F1D - Burnie

Burnie

Burnie Community House & Burnie Child and Family Learning Centre

First 1000 Days (F1D) Project

CAPITOL SHOWCASE

Innovation in Action

Showcasing excellent community-based health and wellbeing initiatives

Why was this project needed?

• Many Burnie residents face challenges associated with socioeconomic disadvantage, including impacts from social determinants of health.

• Reduced access to good nutrition, physical activity and social inclusion may contribute to a range of conditions, including overweight and obesity.

• However, local programs focused on community strengths provide great opportunities for improved health and wellbeing.

• Both the Burnie Community House (BCH) and Burnie Child and Family Learning Centre (BCFLC) play critical support roles for local community members and families.

• The F1D Project was developed by BCH and BCFLC, with support from the Burnie Library and Burnie Works.

The First 1000 Days Project aims to use community story telling as a way to develop awareness and understanding on the need for children to receive the best start to life, leading to better health and wellbeing.

• Through community conversations, a need was recognized for greater understanding of the importance of a healthy start to life – this led to the commencement of the project.

F1D Project goals and activities

Positive outcomes for the Burnie community

• The main goal is to convey the importance of the first 1000 days through community story telling by local champions.

• The F1D Project may lead to many positive outcomes, including partnership building and community involvement.

• F1D research is embedded in government policy with key actions at the very beginning of life contributing to lifelong health and wellbeing.

• Community champions are helping create awareness and understanding of health and wellbeing during the first 1000 days of life.

• Greater community understanding of these key actions will enable support for children’s needs from pregnancy.

• Outcomes are already evident, with workshop participants sharing stories of their experiences with family and friends creating a ripple effect of awareness raising.

• Messaging is framed as a journey, where experiences and environments during the F1Ds have lasting impacts on mind, brain and body.

• Four important quadrants have been identified: ‘caring connections and responding to cues’; ‘clean environments free of toxins’; ‘breaking the cycle of stress’; and ‘swap food and drinks for those that fuel our body and mind’.

• Initial work has involved B4 Community Story Telling training for selected community champions, communicating and sharing stories with respect to the first 1000 days of life.

• Community champions raise awareness of the first 1000 days through speaking engagements, resource promotion and advocacy.

Further information: https://utas.edu.au/health/community-programs/capitol https://burniecommunityhouse.com.au/ https://www.facebook.com/BurnieChildandFamilyCentre

• Terms such as ‘F1D’ and ‘It’s never too late’ are becoming widely used.

• Awareness raising and increased understanding across the Burnie community leads to improved health from conception to two years of age, and better overall health and wellbeing.

• Specifically, children in the early years should experience greater opportunities for play, better access to services, more healthy nutrition, more inclusive communities, greater sense of belonging, and loving and secure relationships.

CAPITOL (Critical Age Periods Impacting the Trajectory of Obesogenic Lifestyles) is a community-based and community-driven project which aims to build capacity in North-West Tasmania to more effectively prevent obesity. This content has been produced in collaboration with BCH and BCFC staff.