Children’s Allied Health Service (CAHS) BUSHkids CAHS is our longest standing service and is delivered from our service centres located in Mount Isa, Emerald, Bundaberg, Dalby, and Warwick. BUSHkids CAHS receives partial funding from the Queensland Government (Queensland Health and Department of Education). As BUSHkids is committed to providing services in regional, rural and remote locations, this funding is supplemented through fundraising and donations. Our teams provide much-needed Allied Health services for children up to 13 years of age. Through these services, BUSHkids has supported rural families through fires, droughts, floods and the pandemic, ensuring all children achieve their potential regardless of where they live. The majority of our staff in this service live in the communities in which they work, with services being supplemented by telepractice. Allied Health Assistants at BUSHkids To further build community capacity and a regionally-based workforce, BUSHkids has established Allied Health Assistant (AHA) roles. All BUSHkids Allied Health Assistants are either Level III or IV certified AHAs or are currently studying a bachelor’s degree in a relevant Allied Health field. The AHAs work alongside our own Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) to increase service access for families, and are trained in line with best practice standards and legislative requirements to deliver programs and/or individual sessions that have been approved by a BUSHkids AHP. BUSHkids AHAs can complete delegated tasks independently and are trained in a variety of intervention modalities including telepractice. By having access to skilled AHAs, the AHP can refer specific children to them, thus freeing-up time for them to see children with more complex presentations who fall outside of the Allied Health Assistant clinical scope and training. With the support of FoBk Emerald, the first AHA was successfully piloted there, and the trial was so successful that several other roles have been implemented in other locations across Queensland. Our Emerald AHA started with BUSHkids in September 2020 and worked closely with our Speech Pathologist to learn to support children with speech, language, and social and emotional concerns. Our team has been working to review and formalise task delegations for phonological therapy, articulation therapy, the Read3 literacy program and the Read and Grow program. The delegation model is based upon the Calderdale framework and ensures that when the AHA undertakes work it is within their scope of practice and is supervised by an AHP. This has contributed to reducing the number of children on the waitlist in Emerald. BUSHkids AHAs are now also based in Cherbourg, Caloundra, Bundaberg, Cunnamulla, Maroochydore and Rockhampton, with many currently studying in their respective fields of Psychology, Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology. Workforce of the Future Hosting student placements provides opportunities for our clinicians to grow, develop and give back to the next cohort of practitioners. As a key employer of paediatric therapists across Queensland, BUSHkids values the opportunity to support student learning and contribute to the development of a future workforce equipped to support remote communities. Student placements have resulted in a number of new graduate recruits for 2023, with staff commencing familiar with BUSHkids services and excited to work regionally. Bundaberg Last year, the Family and Community Engagement (FaCE) Program featured in our annual report, introducing this important program supporting children in grades 4 to 6 who have been excluded from school to re-engage them in their learning. Many have experienced multiple adversities and BUSHkids has supported these children by providing the Zones of Regulation Program to help children learn to identify their feelings and emotional reactions. The children have developed their social skills and are working well with their peers, demonstrating significant growth in their emotional development, with one boy (12) verbalising that FaCE has helped when he is feeling sad, angry, or anxious, and that he feels more thoughtful and kinder, and a better person and friend. For another boy (10) who struggled with his emotions, the transformation has been remarkable from his initially having great difficulty participating in the emotional regulation activities. With modified activities creating a safe space for him, he is participating in regular zone ‘check-ins’ and participating in activities with support from an adult. The program and team support has provided a safe space for the children to come to learn, be successful and engage positively and meaningfully with their peers. Schools Plus created a short documentary about the program, featuring some of the students and BUSHkids team members. https://bit.ly/3VSwhcA
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