- Safe from the Start
Project title: Safe from the Start
Organisation: The Salvation Army
Amount funded: $25,000
The Salvation Army’s Safe from the Start project is an innovative state-wide training program introducing a new resource kit to address the needs of children aged zero to five who have witnessed and have been affected by domestic violence.
This program has been enormously successful, with resource kits being accessed from all states in Australia and one kit now being used in the United States of America.
The Salvation Army posted the resource kit on the National Investment for the Early Years (NIFTeY) website and have now sold 90 kits Australia wide.
The Salvation Army developed the Safe from the Start kits after observing children, who at first sight appeared well-behaved and quiet, were in fact traumatised. The kits are designed to help children who have been traumatised by domestic violence express their experiences.
The Kits include a range of therapeutic resources such as special topic books, stickers, activity cards, work book, a puppet and a CD. Parents can express and explain their experiences by interacting with their children and the kit.
The response to the kits from the child protection and early years’ sectors has been amazing. Training has been provided to over 400 child protection workers, teachers, psychologists, counsellors and police officers at 22 locations around the State in areas such as Geeveston, Queenstown, Zeehan, Scottsdale, St Marys, New Norfolk, George Town, Bridgewater, as well as Launceston, Hobart, Devonport and Burnie.
The Safe from the Start kit has not been copyrighted by the Salvation Army as the aim is to help as many children as possible who have been traumatised.
Safe from the Start kit training has also been requested for child care students at Tasmanian Polytechnics, the Tasmanian Police Academy and Child Protection services.
The Salvation Army has praised Dr Angela Spinney, now working at the University of Tasmania and Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, for developing the kit.
The research element of this project was funded by the Australian Government’s Department for Family, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs through the Office for Women.
For further information about the Safe from the Start project, please contact Nell Kuilenburg at Nell.Kuilenburg@aus.salvationarmy.org.
