Residential Stay

Tresillian’s Residential program gives you and your family the chance to live in and work through more intensive parenting issues over four nights and five days at a Tresillian Centre. However, to make the most of your stay, it’s important you and your baby are well before coming to Tresillian.

A referral from a health professional such as your local Child and Family Health Nurse, your Family Doctor, or Paediatrician is essential. Most families in the metropolitan area will have attended a Day Stay at either Tresillian or their local Family Care Cottage or had a visit from our Outreach team, prior to admission. Where those services are not available (eg. in rural areas), families should contact their local Doctor to obtain a referral to our Residential program.

Our team of qualified Child and Family Health Nurses, Psychologists, Social Workers, Paediatricians and Psychiatrists work closely with you to help reach your goals.

Families in Residential often need help with issues such as:

• Infant /child sleep and settling difficulties
• Support with breastfeeding
• Infant /child feeding difficulties
• Multiple births
• Toddler behavior management strategies
• Your child’s emotional and physical development
• Your emotional health and wellbeing
• Adjustment to parenting including relationship issues
• And any other parenting concerns you have raised

If your parenting difficulties are classified as urgent, your family will be prioritised and admitted as soon as possible.

This is how a typical Residential stay works:

During your stay your baby will be examined by a Paediatrician to make sure they are well, as management of the parenting issue will be more easily resolved, if there are no unmanaged medical issues affecting your child. Tresillian is a ‘well-baby’ Centre.

Day 1: A qualified Tresillian Child & Family Health Nurse, in consultation with you and your partner, will work out a plan to help your family through this difficult time. Partners are welcome to stay or may choose to go to work during the day and come back at night.

Today you will begin implementing the negotiated management plan for your family together with a specialist Registered Nurse with Child & Family Health qualifications.

Day 2: You will be working closely with your Nurse concentrating on the issues and goals that you’ve identified at admission. You’ll also get the chance to talk things over with either a Social Worker, Psychologist and meet others who are possibly going through the same issues you are.

Day 3: By now, you should feel more confident in managing your identified issues from admission and working towards your goals. You may well have attended a parenting support group such as a parent/infant interaction session or a program especially for couples. This gives you and your partner the opportunity to meet others in a similar situation and share experiences.

Day 4: You will be preparing for going home. Now is the time to ask any last minute questions and discuss how you can translate the skills you have learnt, at home.

Day 5: By the end of a Residential stay, most parents will leave Tresillian feeling much more confident with their parenting and continue to work on their goals. Prior to discharge Tresillian will also provide you with a list of support contacts in your local community.