Registrations for this event have now closed. Please contact us for more information.
Course overview
This two-day short course presents the overall objectives of First 1000 Days Australia, an initiative that aims to provide a place-based, coordinated, comprehensive intervention addressing the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from pre-conception to two years of age, thereby laying the foundation for their future health and wellbeing. Through a mix of presentations, group work and case studies, the course will explore how the First 1000 Days Australia model can be established and implemented across different Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities Australia wide.
Course details
Day 1
Provides background information on the international context for First 1000 Days and a comprehensive understanding of the Australian model’s novel approach.
Day 2
Presents an overview of the Australian evidence base for the First 1000 Days Australia work and explains the process of establishing the initiative in regions, organisations and institutions. The application of interventions, data and evidence considerations, and key deliverables for this process will also be explored, as will opportunities and challenges to this type of approach.
Course outcomes
This course will provide participants with an understanding of:
What First 1000 Days Australia is, its governance structure, implementation processes and research aims.
Methods of data collection, analysis and translation that will improve service engagement and responses to the aspirations of Indigenous peoples.
How Indigenous health and wellbeing is currently framed within their organisation and how it can be reframed into a holistic Indigenous-led, strengths-based approach to housing, education, health, entrepreneurship, relationships and parenting.
How their organisation can play an active role and become involved with First 1000 Days Australia.
Course participants
The Short Course is aimed at people working in health and early childhood education services, community services and agencies, and those in government and in the not-for-profit and private sectors who work with, and make decisions about investments with, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Course presenters
Professor Kerry Arabena
From a Torres Strait Islander and Celtic heritage, Kerry has led the development of the First 1000 Days Australia initiative in Australia and with Indigenous peoples in Indonesia and Norway. She is a Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne and Managing Director of several Indigenous businesses in Victoria. With a Social Work degree and a Doctorate in Environmental Science, Kerry has an extensive background in public health, administration, community development and research. She has been Chief Investigator on First 1000 Days Australia research and is the Managing Director of First 1000 Days Australia.
There will also be presentations by:
Kids’ Own Publishing, which celebrates children as authors and artists by giving them a voice through publishing and by partnering with communities to share their diverse stories.
Peer Researchers who worked on First 1000 Days Australia initiatives in both Victoria and Queensland’s Moreton Bay.
Other presenters will be announced closer to course commencement.