Professional Development

Talking to families about healthy growth and development

This free RACGP and APNA accredited webinar is for general practitioners, nurses, and allied health professionals to learn to:

Assess children’s growth and development using growth charts (birth to 5 years).
Develop your skills in working in partnership and communicating effectively with parents and families regarding their child's health.
Identify the ecological factors that impact on a child's growth, with a health promotion focus.

Feeding babies in early childhood education and care services

This webinar will be delivered by a child and family health nurse and accredited practicing dietitian. The webinar will include information on:

Creating a breastfeeding friendly service
Responsive bottle feeding
Safe storage, preparation and handling of expressed breast milk and formula
Introducing solids for infants in their first year of life.

This online workshop is suitable for educators, directors, early childhood teachers and cooks.

Menu planning in Early Childhood Education and Care Services

This guide has been developed to help cooks and directors meet the nutritional requirements of children attending Early
Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services. It was adapted from the Cooks in Childcare book developed by the Health
Promotion Service at Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District.

The guide has information on the Australian Dietary Guidelines, food quantities, information on allergies and safety and using a menu checklist tool.

There are tips, healthy food ideas and a sample menu to help services make it easier to meet children's nutritional requirements.

Training - Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)

This training is for practitioners who are new to PCIT or may have had exposure to the intervention but have not received formal training and are looking to gain certification with PCIT International. Please note the training comprises 2 workshops with supervision requirements. There are 4 steps in the process. Karitane is the only organisation with the registered qualifications to train PCIT therapists in Australia. For more details see here.

Family Partnership - Our Foundation for Family Engagement

The foundations for family engagement at Karitane are underpinned by the principles of the Family Partnership Model – supporting families to be engaged in their case planning and increasing successful outcomes. The Family Partnership Model developed over the last 25 years has become an internationally recognised exemplary evidence-based model of care. The model has been disseminated extensively in the UK, where it was originally developed, as well as globally. It is used by a wide range of health, education, social care, and other services to meet the needs of children and families experiencing a wide range of difficulties. Through the use of this evidence-based approach, we ensure families are included and empowered in the process, contributing to family retention and participation in services. Karitane has a formal international agreement with the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust to deliver Family Partnership training.

Parent Education at your Organisation

Karitane’s Education Department has a professional team of qualified child and family health educators who facilitate sessions on a variety of topics such as sleep and settling techniques, when to start on solids, toddler development and behaviour, adjusting to parenthood and more. To make an enquiry, send an email to KRTNE-conferencecentre@health.nsw.gov.au

Masters of Child and Family Health (Karitane)

A formal collaboration exists between Karitane and Western Sydney University to develop and deliver a highly successful postgraduate nursing course – the masters of child and family Health (Karitane). This is offered as a 2-year part-time course and promotes scholarly, educational and clinical placement activities to ensure the delivery of a high-quality tertiary qualification in child and family health, which provides a practice-ready clinician. For more information see here.

Training our Child and Family Health Workforce of the Future

Karitane has been collaborating with Western Sydney University to develop 2 key initiatives to address the ageing workforce in child and family health. This includes an undergraduate rotation at Karitane whilst in the second year of nursing and the development of a comprehensive program for new graduates in the speciality of CFH. This is the first time in NSW a new graduate program has been offered in this speciality. During this 12-month rotation, new graduates are supported and mentored by certified CFH nurses to gain skills in supporting vulnerable parents and their children as well as completing 2 units from the WSU Graduate Certificate of Child and Family Health.