Image credit: Pexels – Antoni Shkraba
Monash University together with the Hon Bill Shorten, Minister for the NDIS and Government Services, proudly announced the official opening of the reimagined Monash Krongold Clinic.
The Monash Krongold Clinic is a groundbreaking initiative in clinical, developmental and educational psychology, offering specialised services for children and adolescents with various needs, including learning disorders, neurodevelopmental and mental health conditions and emotional support needs.
Established in 1976, the Krongold Centre for Exceptional Children, initially founded through the generous donation of Dinah and Henry Krongold to Monash University, has evolved into the Monash Krongold Clinic. This transformation now encompasses two integral components: Krongold Services, catering to children, adolescents, and their families, and Krongold Research Programs, which drive evidence-based, personalised, and feasible approaches to care.
The Monash Krongold Clinic has made the world fit for all children, including Bianca, who has one of the rarest causes of intellectual disability called Mowat-Wilson’s syndrome which occurs in 1 in 70,000 live births.
“Having the opportunity to participate in her local community through AllPlay Dance has completely transformed Bianca’s life. Because of her condition Bianca faces many challenges in her everyday life but the ability to explore her own natural talent in dance through the programs offered by the Monash Krongold Clinic has not only kept our family together but it’s completely saved our daughters life,” said Bianca’s mother Tabitha.
The reimagined Monash Krongold Clinic, was launched on Thursday 9 November and signifies a pivotal milestone in its mission to support children with disability to thrive in all aspects of life.
Director of the Monash Krongold Clinic, Professor Nicole Rinehart, said the Clinic is proud to be able to deliver research impact quickly to those in need by bringing together a team of researchers from various disciplines to co-design and test interventions.
“By bridging research, community, and the workforce, the Monash Krongold Clinic pioneers a unique co-designed model of care, fostering innovation and excellence that is often challenging to achieve in research-only or clinic-only settings,” Professor Rinehart said.
Thanks to the support of industry, government and philanthropic partners, the Monash Krongold Clinic delivers a number of service and evidence-based research programs that are making a real impact in the lives of children with a disability. These programs include; AllPlay Learn, AllPlay Footy, AllPlay Dance, Joy of Moving Program in Australia and Sleeping Sound Autism.
“Child, family, and community experience and expertise are at the centre of all our innovation and development projects. The Clinic has been able to accelerate and expand these critical programs thanks to support from philanthropic partners, government and industry,” Professor Rinehart said.
Dean of the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Professor Viv Ellis, said the accomplishments and vision of the revitalised Clinic showcases the important role it plays in developing innovative gold-standard models of care to support children of all abilities.
“The reimagined Clinic will take the work of researchers and clinicians to the next level to create transformational impact by placing ‘more community into research’ and ‘more research into community’.
“This will be achieved through a co-designed best-practice model of care that can support children with disability and their families, with access to what they need to thrive in all aspects of life,” Professor Ellis said.
In July, a new strengths based model of care for understanding and supporting children’s development and learning was implemented. The Monash Krongold Clinic’s offering will be further improved with the introduction of a research integrated intervention to support children’s sleep, mental health, and wellbeing. This offering will be available in the Clinic from early 2024.
