metal spoon until smooth. Pour the chocolate mixture over the biscuit layer and smooth the top. Place in the fridge to set.

STEP 5: Cut into small pieces to serve.

Get Creative

Shake out the creativity these holidays with the FREE ONLINE ART activities available from the Lake Macquarie Art Gallery. 

The Gallery has put together a range of creative online-based activities for people of all ages using simple household items. They have three age ranges to pick from:

ARTSPACE@HOME (Ages 3+). Download activities here. 

MAKERSPACE@HOME (Ages 8+). Download activities here. 

Home Art Activities. Click here to download.

Let your child or young person choose the activity. Download the activity sheet and let them follow the instructions or watch the how-to video. 

My Forever Family Training 

SEP 30 – 10am Webinar: Ask an expert! Dr Jane Aronson

Join this webinar for an hour and talk through the issues you are experiencing with your kids.

OCT 5 – 10am Webinar: Top tips for therapeutic parenting

This webinar explores what developmental trauma is, how it affects behaviour and how therapeutic parenting aids children in care.

OCT 6 – 7.30pm Webinar: Rights of the child while in out-of-home-care

Child Safe Standards are being constantly reviewed and improved. Understanding children’s rights when they are in out-of-home care is a constant process. Get help during this webinar.

OCT 11 – 10.30am Webinar: Eliminate Stress

Self-care for carers using what motivates you to be a Carer. Get help to eliminate less-than-positive thoughts, feelings and experiences influencing your day-to-day care and come together with other carers to create the ultimate positive mindset.

OCT 13 – 10am Webinar: The End Of The World As You Know It!

Assessment is complete, authorisation in hand…. now what? Join MFF as they share hints and tips on how to survive the first 72 hours of a placement

For more information, please contact: http://www.myforeverfamily.org.au/event