BUSHkids is a not-for-profit organisation which has been supporting the health and wellbeing of children and families in Queensland’s regional, rural and remote communities for over 85 years.
BUSHkids provides free preventative and early intervention allied healthcare (both directly and in collaboration with government and other non-government organisations) to children and families who are unable to access services locally due to the unavailability or the affordability of those services.
We specifically aim to help disadvantaged children who are at risk of poor health, educational or social outcomes, reach their full potential.
BUSHkids currently provides a range of free allied health services for children and their families through our regional service Centres―in Bundaberg, Dalby, Emerald, Mount Isa, and Warwick―each staffed by a multidisciplinary team comprising Speech Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Psychologists and Family Health Support Workers.
We also support rural communities from our four smaller satellite sites―in Inglewood, Stanthorpe, Agnes Water and Kingaroy―staffed by Child and Family Facilitators who can call on resources from the nearest service Centre or the BUSHkids Clinical Leadership Team in Toowong.
BUSHkids is the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) Partner in the Community delivering Early Childhood Approach (ECA) to the Bundaberg, Rockhampton and Central Queensland areas servicing Emerald and Gladstone with outreach to Biloela communities; with the Fraser Coast servicing Hervey Bay, Maryborough, South and North Burnett, Kingaroy and Cherbourg and the Sunshine Coast servicing Maroochydore, Caloundra and Gympie areas.
The ECA helps children younger than 6 with developmental delay, or childen younger than 9 with disability, and their families to access the right support when they need it.
BUSHkids is pleased to be working with the Brisbane School of Distance Education with the provision of eKindy Pods in rural and remote Queensland. In selected communities, children registered for eKindy can join an eKindy pod at the local school, facilitated by BUSHkids, to learn with their peers and develop social skills before they start school. Pods operate weekly during school terms as a facilitated play day providing age-appropriate activities aligned to the Early Years Learning Framework. Pods complement but do not form part of the 15-hour eKindy in-home delivery commitment.
BUSHkids is funded by the Department of Education to employ eKindy Facilitators to deliver the pods and a supervising Early Childhood Teacher as a state-wide program coordinator to oversee the pod program.
For further details on our services in your area and how we can help you, click here.
For locations of our services in your area, click here.