Blue Mountains educators train in Birdie’s Tree Project to boost disaster resilience

Educators from across the Blue Mountains of New South Wales have completed specialised training to use the award winning Birdie’s Tree Project resources which have been created to help young children prepare for, and cope with disasters and other disruptive events.

The training was delivered by Dr Andrea Baldwin from Queensland Centre for Perinatal and Infant Mental Health who travelled to the region to familiarise local primary school teachers, early childhood educators, and child and family workers with the storybooks, online games, animations, activity book and videos which make up the program. 

During the session educators examined the impact of disasters and emergencies on children, and learnt more about how to provide age-appropriate support to help them recover from trauma.

Using the characters Birdie and Mr Frog, the program supports children and families who experience natural disasters by sharing their own stories of preparing, experiencing, and recovering from such events.

Nine primary schools and 20 ECEC services across the Blue Mountains have participated in the Birdie’s Tree project, with 40 resource kits and 750 activity bags for children being distributed. 

For local mayor Mark Greenhill, the project’s presence in the community is a valuable one. 

“Disasters such as floods, fires and storms are part of our reality in a time of climate change,” he shared with local news source Blue Mountains Gazette. 

“It’s important we respond not only to the physical impact, but the emotional impact of these events, and support building resilience in the face of future events.”

“Initiatives such as the wonderful Birdie’s Tree Project are particularly significant for our educators and caregivers who support our children and play a vital role in our proposed multi-agency and whole-of-community disaster preparedness strategy.”

Further information about Birdie’s Tree Project and free online resources can be found here. 

For the original coverage of this story please see here.