The Tasmanian Community Fund (TCF) and Fostering Hope will launch a free, online trauma awareness community training resource on Wednesday 19 June at Youth ARC in Hobart.

Fostering Hope Executive Officer Mary Blake said the Tasmanian community was full of wonderful volunteers making a difference in children and young people’s lives by giving their time to coach sporting teams, lead music groups, scout groups, camps and so much more.

“This resource will better help them support children to find belonging, interact with safe adults and peers, gain confidence and new skills,” she said.

“We have a lot of children and young people interacting with those programs from all different backgrounds, so we want to offer a free resource to all those volunteers who are out there giving their time to the community to have a greater understanding of how young people are connecting with their programs and be able to fill that role with compassion and care.”

“We know children and young people who come from unsafe beginnings may present in these programs with behaviours that are challenging and hard to understand.

“However, being able to engage in extracurricular activities and be around safe adults can play a huge part in their healing and developing life skills, self-esteem and increased self-worth.”

With the support of the Tasmanian Community Fund, Fostering Hope put together this free resource for everyone working or volunteering at a grassroot level with children and young people.

The videos will encourage them in the role they are already playing, increase their understanding and give them skills to enable more children and young people to be able to participate.

“The TCF is proud to support such an important resource that can be made available for free,” TCF Chairperson Sally Darke said.

“This training resource will lead to children’s trauma to be better understood and supported, leading to more positive opportunities for children, including in their education and learning.”

The videos will be launched by the Tasmanian Commissioner for Children and Young People Leanne McLean, Anglican Bishop of Tasmania Richard Condie, and Kennerley Children’s Home Chief Executive Officer Cedric Manen.

The videos are an hour total and presented by Mary Blake from Fostering Hope and Dr Suse Chequer from Shine Through Psychology.

With Ms Blake’s lived experience and Dr Chequer’s clinical experience working with children and young people, the videos are accessible and easy to understand.

This resource will increase understanding about the impacts of unsafe beginnings amongst the community so all children and young people can participate.

It will also assist organisations understanding of the 2024 Child and Youth Safe Organisations legislation and standards.

For more information and to access the training videos visit: https://fosteringhope.thinkific.com/courses/trauma-awareness-training