Bushfire Information
For more information on Bushfire Support contact Youth Services Youth Participant Development Worker, Nyssa Bradsworth, on 9433 3345.
1000 Pencils: from Kinglake to Kabul
The Black Saturday bushfires affected more than 170 students and teachers from Diamond Valley College. As part of the recovery, they joined with writer Neil Grant and the students from the International School of Kabul to share stories of courage, resilience and hope.
1000 Pencils is what happens when you allow freedom and creativity to flourish.
For more information visit the 1000 Pencils website.
Introducing the On Track Program
We are pleased to announce the On Track Program which is specifically designed to support the needs of youth aged between 10-21 years affected by the 2009 bushfires and their families. Sarah van den Berg and Stephen Macpherson have been employed to work with youth in the bushfire affected areas and to offer a range of services such as:
- Information
- Referral support
- Outreach
- Individual Support
- Youth and Family Counselling
- Mediation
- Activities and Groups
- Community Education
- Secondary Consultation
On Track counselling referrals are via the service coordination on 9430 9100 for any 10-21 year olds affected by the 2009 bushfires and their families.
Your Bushfire Space
The 2009 Victorian bushfires changed many people’s lives. Headspace has developed an interactive space to support young people to recover from their bushfire experience.
Your Bushfire Space is a place to:
- Get information
- Ask questions about coping and recovery
- Share thoughts and stories about your bushfire experience
- Give other young people ideas about recovery
For more information visit the Bushfire Space website.
After The Emergency
After the emergency is a new resource for young people! They have created an MP3 player filled with helpful information about trauma recovery, interviews with people who've been through emergencies, tips from professionals, music and messages from Lisa Mitchell, Bluejuice and other Aussie artists. You can order one online, or download now!
Red Cross invites you to share your story on this site and help others who might experience disasters in the future. We know emergencies will continue to happen in Australia and around the world. Your story is valuable because your experience means you can connect with people to help them understand what it's like.
Tell your story in text, video or photo format. They would love to hear about how you’ve been recovering since the event. How has life changed for you? What has helped you get through it?
For more information visit the After The Emergency website.
Prepare. Act. Survive. Fire Ready.
With a hot summer on its way we all need to work together to reduce the level of risk we face. Everyone has to play their part, from State Government, CFA, Nillumbik Shire Council and you.
Let’s protect our families, our friends and our beautiful Shire to the best of our abilities.
For more information visit the CFA Prepare. Act. Survive website.
Diamond Valley College Bushfire assistance
Many families of Diamond Valley College have been affected by the bushfires. At least 30 families have lost their houses or properties. The thoughts of everyone at the college are with these families at this time.
If you are able to assist specifically with items to assist students at the college such as uniform or books please contact the Diamond Valley College on 9438 1411.
Teenagers in Emergencies
The Teenagers in Emergencies booklet was developed by four Maffra Secondary College students, Jess Bedggood, Amy Foster, Tim Liddell and Sam Montague, in response to their experiences following the 2006 bushfires and 2007 floods that affected the Gippsland region.
The Teenagers in Emergencies booklet is a valuable resource for every teenager, with specific information and tips about what to do in a bushfire or flood event to ensure the safety of every family member.
To download the booklet go to The Office of the Emergency Services Commissioner website.
Nillumbik Recovery Volunteers Project
The Nillumbik Recovery Volunteer (NRV) project is gaining momentum. A number of groups who want to offer their time have registered to be volunteers. All volunteers will be supervised by Council staff to assist people who have fire-affected properties and are struggling to get on top of the many jobs that need doing.
Groups from Montmorency Secondary College, Melbourne High, Eltham Rotary, ANZ bank, CA (pacific), Ford and Mount Lilydale Mercy College are all booked in to come out to the area to volunteer over the coming few weeks. More groups or individuals are welcome.
Please contact the Hurstbridge Hub on 9433 3271 if you would like to register for volunteer assistance.
For more information phone Emma Short, Bushfire Recovery Volunteer Coordinator, at the Hurstbridge Hub on 9433 3271.
Bushfire Recovery Community Outreach Program
The Crossroads Bushfire Recovery Community Outreach Program supports survivors affected by the Victorian Bushfires in The City of Whittlesea, Shire of Murrindindi and Shire of Nillumbik.
The program offers support to individuals, families and young people, providing:
- Assertive Outreach Support
- Individual Case Management
- Youth Support
- Advocacy
- Linkages to appropriate support services
- Community Development – Assisting community groups and networks with developing and implementing projects that enhance the social and physical wellbeing of community members.
For more information phone 9716 2065.
Headspace Survey
Headspace are working on two projects for young people affected by the 2009 bushfires, the projects are focused on:
- Young people’s mental health and
- Bereavement or loss
They are interested in ideas about services and information that may be helpful to young people affected by the 2009 bushfires. Any feedback can help shape the future activities for the project.
Feedback can be collected in a few ways;
- Survey monkey (survey should only take about five minutes to complete) For Youth Workers visit Workers Survey and Young people visit Youth Survey.
- Phone interview at a convenient time
- Focus groups -where there are enough people interested in sharing their ideas.
Headspace is happy to let people who are interested know how the feedback will be actioned. They are very keen to provide relevant and useful information and activities - please encourage young people, their families and youth workers working with young people to contribute their ideas.
For more information email Vikki Ryall.
