On this week's Military Life *PARENTS EDITION* podcast episode, I check in with the University of New England’s Dr Marg Rogers to find out how the Children’s Family Resilience Programs have been going.
The programs and related resources were developed following Dr Rogers’ PhD studies and research that found there was a huge gap in the understanding and support of 2- 8-year-old defence kids.
Marg and I also talk about;
-Why giving 2- 8-year-old defence kids a voice was important.
-The lack of age and culturally-appropriate resources for defence kids.
-Figuring out why support and resources were only available for school-age defence kids.
-The importance of supporting defence kids to build a sense of belonging in their formative years.
-Focusing on deployment, separation, the impact and how to best support 2-8-year-olds.
-Launching the pilot program and developing co-designed research-backed resources.
-Listening to feedback from defence parents and kids so the programs & resources were on point.
-Why it was important defence parents, and kids helped shape the final products.
-The 12 downloadable research-based story books (8 interactive) and related resources.
-Staying focused on the overall goal, which is for defence kids to be well.
-Being recognised and named the 2022 joint award winner for the Council of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences ‘Distinctive Work’.
-Acknowledging the team effort with specialist consultants, a web team, Steering Committee, program authors, contributors and those with lived experience involved.
-Why military support organisations in Canada are now looking to adapt the programs & resources for Canadian military educators, parents and kids.
-What next and the need for more resources around the topics of relocation, moral injury and for veteran families who have transitioned out of the ADF.
To listen to the previous episode with Dr Roger’s where we discuss her research in-depth, search for ep68 of the Military Life Podcast.
Please note that since recording this episode, the EC Defence Programs has changed its name to the Children’s Family Resilience Programs.
To access the research findings, FREE books, resources, and programs, visit https://ecdefenceprograms.com/
Ready to join the Military Life and the Military Parents community? Click through the links to get connected xx
www.militarylife.com.au
www.militaryparents.com.au
