Orana Early Support
The Orana Early Support Project provides support to families with young children who have little external support and need assistance. The program is a successful volunteer based in-home service that provides support and help to families with children aged 0-3 years. The project specifically targets multiple birth families, mothers who are isolated, experiencing postnatal depression and/or anxiety, wives with partners in the army, families experiencing financial/relationship issues.
Program volunteers provide respite, practical support and help families to develop skills and confidence to effectively manage their own lives and to link into social supports, as well as other community resources. To ensure all obstacles to a strong and nurturing family environment are addressed, during the initial visit with the family the coordinator will work with parents to identify areas where they feel they need additional help. This allows the program to be tailored specifically to the needs of the mother/family. Volunteers are matched with their family for one day a week, between 2 – 4 hours on that day. They provide much needed mentoring and peer support to the parents, as well as any specific needs the family may have.
Families must live in the Sutherland Shire and have at least one child under the age of 3 to be eligible for our service. We do not take on referrals where there is acute and unsupported mental health issues, drug and alcohol related issues and domestic violence – as the support provided to the family is via our trained volunteers. The service does not provide babysitting or extensive household cleaning.
In addition to the volunteer service, Orana offers In Home Counselling which provides 6 free counselling sessions to mums with young children who have little external support and need assistance. No GP referral is needed. Self referral can be done through our website: https://oranansw.org.au/services/early-support/ Or email us: [email protected]