Camp Djanaba

Wombats were promised and on script, there they were, munching the lush grass at Camp Djanaba; wildlife spotting being one of the added benefits of undertaking a travel fellowship in Australia.

Carers NSW Young Carers Pogram has a problem and the problem is the vast locality that they cover. 52 young carers between the ages of 8 and 12 were transported to camp by every means available including several travelling to Sydney by air and then joining the coaches for the three hour road trip to the camp. To make the journey worth while the camp is run for four days giving plenty of time to recover from the first night tiredness experienced by some of the children (and adults!).

Not a wombat

As with Camp Kookaburra, this camp run by Carers NSW is primarily a fun break for the young carers with the addition of some morning ‘chat groups’. Children are split into groups of around ten members with the support of three or four volunteer adult leaders. Each group is allocated a chat group facilitator whose role it is to lead the group through a series of exercises covering issues related to being a young carer e.g. your family, which family member needs to be cared for and how does that impact on you, identifying your strengths etc. The purpose of these groups is to enable the young carers to feel less isolated and to develop a group identity. Witnessing some of the children making connections with others in the group or developing an understanding of issues that have caused them confusion or understanding for the first time that they have real strengths is always moving.

Camp Djanaba was similar in structure to Camp Kookaburra in that support mechanisms for young carers and adult volunteers was an integral part of the service model. Camp facilitators met together each day for reflection and de-briefing and to pass on concerns raised about any of the young carers to the Carers NSW team.

As you would expect the camp was packed with fun activities from archery to billy cart racing via raft building, swimming, film nights and games; a great way to round off my month in Australia.

NSW COPMI Framework

A busy day in Manly

It’s been the long holiday weekend here and so I’ve had the time to do a bit of sightseeing which has included a trip up to the beautiful Blue Mountains and another over to Manly on the ferry. It’s also been a welcome opportunity to catch up on a bit of background reading and to bring all my notes up to date.

The Blue Mountains

Today’s meetings have taken me out of the city again to meet two key people driving the COPMI agenda here in NSW.  Firstly I set off to meet Dr Adrian Falkov, a child & adolescent psychiatrist who has played an integral part in the development of policy, training and practice relating to COPMI families in both Australia and the UK and then off to meet Noha Sutton, the COPMI/Parenting Program Manager at the policy department, MH-Kids who is responsible for ensuring the implementation of the newly published NSW COPMI Framework.

Both meetings proved to be a great opportunity to gain a better overall picture of the NSW COPMI programme including policy as well as practice and to discuss the many issues that have come to mind throughout my trip e.g. how has the COPMI programme impacted on the identification of young carers and why is Crossing Bridges targeted primarily at adult mental health workers rather than the broader workforce as in the UK etc.



Kangaroos in the Blue Mountains



Just a brief post today I’m afraid as tomorrow I need to set off early to join the bus taking young carers on the three hour trip south to Camp Djanaba, a camp run by Young Carers NSW. I have been promised a sighting of a wombat at camp – how exciting. There will be no internet connection now, possibly until I return to the UK, but I will post an update when I can.

View of Manly from Shelly Bay