Van Go Moorabool allows children who have experienced the trauma of family violence access to art, music and play therapies in the safety of its colourful van. 

The pilot project from WRISC Family Violence Support in partnership with the Moorabool Shire Council received funding as a result of the Royal Commission into Family Violence.

Originally a 12-month trial, additional funding has extended the project until June 2019. 

But project manager Sally Goldstraw hopes to lock in ongoing funding to secure the project’s future and offer clients a sense of stability.

“We are still faced with uncertainty and that’s very hard to work with in any organisation, particularly one doing counselling for people with trauma,” she said. 

“We’ve seen 292 clients. These kids need an opportunity to recover to get on with their lives and that’s not short-term work, that’s long-term work.”

Van Go Moorabool only reaches community centres, childcare centres and schools in the Moorabool and Bacchus Marsh region. 

Ms Goldstraw would like to see the mobile model extended to other rural shires including Hepburn, Golden Plains and Pyrenees as well as utilised in Ballarat. 

She said a lot of people did not seek services outside of their local communities due to not having the money for transport, time or ability. 

“It is quite a flexible model,” Ms Goldstraw said.

“It could do remote, but it also could go to towns or if there are marginalised pockets of communities where there are a lot of vulnerable families.

“You can be five minutes away and if the family is dealing with so many complex issues like drug and alcohol and mental health, it is still too hard for them to walk up a hill to a service. So to get the kids at school is a really good way to help those families.”

Van Go Moorabool is a finalist in the promotion of children’s health and wellbeing section of the awards run by the state government’s education and training department. 

Ms Goldstraw said it was fantastic to be considered as one of the top three projects in the state. 

“It is just affirmation the project is seen as innovative and collaborative,” she said. 

“It’s not just a centre-based thing, we are actually really trying to remove the barriers for people to access services and we’re getting to more vulnerable families.”

Moorabool Shire Council’s child, youth and family manager Sharon McArthur described the nomination as finalist as an outstanding achievement recognising the team’s valuable work. 

The award winners will be announced at an event on Tuesday, October 23, held at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.