Northern NEWPIN "Courage to Change Together"
Northern NEWPIN is a befriending and therapeutic network providing support for parents and young children. Northern NEWPIN is a service of the Northern Suburbs Community Centre and is based at the Neighbourhood House at Dover Street, Mowbray. Ph 63263948/63266776 Fax 63267310
NEWPIN (New Parent and Infant Network) originated in the United Kingdom in 1982 as a national voluntary organisation. The organisation was created in response to the needs of new mothers experiencing issues such as isolation, mental illness, family violence, social disadvantage, low self-esteem and those at risk of physically or emotionally abusing their children. Today there are 18 NEWPIN Centres in the UK.
The primary advantage of the NEWPIN program is the fact that it is founded on strengths based practice. This means that trained staff work collaboratively with members to identify their individual strengths and assist them to use these strengths to bring about positive changes in their lives. The program itself is underpinned by four key values that guide all interactions between participants:
- Support
- Equality
- Empathy
- Respect
UnitingCare Burnside purchased the Australian licence for NEWPIN and opened the first Australian NEWPIN centre focusing on the needs of parents or carers with kids under the age of five years, at Bidwill in western Sydney in 1998.
Northern Suburbs Community Centre were successful in obtaining three year funding to run the program in the Northern Suburbs of Launceston through the Tasmanian Community Fund. This franchise is fully supported with the expertise of UnitingCare Burnside.
This first Tasmanian NEWPIN Centre opened in October 2004 at Dover Street, Mowbray, and already has a strong and growing membership .
If you are the parent of a child under five; live in the Northern Suburbs of Launceston; are feeling lonely and in need of support; and want to make changes in your life, I encourage you to call the NEWPIN Co-ordinator on 63263948 to discuss whether NEWPIN is for you.
If you're in a position to assist the service through cash or in kind donations of goods or professional services please contact NEWPIN on the numbers listed above.
I'm an honorary member of the Northern NEWPIN Steering Committee. For a more independent assessment & perspective (including feedback from the Mums themselves) please feel free to visit:
The Ravenswood and District Community Portal article Meet the Mums at NEWPIN which orininally appeared in the August 2005 edition of the Ravenswood and District Community News.
Women Tasmania's article on NEWPIN's category win in the Women and Safety in the Community Awards 2005.http://www.women.tas.gov.au/news/wscawards.html
Tasmanian Community Fund http://www.tascomfund.org/newpin.html
National NEWPIN (UK) http://www.newpin.org.uk/
UK Childcare Practices website http://www.ukchildcare.ca/practices/astart2.shtml
posted by Alan Melton @ 12:29 pm
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