KARI is excited to announce its recent partnership with HSBC Australia. The partnership will deliver much-needed funding for KARI’s Multidisciplinary Community Playgroup.
The waiting lists for services such as Occupational Therapy, Psychology and Speech Pathology are at an unacceptably high rate of up to 12 months within the local health system. It is paramount that these critical gaps are addressed in children 0-5 years of age to prevent no long-term negative impacts and learning delays.
The KARI Multidisciplinary Playgroup was created to address this issue, and provide immediate access and positive health outcomes for the Aboriginal community.
The playgroup is free of charge, and runs once a week for up to 25 children 0-5 years old. Annually, the program works with up to 100 children. KARI provides a pick up and drop off service for families to ensure accessibility is not a barrier to their children’s health and well-being. The playgroup is set up as a ‘soft entry’ into the health services, and allows the children to be assessed by clinicians in a non-clinical setting during group play. Families are then able to engage in individual therapy sessions after the commencement of the free playtime.
Our therapists work with families and local community health centres to appropriately transition them to their local service in a culturally appropriate way. When they are accepted into a service our clinicians continue to work with families to ensure they are engaged in the service and their needs being properly met.
The playgroup runs 38 weeks per year and generally each school term, the group sees a new cohort of families. However, if clinicians advise that a child would benefit from further therapy, we welcome returning families to ensure they have the best outcome possible for their children.
Early intervention initiatives such as the KARI Playgroup have huge social benefits. It has been proven that early intervention in children aged 0-5 facilitates a smoother transition to happier, healthier and educated young people. This means they will be more successful, more employable, and reduce stress on social welfare and the public health system.
Globally, HSBC is committed to investing in the communities in which it operates, with a focus on education, environment and health. Their partnership and support of the KARI Multidisciplinary Community Playgroup demonstrates their commitment to join us in providing innovative new programs to address the gaps in health outcomes within the Aboriginal community.
