About Child, Youth and Family Services
The Star Health child health team consists of professionals who have specialised training in certain areas of child development. The team includes:
- Occupational Therapists – who can help in areas of play, skills for independence like feeding and toileting, motor skills in the context of participating in everyday activities including kinder and school related activities, sensory regulation for attention and learning
- Speech Pathologists – who can help in areas of functional communication, feeding (where there is a swallowing difficulty), social interactions
- Psychologists – who can help in areas of emotional development, understanding and managing behaviours
- Physiotherapists – who can help in areas of posture and structural alignment, movement and coordination with walking, running and general body movements
Although each team member have certain areas of expertise, they all have the ability to help you determine the right starting point in terms of how to support your child’s learning and development. As we know, a child’s development in all areas are interconnected and looking at the child as a whole in the context of their family is what the child health team focuses on. Therefore, your first appointment can be made with any child health team member as they will guide you to the specifics of what may help you and your child in the best way possible based on your unique needs and circumstances.
If your child is below school-age and has a specific disability or significant developmental delay, please refer to our Early Childhood Intervention Services (ECIS) program information page as you may be entitled to this government funded program.
Your child’s development is the focus. However, we know that our work with you as their parent/family will make the most difference. Hence, at Star Health, the focus is very much on empowering you in setting the goals and determining the strategies that will work for your child and the family. Apart from working with your child health team, there are other services for you as a parent and/or the family as a unit at Star Health e.g. Family Casework Counselling, PlaySteps and 123 Magic Group.
How do I access Child, Youth and Family Services?
These services are short- medium term services, available to families with children 0-12 years, who are not able to access services with any other means of government funding.
The services provided by the child health team can be delivered at your home, your child’s kinder/child care or at the clinic. This will be determined in collaboration with you and in view of the goals that are set out. Family and group services tend to be centre or community based.
Services are available Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm
How much will it cost?
The cost for these services are means tested. You can view more on our Fees page.
Some services of the team can also be accessed through private funds if applicable or through your NDIS plan.