Helping our staff to help children 

And it was thanks to Australia Post, who provided funding.

Australia Post’s People of Post Grant Program helped fund the two-day Youth Mental Health First Aid course, which was delivered by The Gordon TAFE. Cottage was nominated for the grant by a local Australia Post employee who supports our work.

Mental health awareness has never been more important to Cottage as children across all of our programs present with more complex social and mental health issues.

Training for our program staff is a priority to ensure they are well-resourced to be able to support the children. In addition to training in youth mental health first aid, many of our Programs Team staff have also completed trauma-informed therapy training.

“Our team join Cottage with a variety of relevant experiences including teaching, outdoor education and youth work. The training was a great opportunity to take time together to learn and update our skills and youth mental health is so important. We feel well equipped to recognise early warnings signs of mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression and trauma,” says Cottage Program Co-ordinator Sean Dunne.

Full-time, part-time and casual Program Staff were involved in the recent training. It helped prepare them to support others, not just at Cottage, but in the community too.