One of Victoria’s oldest charities, Melbourne City Mission (MCM) has partnered with Victoria University (VU) to create a new Early Childhood Intervention Service (ECIS) centre, located at VU’s St Albans campus.
The new centre will provide critical services for the community in Melbourne’s west as well as offer potential employment and placement opportunities for VU students.
The centre will also focus on supporting children as they work towards building confidence, fostering a passion for lifelong learning, alongside helping families with NDIS requests and connecting parents with support services.
MCM offers a range of community services including; youth homelessness and housing, disability services including Early Childhood Intervention Services (ECIS), family services, mental health and education services.
The St Albans centre, staffed by a team of eight, comprising speech pathologists, occupational therapists and a social worker, is now operational and has created work placements for 10 VU speech pathology students.
MCM clients represent a range of demographics and one of the organisation’s key drivers is to ensure individuals and families have the opportunity to ‘live their life, their way’.
MCM head of disability Sally Moore said the organisation’s Early Childhood Intervention Service has found a home at VU’s St Albans campus.
“… we look forward to supplying critical services for children and families in the communities of western Melbourne,” she said.
“We are keen to welcome VU students through placement and employment opportunities,” she said.
Laura Knauer, a fourth-year VU student, said the partnership provides opportunities for emerging and practising speech pathologists and NDIS participants in the west.
“We get to be a part of the gradual increase of services across the region that means more people get to access speech pathology,” she said.
“… As an emerging clinician, it’s an invaluable opportunity to be so connected to services like MCM at this point in our careers.”
VU Vice-Chancellor Professor Adam Shoemaker described the new partnership as a ‘natural synergy’.
“This new partnership exemplifies Victoria University’s dedication to welcoming like-minded organisations onto our campuses. As a leader in the early childhood education space, we have a natural synergy with Melbourne City Mission. Its goal to provide much-needed early childhood services to local communities aligns perfectly with our own,” he said.
“At the same time, our students will gain hands-on experience in this crucial field, enriching their educational journeys and building the early childhood workforce.”
