Parents and children learning together: yarns from around the campfire

The Parents and children learning together: yarns from around the campfire (Yarns) Project arose from the visionary regard displayed by the Women’s Health Workers from Gurriny Yealamucka Health Services Aboriginal Corporation (GYHSAC) as agents of community betterment and social change for present and future generations of Yarrabah community and surrounding districts. The Yarns Project was a concerted innovative undertaking by the\ud staff located within the various program areas of GYHSAC, a community‐controlled health service in Yarrabah, a discrete Aboriginal community in Far Northern Queensland. It was designed to provide opportunities for ‘hard‐to‐reach’ families ‐ parents, aunties, uncles, grannies and popeyes with children aged birth to 5 years in their family unit ‐ to strengthen family ties, build productive relationships, have access to helping professionals and share and develop new knowledge.\ud \ud The Yarns Project is a three year collaboration that formally commenced in May 2007 and completed in July 2009. The initiative was collaboratively developed with community\ud members and as such, the responsive strategies delivered were crafted in ways that were flexible, culturally safe and relevant to the experiences of the families involved in the Project. The strategies developed provided a platform to encourage open sharing of different learning experiences, engage with new knowledge and provide a safe space to address contending issues for families, particularly as they relate to issues of parenting. A\ud further aim of the Project was to facilitate the development of sustainable networks of support so that families were better able to care for themselves and their children so as to build sustainable futures