Wellington

The Newtown Plunket team behind a special refugee and migrant playgroup for families in city council housing in Newtown, Wellington were the winners of 2009 Better Together award. The playgroups were instigated in 2004, through a team effort with the Rintoul Villas community, the Ministry of Education and the Wellington City Council.

Four years later the Wellington Plunket team took this initiative a step further by organising PEPE (Plunket Education Parenting Programme) parenting sessions to take place at the playgroup, with Somali and Arabic interpreters to assist. Newtown Plunket’s Team Leader Jess Beauchamp said with the help of the interpreters, the mothers were enthusiastic to share their parenting dilemmas and listen to others’ stories.

This Plunket ‘first’ was a joint effort by both the clinical and volunteer teams at Newtown Plunket. Plunket Nurses, Karitane and other clinical staff led the initiative, while a team of parent volunteers fund-raised to pay for the interpreters.