I worked as Coordinator of the Parks Children’s House from Dec January 2004-April 2007.
Parks Children’s House is a collaborative service, comprising agencies and services from the health and education sector, together providing support and programmes for early child development and parenting. Our key outcome areas include supporting community participation and increasing responsiveness to our communities.
The local Parks community has embraced opportunities to be involved with the House, beginning from the early development phase of our service when parents and carers formed a committee to help design the children’s outdoor play areas.
This group of parents paved the way to growing community participation and decision making within the House, becoming the self-titled Children’s House Creative Network. They have met weekly since mid-2005 to co-plan and develop a number of grant-funded community arts projects, and be a voice for development of the Children’s House physical spaces.
The most recent of these projects has been the mosaic stepping stones with artist Bridgette Minuzzo, as part of the collaborative local walking trail project. Leading up to and throughout this project, it has been both heart warming and satisfying to see the growth and development of the individuals participating, as well as their creative abilities. This project, and those before it, were important because they connected families in the area, which reduced isolation and increased their ability to access social support and resources, and connect with a broader range of services in their local area. With support from Karen as facilitator, parents participated in planning and development of the projects, and learnt fantastic skills such as how to participate in and lead meetings, prioritise and manage their time, team build, negotiate and make decisions. All of these skills are transferable to their everyday life, and by developing these skills, parents’ self-esteem and confidence grew.
The development of their unrestricted creativity also shone through. Although many of these people experience chaotic and challenging lives, they consistently arrived week after week, to engage in the enjoyable, relaxing experience of developing artwork. Confidence in their artistic abilities also grew over time as they became bolder with their designs, and clearer about the direction they wanted their artwork to take. They produced some striking, commendable artwork of a high standard, and we often receive comments from those who have joined the Children’s House in more recent times, who can’t believe the art was created by mums and dads just like themselves!
Even more pleasing, a number of the Creative Network parents linked in to a peer support training course offered by the Parks Children’s House during late 2006, and many have since gone on to seek employment and/or further training.
Hayley Quist
Parks Children’s House
Parks Children’s House is a collaborative service, comprising agencies and services from the health and education sector, together providing support and programmes for early child development and parenting. Our key outcome areas include supporting community participation and increasing responsiveness to our communities.
The local Parks community has embraced opportunities to be involved with the House, beginning from the early development phase of our service when parents and carers formed a committee to help design the children’s outdoor play areas.
This group of parents paved the way to growing community participation and decision making within the House, becoming the self-titled Children’s House Creative Network. They have met weekly since mid-2005 to co-plan and develop a number of grant-funded community arts projects, and be a voice for development of the Children’s House physical spaces.
The most recent of these projects has been the mosaic stepping stones with artist Bridgette Minuzzo, as part of the collaborative local walking trail project. Leading up to and throughout this project, it has been both heart warming and satisfying to see the growth and development of the individuals participating, as well as their creative abilities. This project, and those before it, were important because they connected families in the area, which reduced isolation and increased their ability to access social support and resources, and connect with a broader range of services in their local area. With support from Karen as facilitator, parents participated in planning and development of the projects, and learnt fantastic skills such as how to participate in and lead meetings, prioritise and manage their time, team build, negotiate and make decisions. All of these skills are transferable to their everyday life, and by developing these skills, parents’ self-esteem and confidence grew.
The development of their unrestricted creativity also shone through. Although many of these people experience chaotic and challenging lives, they consistently arrived week after week, to engage in the enjoyable, relaxing experience of developing artwork. Confidence in their artistic abilities also grew over time as they became bolder with their designs, and clearer about the direction they wanted their artwork to take. They produced some striking, commendable artwork of a high standard, and we often receive comments from those who have joined the Children’s House in more recent times, who can’t believe the art was created by mums and dads just like themselves!
Even more pleasing, a number of the Creative Network parents linked in to a peer support training course offered by the Parks Children’s House during late 2006, and many have since gone on to seek employment and/or further training.
Hayley Quist
Parks Children’s House
1 comment:
thanks Hayley. it was a pleasure to work with you and all those associated with the Parks Childrens House. hope you all continue to make beautiful art together in the future...
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