Articles

Author - Margo Ward, KidsXpress Founder and CEO

KidsXpress is a dynamic expressive therapy program for children 4-14years old who have faced significant challenges, loss and or trauma in their lives.  Duringthe KidsXpress program kids are finding ways to cope with their situation through music, art and drama therapies, providing kids with the foundation to learn positive coping mechanisms for life. Many life tragedies such as being bullied at school, the separation of parents, witnessing domestic violence, receiving chemotherapy for cancer, watching your sibling or parent die, or being subjected to abuse & neglect can all have devastating effects on the child and their future to cope with life.

Actevate is committed to empowering people back to work and make a fundamental difference where they can to injured workers. Robert Migliore’s passion to support the human condition and its potential inspired him to seek places where he can add value to society. This personal mandate not only led him to establish Actevate but also to support KidsXpress.

Having been involved with KidsXpress since 2006 the partnership between KidsXpress and Actevate took a slightly new direction this year by providing an amazing opportunity for children to express themselves through photography. In August last year Robert was so deeply moved by a photography exhibition by mentally ill people in the Orange community curated by Vince Lovecchio that he immediately offered this opportunity to KidsXpress. Twenty (20) children who had completed the KidsXpress program were given a disposable camera and a notebook to capture images and narratives of their lives. This powerful event displayed the courage and healing of children with emotions to big too deal with alone. The result was an extraordinary exhibit that honored the child’s journey of self discovery whilst displaying such rare insights into their world.

This experience opened up the world of possibility for children to tell their story through photography but first Robert took the extraordinary task of putting himself in the child’s shoes. Together with Vince Lovecchio, Robert guided these twenty children through his experience of taking his own photos revealing his vulnerability whilst role modeling that it is ok to show your feelings and emotions. The children were captivated and what resulted were images and comments back from the children that spellbound even the hardest of hearts at the KidsXpress Life thru a Lens Exhibit at the Art Gallery of NSW in February this year.

The comments and feedback from this night of wonder and intrigue were extraordinary however it was the look on the parents and children’s faces that was priceless. As The Honorable Linda Burney, Minster of Community Services took the stage the audience was shocked with statistics and moved to hear of the importance KidsXpress plays in keeping our kids safe. However it was her words ‘how it takes a village to raise a child’ and most of all ‘love’ that brought to life not only the program but the true element of giving and support. One of my favorite memory’s from this evening is when a 12 year old girl nervously stood on stage to sing ‘I believe I can fly” and in the moment when she faltered the Actevate staff began to sing the chorus with her – a moment when the village raised a child to believe in herself!

It was some time later that we once again got to display the exhibit for the art community at Silver Pixel Studio, Newtown in October. Again moments of emotion and a deep sense of connectedness was brought forth from the images via the audience. The message from this exhibit continues to touch and transform lives in a way I did not appreciate nor comprehend when Robert first spoke to me about this concept. I am so pleased that he managed to convince me KidsXpress should do this and forever grateful Actevate supported us to make it a reality for so many kids.

We once asked a child why other kids should be able to come to KidsXpress and this 5 year old little girl said “Well because every child has a right to believe they can be amazing”. Actevate's commitment to KidsXpress is amazing and because of their support and others like them, kids are believing they have that right too.

If you are interested to find out more about this innovative program please visit our web site on www.kidsxpress.org.au or contact KidsXpress on (02) 9380 9220.