Off to Milson's Point

COPMI trip to Luna Park

The view from Bradfield Park

 

Bradfield Park Wellbeing Centre is in a great locality with views through the arches of Sydney Harbour Bridge to The Opera House and the city. It is also the venue for a holiday programme for children who have a parent with a mental illness who is being supported by mental health services. The programme is run by the COPMI Mental Health Prevention Worker from CAMHS, who with another hat on is also the FAMI (Families Affected by Mental Illness) & Young Carers Project Officer for Northern Sydney Carer Support Service. Well, the two roles do go pretty well together.

The COPMI art class

Having crossed the Harbour Bridge by train (another real treat) I have spent the last two days helping out at the group and getting to know the staff, activity facilitators and of course the most important people, the children. It’s been a great opportunity to both chat more informally with The COPMI workers and to share resources and ideas. We have had some really interesting discussions covering all sorts of issues such as the need for long term support for many of these children in order to prevent inter-generational problems, prescribed vs. more fluid programmes of support and whether identifying ‘COPMI’ children has an impact on recognizing children and young people as young carers; all big subjects that need to be considered when planning and developing services.

.... and just to end today's post, sadly I do not have a photo of the horribly large cocroach that made its presence known to me today but here are a couple of images to remind you of how close you are to nature in Australia.







On the beach



Shark net