Meerilinga - Positive Childhoods and Parenting

Starting a family while working as a fly-in fly-out worker has its share of challenges. We sat down with Vicky Pellowe, founder of The FIFO Family Project, to tackle some of these head on, including ways that parents can prepare their children for th... more

Parents can often feel consumed by the urgent tasks of the day, leaving little room to think about the world that their kids are going to enter when they’re older. Sonya Elek has gone through this journey and worked to make sure that her time and ene... more

Parenting is seen as ‘natural’ but we need MAPS to navigate us through the challenges, especially in the first few weeks of parenthood.

Manager of Meerilinga Parenting Services, Belynda Smith, and Sharon Cooke, a parent-infant therapist, discuss the... more

We’re looking at how proprioception, our sense of our body, can be used as a different set of MAPS for our children's emotions and wellbeing. Featuring The Occuplaytional Therapist, Kelsie Olds, we discuss strategies around enabling children to use t... more

Author, Educator and Mother, Gen Muir speaks to Manager of Meerilinga Parenting Services, Belynda Smith, on how parents can attune to their children’s emotions and help guide them through the challenges. Self-reflection remains key along this journey... more

There’s a whole bunch of MAPS out there, but it’s important that we don’t lose sight of what we value most.

In our conversation with Karen Young, expert on paediatric anxiety and the neurodevelopment of children, we explore the importance of stickin... more

Sometimes the MAPS that we need are right in front of us. That’s what Jason Hyde discovered when he was looking for some direction as a single dad of four. He sat down with Manager of Meerilinga Parenting Services, Belynda Smith, to discuss his lived... more

Spend some time on the couch with Dr Theresa Kidd and Dr Miriam Kirby, clinical psychologists at The Kidd Clinic. Alongside host and Manager of Meerilinga Parenting Services, Belynda Smith, they discuss the different MAPS that parents can use to navi... more