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Early Parenting Centres (EPCs)

Early Parenting Centres (EPCs) are free, early intervention services that provide specialist support for Victorian families with children from pregnancy to four years. They deliver flexible, targeted services that aim to enhance the parent-child relationship and support parents with strategies for achieving their parenting goals. These goals are often in areas such as sleep and settling, child behaviour, and parent and child health and wellbeing. Families are able to self-refer for this service.

Who

All Victorian families with children up to 4 years of age who meet the eligibility criteria including needing additional intensive parenting support to build skills, capacity and confidence in caring for their infant/toddler.  

EPCs provides support for parents/carers facing multiple challenges including:

  • mental illness
  • health issues
  • family instability and violence
  • sleep deprivation
  • feelings of being unable to cope
  • financial stress.

Parents/carers may benefit from support from an EPC if they are experiencing:

  • difficulty adjusting to parenting and family relationships
  • difficulty adjusting socially and emotionally
  • feeding and nutrition challenges
  • growth and development challenges
  • behavioural challenges
  • challenges with general parenting skills including sleep and settling
  • managing multiple births (for example, twins or triplets).

What is available

EPCs offer a range of education, programs and parenting advice. Support is individualised to suit the needs of the parent/carer and child and aims to:

  • strengthen parenting capacity and skills
  • enhance parent-child relationships
  • increase parental confidence in responding to their infant/toddlers needs
  • build on a family's link with their community.

EPCs provide care in the following ways:

  • Residential: 24-hour multi-day centre-based intensive early parenting programs
  • Day stay: centre-based day programs provided at EPCs or at outreach locations including prisons or in-home
  • Group services: group-based peer support programs attended by families, which are designed to improve parent-child relationships and interactions.

Refer to each of the Early Parenting Centres websites for more information on the support offered at each site.

EPCs are not a crisis service or an inpatient mental health service. Clients referred to EPCs may experience a wait-list due to the high demand on the service or be deemed ineligible and referred to other supports.

How to access

Services are provided at no cost to families who are assessed as needing some extra support to reach their parenting goals. 

Referrals to Early Parenting Centres are usually from maternal and child health services, maternity services, general practitioners, Child FIRST and Child Protection. Families can also self-refer.

Early Parenting Centres are available in:

  • Ballarat

Grampians Early Parenting Centre, Grampians Health

10 Fawcett Road, Lucas

Tel. (03) 5320 3003

  • Bendigo

Wayipunga Bendigo Early Parenting Centre, Bendigo Health

Havlin Street East, Bendigo

Tel. (03) 5454 6000

  • Canterbury

O'Connell Family Centre, Mercy Health

6 Mount Albert Road, Canterbury

Tel. (03) 8416 7600

  • Clyde North

Murrumbek Casey Early Parenting Centre, Monash Health

114 Newgrange Boulevard, Clyde North

Tel. (03) 7511 2800

  • Frankston (Aboriginal-dedicated EPC)

Baluk Balert Barring Early Parenting Centre, First Peoples' Health and Wellbeing

401-403 Nepean Highway, Frankston

Tel. (03) 9070 8181

  • Footscray

Tweddle Child and Family Health Service

70 Sydney Street, Footscray

Tel. (03) 9689 1577

  • Geelong

Barwon Early Parenting Centre, Barwon Health

45-95 Ballarat Road, North Geelong

Tel. (03) 4215 5920

  • Noble Park

Queen Elizabeth Centre

53 Thomas Street, Noble Park

Tel. (03) 9549 2777

  • South Morang

Woi-wurrung-yagila-wulumperi, Whittlesea Early Parenting Centre, Mercy Health

34 Anchorage Drive, South Morang

Tel. (03) 9407 6820

  • Werribee

Tweddle Child and Family Health Service

239-245 Princes Highway, Werribee

Tel. (03) 9689 1577

These centres operate several satellite services across the state. Contact the Centres for more information.

The Victorian Government is currently building three new Early Parenting Centres. These services will be located in:

  • Shepparton
  • Northcote
  • Hastings

Keep up to date with the progress here.

Resources

More information about Early Parenting Centres can be found via: