Loddon Shire Mayoral Column 4 October 2023

Published on 04 October 2023

Mayor-Dan Straub

Emerging Minds Community Trauma Toolkit

Emerging Minds, together with the Australian National University (ANU), have developed a Community Trauma Toolkit for those affected by a natural disaster.

This toolkit, which is specifically designed for adults and services, focuses on bolstering the social, emotional and mental health of infants and children throughout the various stages of natural disaster. It’s grouped by these key audiences:

  • General Practitioners
  • Health and social service practitioners
  • First responders
  • Community leaders
  • Parents and carers
  • Educators

This free, evidence-based toolkit contains a series of resources and training materials that have been developed by the following timeframes: preparedness, immediate, short-term, long-term and ongoing recovery. Please find an overview of the toolkit here.

The Emerging Minds Families team has also developed a series of factsheets and resources for parents and carers to help support child and family wellbeing in the preparation and recovery phases of a bushfire event.  

Along with the Community Trauma Toolkit, Emerging Minds also produces a range of tools and resources to support practitioners in the health, social and community sectors in their work with children, parents and families, which are freely available at emergingminds.com.au

Year 12 students scholarship applications now open

Opportunities for Year 12 students’ scholarships ranging in value from $600 to $30,000 are now available to support current Year 12 students intending to continue their studies next year.

Students are encouraged to apply for as many scholarships that they may be eligible for. Scholarship applications for 2024 study  close at 11.59pm Thursday 1 February 2024

For further information visit: http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/scholarships/list.aspx

Thunderstorm asthma season

Thunderstorm asthma season has now begun, the season runs from 1 October to 31 December.

The Better Health Channel states that thunderstorm asthma is thought to be triggered by a unique combination of high amounts of grass pollen in the air and a certain type of thunderstorm. For people who have asthma or hay fever this can trigger severe asthma symptoms.

When a large number of people develop asthma symptoms over a short period of time, related to high grass pollen and a certain type of thunderstorm, it is known as epidemic thunderstorm asthma.

To find out more about thunderstorm asthma visit the Better Health Channel at www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/thunderstorm-asthma

A three-day thunderstorm asthma risk forecast can be found on the VicEmergency website at https://emergency.vic.gov.au/prepare/#thunderstorm-asthma-forecast  

Council meeting outcomes

Last week’s September Council Meeting saw a number of items presented for Councillors’ consideration.

This included the adoption by Council of the Disposal of Council Assets Policy.

  The purpose of this policy is to provide direction to Council staff when disposing of Council assets. Effective application of this policy will ensure that any disposal of Council’s assets is carried out in a transparent, fair, independent and open manner.

Other outcomes of the meeting included:

  • Endorsement of the 2023/24 Chief Executive Officer key performance indicators
  • Issuing of Planning Application 5812 in Market Street, Newbridge

A reminder that Council Meetings usually take place on the fourth Tuesday of the month at  3pm. Meetings take place in the Council Chambers, off Peters Street, Wedderburn, and are  open to the public. Council Meetings are also streamed via Loddon Shire’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/LoddonShire

To view the September Council Meeting agenda and minutes, visit https://www.loddon.vic.gov.au/Our-Council/Agendas-and-minutes/Agendas-and-minutes-2023

 

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