Communities that Care

For the past two years Relationships Australia Victoria (RAV) have played a lead role through their Melbourne Family Relationship Centre in Yarra Communities that Care, a community-led effort made up of over 24 local partner agencies which focuses on supporting the healthy development of children and young people aged eight to 14 across the City of Yarra.

Since July 2017, we’ve co-coordinated and helped to deliver 18 ‘Tuning in to Kids’ and ‘Tuning in to Teens’ parenting programs in local primary and secondary schools.

Backed by evidence-based research, both programs help parents to better understand and connect with their children, focusing on developing key skills to recognise and respond to children’s and teen’s emotions and behaviour and manage conflict.

RAV has partnered with eight schools and four community centres to deliver the program to 130 parents of more than 300 children and young people. Of the 18 programs delivered, nine have been tailored to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

A newly-released Evaluation Report: Tuning in to Kids and Tuning in to Teens includes overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants, with parents consistently indicating that they would recommend the program to other parents.

You can visit the Yarra Communities that Care website to learn more about how the project is strengthening family relationships and watch a video featuring interviews with participants and program staff.

Relationships Australia State and Territory websites