Berry Street Victoria contacted Grampians Community Health Centre (Kristy Price) and LenZone! (Geoff Wake) in 2004 to ask if they would be facilitators for a program called First Steps.

“First Steps is a structured early intervention program. The program is largely interactive and aims to provide young people with an orientation towards the basic skills and knowledge required to effectively care for children.” – Martine Molloy

“First Steps is a structured early intervention program. The program is largely interactive and aims to provide young people with an orientation towards the basic skills and knowledge required to effectively care for children.” – Martine Molloy

Kristy and Geoff travelled to Berry Street in Eltham (Melbourne) over a period of 2 months in late 2004 to receive training for First Steps. The training was facilitated by Berry Street and assessed by Swinburne University.

In July 2005 the program package arrived in Stawell. A group of 10 students from the University of Ballarat Stawell campus were selected to be part of the First Steps program. The program started on Monday 25th July for 2.5hrs once a week over 8 weeks and ended with a celebration on Friday 16th September.

Over the 8 weeks students were able to reflect on their own experiences of being cared for as a child or caring for children aged 0-5 years. All of the stories shared were great and students had a wealth of knowledge to contribute to the program.

The highlight of the program was the Creative Play session that included making Play Dough, dressing up, musical rhymes and creating pictures (using finger painting, cut and paste and glitter). This session was heaps of fun, check out the pictures!!