First Focus Open Day

On Friday 13 September, we celebrated Therapy Focus’ new early intervention program, First Focus. 

We hosted an open day, where our CEO, Program Lead, and a participant highlighted the positive impacts of the First Focus program on the children involved. This event was a great opportunity to tour our lovely therapy space and hear from our therapists on the school readiness program.

First Focus is a free play-based therapy program that runs from our Osborne Park office, offering early intervention tailored to children with developmental delays and learning difficulties. Our therapists support children to gain skills and build confidence to transition into a school environment over the course of 8 weeks.

CEO, Alison Kelly emphasised on the vital role programs like First Focus play in the community to provide families with early intervention support and expressed her gratitude to the program supporters.

Lucie Abadi, Osborne Park Team Leader and Program Lead experienced seeing first-hand the incredible progress children have made through First Focus, along with the overwhelmingly positive feedback from parents.

“It has been a privilege to see the children participating in First Focus making such progress and achieving their goals. Moments like hearing a child exclaim “I did it!” and then seeing their parent with tears in their eyes, saying that was the first time she had ever heard them say three words together.”

Sarah, a participating parent, has been on the Child Development Services waitlist for her three year old son Theo. When she heard about the program, she jumped at the opportunity to enrol. Theo’s concerns were raised by his daycare as he wasn’t able to attend to tasks and understand a social environment.

“I have loved that I could attend First Focus with Theo, I have learnt what helps Theo regulate and what doesn’t. I have been able to share the First Focus group with his daycare and other parents who have not known where to go or what to do and they have enrolled for next term already. I am confident they will also find a huge benefit from the group.”

A huge thank you to our program sponsors Telethon and the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation for making this play-based therapy space available to support young children with learning difficulties and developmental delays gain the skills and confidence they need to thrive.