Kinship Carers Victoria podcast series

What is neurodiversity? This is a term describing the idea that people experience and interact with the world in many varied ways but there is no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning, or behaving, with these differences not viewed as deficits.

Nikki Valentini, Clinical Nutritionist, functional medicine practitioner, and director of SuperNature Nutrition, joined Kinship Carers Victoria again to speak in depth about the effect of di...

In this podcast we speak with Victoria’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, Liana Buchanan, about the Commission’s ‘Let Us Learn’ inquiry report, tabled in the Victorian parliament in November 2023.

The report shows that the education engagement and outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care trail significantly behind those of their peers.

Liana explains why the Commission conducted the report and outlines ...

Throughout our lives, grief is an unavoidable and essential part of what it is to be human. When individuals and families experience a loss, every member of the family can feel and process their grief in different ways. Grandparents, parents or carers face the difficulty of managing their caring role while knowing how to help children understand their grief – all whilst also trying to accept and deal with their own feelings.

In thi...

Access or contact visits are where children in kinship care can spend time and engage with members of their biological or extended family. The visits can be formal or informal, and sometimes they are supervised by a professional, such as a child protection worker or agency worker, or even by the kinship carer themselves.

In this podcast, we spoke with Adam Lyons, Managing Director of Lancaster Consulting, who addressed some of the ...

What does the latest research tell us about the benefits of play for the wellbeing of children and young people? The February 2023 edition of the Royal Children’s Hospital National Child Health Poll – Australian Families: How we play – has produced some findings of great interest to kinship carers. In this podcast we speak with paediatrician, researcher and child health advocate Dr Anthea Rhodes, the founding director of the poll....

What are the latest trends in nutrition? What does recent research say about what and how we should eat? And what the children in our care, in particular those children with neurodevelopmental disorders, should eat?

In this podcast we speak again with Nikki Valentini, Clinical Nutritionist, functional medicine practitioner and director of SuperNature Nutrition on a broad range of current topics regarding nutrition. Nikki answers so...

In this podcast we speak with Director of Kinship Carers Victoria, Anne McLeish, who explains the importance of learning and development for kinship carers.

We also interview one Victorian carer, who tells us about the types of things she realised she needed to learn and the support she sought out once she became a kinship carer.

And we hear from Adam Lyons, Managing Director of Lancaster Consulting, who have been providing special...

Sleep plays a vital part in our wellbeing - so how do we get the right amount of it?

Clinical psychologist Dr Damon Ashworth, author of Deliberately Better Sleep, talks with KCV about the three major factors affecting our sleep and issues such as waking up at night, napping, the right amount of sleep and the long-term effects of not getting enough sleep. This podcast also includes interviews with two carers, who share their person...

In a recent survey on stress and wellbeing conducted by the Australian Psychological Society, four in five participants found activities like listening to music and spending time on a hobby were effective ways of managing stress. Finding an enjoyable pastime can also enhance wellbeing, improve social connections, and even stave off depression or anxiety. 

In this latest carer wellbeing podcast, KCV spoke with two carers about thei...

Deep breathing and meditation can provide you with a sense of calm, peace and balance that can benefit your emotional wellbeing and overall health through reducing stress. The podcast features an interview with Eliza Terry, from YogaLiving. Eliza has been teaching Iyengar Yoga since 1998, and teaches mindfulness meditation, with a strong focus on breath work for relaxation. The podcast also includes interviews with two carers who s...

There’s a lot of information currently available about how, what and when to eat, and some of it can be quite overwhelming and confusing.

In this podcast Kinship Carers Victoria speaks with clinical nutritionist and functional medicine practitioner Nikki Valentini, director of SuperNature Nutrition https://supernature.com.au/. Nikki explains how certain foods and nutrients have been shown to help us deal better with stress and anx...

Sandy Pitcher, Secretary of the Department of Families Fairness and Housing, speaks about the effects of Covid-19 on DFFH staff health and wellbeing and the extra workload involved as well as what strategies the department is putting in place to support both kinship carers and DFFH staff in surviving the Covid-19 pandemic. This includes providing information and materials about vaccination consent for children and the accessibility...

In this podcast, KCV speaks to one of the country’s leaders in the field, consultant paediatrician Associate Professor Margie Danchin, from  Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI). Margie is also an immunisation expert with over ten years of experience in vaccine research and clinical work, both in Australia and in resource poor settings. She answers common questions and concerns kinship carers and others in the community may ...