Camp Kookaburra

Supporting children from families affected by mental health issues

Information for Prospective Adult Volunteers

Who we are:

The Camp Kookaburra program is a not for profit self-funded program and was established in 2000. The program aims to provide support for children aged 8-16, from the Sutherland Shire and St George areas who live in a family affected by mental illness.

The Program is run by a committee drawn from a number of community services including Sutherland and St George Mental Health Services, Police, Carers NSW, Sutherland Shire Council, and volunteer community members, who have an interest in the program. The committee meets monthly during working hours.

What we do:

The program currently consists of:

Two annual weekend camps, which are held in March, for 8 - 12 year olds and November for 12 - 16 year olds.
Two Fun days held in June and September.
An annual family picnic, which is held in December
Camp Kookaburra Newsletters, to keep the children in touch with the program.

The camp and fun days are only for the children and offer respite, a fun break and a chance to meet with other children in similar circumstances. The family picnic includes the whole family and aims to support family and community ties, by involving children and parents in activities.
All our activities are free for the participants; they are funded by community support and corporate sponsorship. We maintain liaison with referring agencies for follow up care of the children as needed.

Volunteer Roles:

As a volunteer you can help us on a number of levels.

1. Direct work with the kids
This happens at the camp and fun days. Volunteers act as our camp and fun day leaders, where they are involved in conducting and participating in the activities with the children, and supervising the children.
All Camp Leaders undertake a compulsory one-day training session, to inform them about their roles and responsibilities at camp. This training is held on a Saturday approximately 2-3 weeks prior to camp.
All volunteers are required to complete a Declaration of Prohibited Employment to confirm they are not a prohibited person under the Children's Care and Protection Act.

2. Indirect Work - Organising, Administration support / fund raising / PR
This work does not involve direct contact with the children. It involves activities such as organising events, fundraising, obtaining resources for the children, helping with the production of the newsletters, flyers for Fun Days and other PR material, photocopying, mail outs and distributing flyers to community services.

What do you need to do now?

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer in our program, please complete the attached forms.

Adult Volunteer Application Form Prohibited Employment Declaration

You will notice also on the application that we require 2 referees who will be contacted following your interview.

Please make sure that you give us a clear picture of what involvement you are seeking with our program and what skills / services you can offer. It is not necessary to have prior experience in camp leadership to be one of our camp leaders.

What happens next?

Prospective volunteers will be contacted by the committee for an interview, this can be arranged for after hours if required and will involve at least two members of the committee. At this stage you may indicate if you are interested in being on the organising committee or a leader for activities only.
A committee member will contact you to inform you if you were successful in your application.

You may apply on line by submitting the Adult Volunteer Application Form, however to be accepted you will need to bring to the interview the necessary signed documents listed above.

If at any stage the Camp Kookaburra Board decides that you are not suitable for our program or components of our program, the board will seek an appropriate resolution with you.

If you have any other enquiries you can contact Pam Brown on 0408 402 591 or 0419 611 684.

Regards,
Pam Brown
Project Officer,
Camp Kookaburra
pambbrown@optusnet.com.au