Who can get help from Starting Strong?
Starting Strong is for Aboriginal families who are having their first or second baby.
We work with mums, dads, babies and toddlers.
What does Starting Strong do?
We work together with you and your family to help give your bub a strong, healthy start to life. We can work with you from around 30 weeks pregnancy until your child turns three.
Our team have Caseworkers and Aboriginal Family Support Workers – both male and female, so everyone in your family is supported.
We can help with:
- Getting you ready for your baby
- Checking how your child is growing and developing
- Making sure your family has what it needs to feel safe, happy and strong
- Supporting parent’s social and emotional wellbeing
- Building strong, loving connections between you and your child
- Other things like: help finding work, connecting you to other services such as Centrelink, legal, housing, job networks, health, childcare, or playgroups
Where we can meet:
- At your home
- At a community centre
- In our Starting Strong Family Room
- Out in the community
Starting Strong is not a crisis service. If you, your family or your child needs urgent help, call 000.
Contact us
You can contact Starting Strong by ringing 08 8958 4555 or emailing startingstrongfamilysupport@caac.org.au
Please let us know if you need an interpreter when you work with us
Starting Strong is a free, confidential and voluntary early‑intervention outreach program for Aboriginal families who are expecting their first or second baby.
We walk alongside families from 30 weeks of pregnancy, through birth, and until the child turns three. We support mums, dads, caregivers and their babies.
Our focus is on helping families with practical needs, building strong parenting skills, strengthening family connection to culture and supporting understanding of early childhood development, so that every child can have the best start to life.
We also centre our work on interagency collaboration – working closely together with other services involved with families to ensure best outcomes for them. We facilitate care team meetings, consult with other agencies and promote collaborative approaches to meeting family’s needs.
The team include Caseworkers and Aboriginal Family Support Workers (both male and female) who work together in bicultural pairs. This ensures all of our support is culturally centred, respectful and grounded in community knowledge.
We also provide caregiver Education and Information sessions.
All our work is child‑centred, trauma‑informed, and strengths‑based.
How to refer to us
Referrals can be made by completing our referral form. We accept referrals from any source, including self-referrals. Full eligibility criteria is listed below.
If you have any questions about our program or the kind of families who could benefit from a referral to us, please contact us.
Email: startingstrongfamilysupport@caac.org.au
Phone: 08 8958 4555
Address: 127 Todd Street, Mparntwe, NT 0870
Operating hours: Monday to Friday, 8.30am – 5pm (closed public holidays)
Eligibility criteria:
- Mother is minimum 30 weeks pregnant or infant less than 6 months old
- Child is Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- Mother is with 1st or 2nd pregnancy or mother’s first or second opportunity to parent
- Family consent has been provided
- Family resides in Alice Springs, Amoonguna (with plans to expand to a number of remote communities in the near future)
