BCHS launches its first community health survey
Help Bendigo Community Health Services (BCHS) help you by taking part in our first community health survey focusing on healthy eating, active living and a reduction in smoking and vape use.
With smoking being the largest preventable death in Australia and a large percentage of Bendigo residents struggling to meet the recommended daily intake of vegetables and physical activity, Facilitator and Health Promotion Officer Christine Steele says the survey is a chance to share lived experiences and help improve BCHS health promotion programs and services.
“We are excited to launch our first community health survey. As a community health organisation we strive to gain a deeper understanding of the local health needs of all Bendigo residents, and respond by creating and delivering health promotion programs and services that meet the needs of everyone.
First Nations artwork to cement a healthy connection between headspace Bendigo and Catherine McAuley College
Artist Josie Gower received some welcome inspiration while contemplating her latest mural design. As she sat by the river on Country, thinking about the task ahead, a platypus emerged from the water before her.
“For me, this was my Ancestors giving me inspiration and guiding me through this process,” Josie said.
Josie’s mural was unveiled at Catherine McAuley College’s Barkly Street campus during NAIDOC Week.
The Palawa Trawlwoolway woman was enlisted to create the work by headspace Bendigo, which is a proud supporter of First Nations young people.
The Parent Group Program
The Loddon Children’s Health & Wellbeing Local’s Parent Group Program offers parents and carers of children aged 0-11 the chance to meet with other parents and mental health staff about mental wellbeing and parenting challenges.
The program offers:
- One-on-one consultations with a social worker
- Parent group information sessions
- School holiday parent and child sessions
- Longer parenting programs
All programs are facilitated by Social Worker Annette Clemments.
Who we support
Our programs and sessions are open to all families with children aged 0-11 who live in the Loddon region, which covers:
- City of Greater Bendigo
- Campaspe Shire
- Central Goldfields Shire
- Loddon Shire
- Macedon Ranges Shire
- Mount Alexander Shire
Parent information sessions
We support parents and carers with one-off information sessions, both online and in-person, which cover a range of topics, including:
- What is autism and how can I help?
- What is ADHD and how can I help?
- Sleep issues
- Anxiety in kids
- All about Anger
- Managing Big Feelings
- Supporting self esteem
- Building social skills
- Parent Mental Health
- Sensory issues
- Stop the tech
The current program is running each Thursday, online at 10am and in-person at 1pm, at 19 Helm Street, Kangaroo Flat,
Dates are July 25 & August 1, 8, 15, 22 & 29. Session topics, details and bookings here.
School holiday parent and child education sessions
We run individual sessions for parents to attend alongside their children. These include sessions titled:
- Magnificent me
- All about Anger
- Managing Feelings
- Anxiety busting
- Resilient children
- Building social skills
The sessions aim to equip children and families with the skills to support emotional wellbeing.
These hour-long sessions are open to all families in the Loddon region.
Longer parenting programs
Our longer programs give parents a chance to get to know other families, plus gain a deeper understanding of how to support children’s mental health and development. Programs include:
- Bringing Up Great Kids
- Tuning into Kids
- Circle of Security
Childcare is available for siblings on request.
For more information call 1800 433 977 or email icfhwlocals@bchs.com.au
The Children’s Health and Wellbeing Local is jointly funded by the Victorian Government and the Australian Government through the Head to Health Kids Initiative.
Celebrating 50 years of care for community
In 1974 in Australia, Cyclone Tracey devastated Darwin, the 40,000-year-old Mungo Man was discovered in NSW, and the Gough Whitlam government was re-elected. The later was instrumental in another milestone; the beginning of 50 years of community health in Bendigo.
July 1, 2024 marks half a century since the then-Eaglehawk and Long Gully Community Health Centre opened in Bright Street. It was the result of a sustained campaign to improve the health of people in the historic goldfields suburbs.
Today is also the first Monday of Paula May’s retirement from the service. Paula (pictured here cutting the 50th cake with board chair Melanie Eddy) began working in the Family Services team in 1979, just five years after it all began.
BCHS calls on workplaces to offer a flu vaccination to staff
Is your workplace short on staff due to winter illnesses? Influenza cases have risen by 28 per cent in Victoria over the past few weeks.
Community Health Nurse Heather Hinton said low vaccination rates have been identified as one of the main causes for the high numbers.
Heather and fellow nurses Kate Bradshaw and Boska Wyatt have so far administered almost 3000 flu vaccinations, but said it’s not too late for locals to arm up.
Bendigo Community Health Services’ Workplace Health and Wellbeing Program visits workplaces across the City of Greater Bendigo, Mount Alexander, Campaspe and Loddon shires to administer vaccinations.
Strengthening the resilience and emotional wellbeing of children and families these winter school holidays
The Loddon Children’s Health & Wellbeing Local is a free service to support the healthy development and emotional wellbeing of children and their families.
Bendigo Community Health Service and its partner organisations are currently building a team to provide children aged up to 11 and their families in the Loddon region with free access to a range of health services.
While the service is not yet open for external or self-referrals, it is offering a range of group education sessions open to all parents with children from 0-11 years of age.
These school holidays, mental health staff from the Loddon Children’s Health & Wellbeing Local and the Catholic Care parenting program are co-presenting a series of fun, educational and supportive sessions covering feelings, social skills, strengths and resilience.
Refugee Week event to celebrate finding freedom in Bendigo
Bendigo Community Health Services is acknowledging the journey of people of refugee backgrounds, including Bendigo’s Zoo Zer, at a Refugee Week event this month.
Zoo Zer is Karen, which is a persecuted ethnic group from Myanmar. Her family had fled the dangers of their home country and were placed in a Thai refugee camp. Zoo Zer was born in the camp, where she lived for 26 years before coming to Australia on a Humanitarian Visa.
Here, she became a valued Bendigo Community Health Services client. This included taking part in our Orientation Program, which helps equip new arrivals with the support, knowledge and resources needed to start a new life.
For Zoo Zer, the arrival in Bendigo on September 8, 2022, meant three things: freedom, food and a future.
“In the camp we are trapped behind the fence, and there are guards at the gates,” she said. “You can’t see outside to the world.”
BCHS seeks passionate and experienced leaders to fulfil new organisational structure
Bendigo Community Health Services is set to strengthen its impact on the health and wellbeing of the city with a new organisational structure.
CEO Mandy Hutchinson has led a months-long consultation with BCHS’ 280-plus staff to determine the new framework, which will position the health service to meet future challenges, and support a new strategic plan.
“We’re now looking for some talented new leaders to help fulfil our vision,” Mandy said.
“This week we began our campaign to find a number of high-level leaders to join us in our purpose to support Bendigo people to live healthier lives.
Supporting the important first year of life for little locals
Bendigo Community Health Services is opening up its popular INFANT Program to all parents and carers of babies in Bendigo. The program supports healthy eating, active play and a great start to life for the city’s newest residents.
BCHS has delivered a pilot INFANT Program since 2022. The evidence-based program brings parents and carers together at the three, six, nine and 12-month marks of their little one’s first year of life.
Facilitator and Health Promotion Officer Christine Steele said the four sessions were a fun, social and informal way to learn about a host of topics essential for child health.
Twenty years of round-the-clock detox care ticks over at Nova House
AOD nurse Drew Reid says it’s the courage of Nova House’s clients that’s kept him working with the detox unit over its 20-year history. Here, Drew, unit Senior Leader Sheenah Van Eck and Bendigo mother Gillian Burns help tell the story of an essential service to Bendigo, and the impact it’s had on the lives of local people.
In marking the success and progress of 20 years of residential detox service Nova House, we must first acknowledge the pain of what came before.
Bendigo Community Health Services’ drug and alcohol detox unit Nova House opened in 2004, following a sustained campaign by a group of local parents and grandparents who went by the name Bendigo Grassroots Drug and Alcohol Action Group. Gillian Burns (above) was their spokesperson.
Gillian’s 26-year-old son Rodney had died from a heroin overdose in 2000. She later learnt within a ten-day period of Rodney’s death, seven Bendigo people had lost their lives to the opiate.
