Tweddle Board, management and staff and grateful to Ben Carroll MP, State Member for Niddrie and Parliamentary Secretary for Justice for acknowledging the work of Tweddle in Parliament on the 22nd of June.
Mr Carroll MP attended Tweddle’s ‘Babies, Business and The Bottom Line’ business breakfast as part of Infant Mental Health Awareness Week to hear Western Bulldogs President Mr Peter Gordon and American Psychiatrist Dr Bruce Perry MD, explore resilience and the importance of investing in the very early years.
Over 130 guests attended including the The Hon. Minister for Health Jill Hennessy MP, Danny Pearson MP Member for Essendon, Professor Ravi Savarirayan from the Murdoch Children’s research Institute, Christine Owen, Department of Health and Human Services and Peter Ewer, Department of Justice and Regulation.
The Tweddle Foundation’s vision for a centre of parenting excellence for the west is about continuing to create social change for thousands of families for another 97 years.
Research shows that gaps in development appear before a child’s second birthday. Early stress and lack of positive experiences undermine development in key brain regions for school readiness and academic success.
The first 1000 days are increasingly seen as a critical period in shaping life chances, based on language development, brain formation and the impact of relationships formed during that period on mental and physical health for life.
The extract from Parliamentary Debates is as follows;
Tweddle Child and Family Health Service
Mr CARROLL (Niddrie) — I rise to acknowledge the important work of the Tweddle Child and Family Health Service, an early intervention family health organisation with a proud 97-year history of creating social change for Victoria’s most vulnerable parents, babies and toddlers. Tweddle was started in 1920 by Joseph Tweddle, a businessman with a concern for the declining health of babies and the future population of Melbourne’s west, where today 250 babies are born per week.
Last week we celebrated Infant Mental Health Awareness Week from 12 to 16 June, and in the middle of this important week Tweddle hosted a Babies, Business and the Bottom Line breakfast at Moonee Valley Racecourse, with a focus on the first 1000 days and building resilience in babies, toddlers and parents.
I had the pleasure of attending this insightful event with my parliamentary colleagues the Minister for Health and member for Altona as well as the member for Essendon and listened to two wonderful guest speakers, Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon and leading American psychiatrist Dr Bruce Perry, MD, who shared their insights on the power of resilience and the importance of investing in services like Tweddle to reduce a child’s achievement gap and increase the likelihood of a healthier life. Tweddle fosters resilience in thousands of vulnerable families every year, changing the trajectory of their lives.
I want to put on record my thanks and appreciation to Tweddle for their services, led by CEO Jacquie O’Brien, with the support of a strong board: the chair, Dr Nicole Milburn; the deputy chair, Heather Johnson Way; the treasurer, Melanie Telford; and members Doris Whitmore, Jordana Hunter, Carla De Campo, Bryce Prosser, Dr Tam Nguyen, Dr Jane Edwards, Denise Patterson and Alexandra Hoskins.
Well done to Tweddle’s communications manager, Kerrie Gottliebsen, who did a lot of the work to make the breakfast the success it was, and also to Professor Ravi Savarirayan of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, who was there and did a lot in support of this breakfast. Tweddle have a vision for a centre of parenting excellence for the west, and I look forward to working with my parliamentary colleagues to help them achieve their vision.
