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Stay Strong

Duration: 26 minutes

Program ID: 902 | Purchase Price: $105.00 (DVD also includes the "Strong and Deadly" program - number 903)

Children’s health and development during their primary years have lifelong implications.  However for Indigenous kids in the 6 to 12 years age group, it can be quite a challenge to “stay strong”.  Many of them are disadvantaged at birth by poverty, poor health and nutrition, overcrowding or homelessness, and are further stressed by the death of close family members.  Their opportunities for a successful educational outcome have often been reduced. 

Good nutrition, education and a strong cultural identity are central to the overall health and well-being of Indigenous kids.  This program examines some successful community-based health and education initiatives that put an emphasis on prevention and health promotion.  These include the Nunga Kids Café in Port Lincoln, South Australia; Music Outback Foundation in Central Australia; and Chris Sarra’s "Strong and Smart" program.  All of them aim to provide culturally positive experiences that build pride and resilience for Indigenous kids, and that help them “stay strong”.
 
Stay Strong is a half-hour documentary version of the hour-long program Step by Step: Indigenous Kids 6-12 Years, originally produced by the Rural Health Education Foundation in 2008, and is the fourth program in the “Strong" series (a set of programs on Indigenous children’s health) that the Foundation has been developing and distributing since 2005.

Stay Strong is presented by Roxanne McDonald, well-known Indigenous actor.

This program was formally launched by Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, Governor of New South Wales, and Mr Tom Calma, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Race Discrimination Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission.  Click here for details of the launch.

This program was also featured on the cover of the January/February 2009 issue of the Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal.

AIHWJ January/February 2009 Edition

Free DVD copies for Indigenous organisations

Free DVD copies of this program are available for Indigenous organisations and for health professionals working in Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander health.  If you are eligible for a free copy, please email us at support@rhef.com.au, including your complete postal address and contact telephone details.  (Note that the DVD also includes the Strong and Deadly program.) 

Learning Outcomes

  • identify factors that impact on the health and wellbeing of Indigenous children aged 6-12 years
  • recognise the connection between positive educational experiences and improved health outcomes
  • understand the significance of cultural identity for Indigenous children
  • identify community-based strategies that can extend the knowledge and life-skills of Indigenous children

Broadcast Dates

This program was first broadcast on the Foundation's satellite network on Tuesday 17 February 2009.

Funding Bodies

Produced with funding from The Ronald Geoffrey Arnott Foundation, managed by Perpetual; Rio Tinto Aboriginal Fund, The Ian Potter Foundation, The Marian & E H Flack Trust and The Milton Corporation Foundation.  Additional funding was provided by an untied educational grant from Merck Sharp & Dohme (Australia) Pty Limited in support of better health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.  The Rural Health Education Foundation also contributed funding for this program from its own resources.

Accreditation

This program is accredited or endorsed for CPD/CPE by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, the Royal College of Nursing Australia and the Australian Physiotherapy Association.