Accolades for being Safe from the Start
Julie Collins MP, presented the NAPCAN award to Nell Kuilenburg, supported by Teresa Scott NAPCAN Board President.
The Salvation Army’s Safe from the Start project has won the Tasmanian state NAPCAN award (National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect) for an outstanding prevention initiative at the recent 2013 Play your Part awards.
These awards recognise individuals, communities and organisations that have played their part in creating safer communities for children and young people.
Safe from the Start is an early-intervention, evidence-based project that aims to raise awareness of the effects on children aged from birth to five years who witness family violence and abuse. The program also offers resources and training to those working with children and their families to assist with healing and recovery for children.
In Australia more than 1,000 workers have attended training and more than 750 resource kits have been distributed throughout Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
Training took place in New Zealand last year and Major Pam Waugh is now The Salvation Army national trainer for the New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga Territory.
Last month, staff and volunteers from the Southampton Sholing Corps in the United Kingdom with the Republic of Ireland Territory also received training in the program.
Safe from the Start project was initiated and designed in Tasmania in 2008, and has won a number of Australian awards including the top Australian National Crime & Violence Prevention Award in 2011.
Developed in partnership with the University of Tasmania and Swinburne University (Victoria), the project is specifically designed to respond to young children using innovative resources in activity-based play.
“I have been so encouraged and touched by the amazing support of all Salvation Army centres in every place we have been to,” says Nell Kuilenburg, Development Manager for The Salvation Army in Tasmania. It was her passion for social justice, background in domestic violence, and experience working with children in women’s refuges, that formed the catalyst for the project.
“It’s a great testament that the Australia Eastern and Southern territories work really well together.
“It’s very exciting. God is using us to make a difference in the lives of children and we are promoting The Salvation Army out there in a powerful way.”
Comments
No comments yet - be the first.