Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future
Parents
What’s the project about?
Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future (HPNF) is an Aboriginal-led research project promoting healthy Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities in the Latrobe Valley region.
HPNF aims to show how we can provide the best support during pregnancy until bub is two years old for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents who have experienced trauma.
How does it work?
We know that trauma symptoms can be triggered during pregnancy and birth for parents who have had difficulties and trauma in their own lives. These symptoms can make parenting hard and lead to intergenerational trauma.
We also know that pregnancy and the birth of a child can be healing.
Pregnancy is an opportunity for healing.
The love of a baby, the big life change, regular visits with healthcare professionals, and increased access to supports, have the potential to break cycles of trauma and build strong and healthy families.
Are you an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander parent living in the Latrobe Valley region?
We’d like to hear what you think. If you have a child under the age of two years old who was born in the Latrobe Valley, we’d love to talk to you about your experiences and the care you received during your pregnancy and birth.
You can join our yarn with a group of parents to share your experiences with the option to create an art work to express your birth journey. If you’d prefer you can choose to talk with the project team one-on-one, or with a friend or family member instead. The yarning group session will have Aboriginal facilitators and will run for approximately 2 hours in a comfortable venue in the Latrobe Valley. Food, cuppas and childcare will be available, and we can organise transport if required. All parents will receive a voucher to thank you for your time .
Calling all Deadly Dads!
We know that having a baby can be a really challenging time for parents, dads might feel overwhelmed or want more information about how to best support their partner and new baby. We are having a yarning circle with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dads to learn from your experiences and create some resources to give to new dads to help support them when baby arrives. You can help us understand what resources Dads want and need .
Who’s doing the research?
The HPNF project is being conducted by the Indigenous Health Equity Unit at eth University of Melbourne, in partnership with VACCA, Latrobe Regional Hospital and Latrobe City Council.
The project team can be contact at hpnf-project@unimelb.edu.au