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Kid Talk receives Gambling Impact funds

An all important and innovative parenting course has been financed through a $6,600 grant made from revenue raised through Latrobe City’s Gambling Impact Fund.

By Latrobe City - 29th April 2002 - Back to News

An all important and innovative parenting course has been financed through a $6,600 grant made from revenue raised through Latrobe City’s Gambling Impact Fund, and presented by the Latrobe City Trust.

At the recent presentation by the trustees, Program Facilitator, Ms Vida Simmons, said that the grant would be enable her to run a twelve-week parenting course at the Traralgon Neighbourhood House, following on from the success of the Kid Talk program held in Morwell last year.

"It’s a program specifically designed for people who are not feeling very confident about being a parent or those who feel isolated. This program will provide much needed support and is designed to their individual needs," Ms Simmons said.

"The program will give a group of adults the opportunity to get together on a weekly basis in a friendly environment just to talk about kids. It aims to foster parent’s self esteem and to have them encourage self esteem in their children. The group will discuss their own parenting and how they parent their children, watch videos, listen to visiting speakers talk about different topics, enjoy some creative activities, have lunch together, and most of all have a good laugh and enjoy sharing their ideas," Ms Simmons explained.

Speaking on behalf of the Trustees, Ian Round said that while the impact of gambling has had an established negative effect on communities throughout Australia, it was some recompense that funds coming from the gambling establishments were now being used to foster positive projects in the community.

"The Trustees are delighted to be able to provide the necessary funds to enable this wonderful program to continue within our community. The wider community can only benefit from a program which will give parents the opportunity to increase their knowledge and awareness of child development and growth, while offering specific skill development in dealing with children’s behaviours," Mr Round said.

In accepting the cheque, Ms Simmons said her philosophy was simple. "If we can be happy and confident parents, our children will be happy and confident too. We just want to promote positive relationships between participants and others by providing a group setting that encourages peer support and skill enhancement without parents feeling as though they are in "group therapy," Ms Simmons said.

The twelve-week program starts at the Traralgon Neighbourhood Learning House, 61 Breed Street Traralgon, on Tuesday 30 April 2002. Each 3-hour session on a Tuesday morning will run from 9.30am to 12.30am, and will include lunch. Anyone interested in participating should contact the Traralgon Neighbourhood Learning House on 5174 6199 to book a place.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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