Family Mentoring
& Parenting Support

Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities (EPEC) is a group-based parent education program run by our family mentors and parent peer educators. Parents come together to support each other and share information about the rewards and challenges of raising children.

Our 9-week parenting course Being a Parent (BAP) covers:

• Understanding your child’s behaviour and needs
• Clear communication and listening through play
• Positive Discipline strategies
• Coping with stress and getting support

The course is run in the Northern and Western regions of Melbourne in local primary schools and community centres during school terms and includes free on-site childcare.

Our Family Mentoring program operates across the Northern and Western suburbs of Melbourne and provides individual support to newly arrived families facing language barriers, social isolation and challenges in accessing services. Our family mentors speak English as well as a number of other community languages and are able to provide culturally appropriate support by;

• Connecting parents to early years services, child and family support programs, kindergartens, schools and health care in their local communities
• Arranging and accompanying parents to specialist appointments.
• Assisting with kindergarten and school enrolments.
• Helping families to access crisis supports, including, housing, family violence, material aid, emergency relief and Services Australia social security payments.
• Providing linkages to education and employment pathways.
• Financial Literacy education
• Support and cultural advice to mainstream service providers to increase their cultural competency in working with families from diverse cultural backgrounds around challenging issues.