Hurstbridge Therapeutic Farm

The Hurstbridge Farm is a therapeutic residential care facility run by the Department of Health and Human Services for young people aged 10-15 years who have suffered developmental trauma. The young people live at the residential facility in Hurstbridge for approximately two years and the program operates in a therapeutic milieu, informed chiefly by attachment and trauma theory. The program has the capacity to house eight young people and aims to assist them through a safe and consistent care environment and wide-ranging therapeutic interventions to overcome the impact of their traumatic experiences.
YarraMe School
The program was established in 2008 and operates as an on-site education program for the young people who reside at the Farm. Informed by the therapeutic approach and trauma and attachment theory; the program aims to re-engage students with education, providing a scaffolded, personalised learning in accordance with the Victorian Curriculum. The program aims to provide dynamic, experiential learning opportunities with a strong emphasis on social and emotional learning. Students are provided positive behaviour supports to assist with developing their social, emotional and behaviour management skills, in order to facilitate re-engagement and transition to education or workplace pathways subsequent to their residential placement at the Farm.
Please note - Referrals to this program are only made by the Department of Health and Human Services, Child Protection Division.