Child Health & Wellbeing Podcasts

Kinship carers sometimes find themselves in complex situations. Consequently, they might be involved in challenging conversations with schools, case managers, family members and the children in their care. Knowing how to handle these conversations calmly and effectively is a key to making sure a child’s needs are understood and that carers feel respected, supported and empowered.

In this episode KCV speaks with educator and wellbeing consultant Megan Corcoran, Director of the Wagtail Institute, about how kinship carers can approach difficult conversations with clarity and confidence. Megan brings expertise and lived understanding to her work in education, psychology and emotional safety and has a deep understanding of the pressures kinship carers face.

Evidence indicates that physical punishment can lead to increased anxiety or depression in adulthood, and the likelihood of people engaging in violence in later life.
There are alternative effective discipline practices that don’t involve physical punishment. These evidence-based practices can help increase children’s understanding of why they are being helped to recognise that certain behaviours are not desirable.
Sixty-six countries have legislated against the use of physical punishment on children and a further 27 countries have committed to doing so. Why is Australia not one of them?

In this podcast KCV speaks with Professor Daryl Higgins, Director of the Institute of Child Protection Studies at Australian Catholic University (ACU) and member of the Ending Physical Punishment of Australian Children (EPPAC) advocacy campaign.

In this podcast, KCV speaks with researcher, writer and educator Dr Emma Goodall, the inaugural Director of South Australia’s Office for Autism. Dr Goodall, who is the parent of an autistic adult, has worked extensively in the area of autism, education, research and public policy, and teacher training.

Dr Goodall defines autism and neurodiversity, explains how autism can present differently in different genders, and outlines key things carers need to understand about neurodivergence in order to better support the children and young people in their care. She also offers some approaches to help autistic and neurodiverse children develop the skills to self-regulate their feelings and emotions to help with everyday tasks and situations.

In this podcast Kinship Carers Victoria speaks with Clinical Nutritionist and functional medicine practitioner Nikki Valentini, Director of SuperNature Nutrition. Nikki explains how certain foods and nutrients have been shown to help us deal with stress and anxiety while other types of foods and eating patterns have been linked to increases in these feelings – and even to other psychological issues and illness. The podcast also includes interviews with carers who share their relationship to food and some of their dietary patterns.

In this podcast Dr Melissa Weinberg, Honorary Fellow from the Dept of Psychology at Deakin University, discusses the effects sleeping poorly or well can have on a person’s physical and psychological health and suggests tips on how carers can improve their patterns of sleep and those of the children or young people in their care.

Kinship Carers Victoria recently released the eighth report on their longitudinal study of kinship carer families. In this podcast, Director of KCV Anne McLeish discusses why the study was established, as well as providing an analysis of the latest report findings, which show that, for the most part, kinship care arrangements for the families in the study continue to be stable.

The health of children in kinship care is of primary concern. In this podcast Dr Karen McLean, paediatrician with the Pathway to Good Health Clinic, the Sleep Disorders Clinic, the Royal Children’s Hospital, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Department of Pediatrics with the University of Melbourne, speaks about the health of children in care.