SEED: Sharing to change Early childhood Experiences by Developing, caring, compassionate leadership

Fifty years of infant and early childhood universal health care program evaluation has repeatedly demonstrated that effective early childhood services make a difference to secure more positive long-term health and wellbeing outcomes for children and their families. The early years are a critical period of transitions with fluctuating family needs. An array of services, each with its own structure and process exist. Children whose life circumstances are more complex will need additional support to help them to navigate what is already a challenging developmental journey. Such enhanced services should leverage connectivity by creating and enhancing opportunities for engagement and access despite contextual factors (i.e. rurality).

In addition, we are faced with a shift in the ways we have to work, financial and cost-saving plans, organisational restructuring and nuances linked to rural geography. What our team has come to learn is that in applying services from urban centres there is a lack in understanding the unique environmental factors, fiscal vulnerability, and cultural complexities in the north. Using our completed rapid realist review, as a starting point, we want to engage with a broader community to understand enhanced service needs for the north. Using a systems and compassionate leadership stakeholder approach, we wish to join enhanced service work streams across health, municipalities, social care and not-for-profit organisations.