The Resilient Kids Program is being led by Social Futures, in consortia with the Family Centre and the Human Nature Therapy. The Resilient Kids Program has been developed with children and young people, their families and carers, schools and service providers across the Northern Rivers. This included the Resilience Survey completed by 6,611 children and young people in 75 schools, 6 workshops and 6 service design workshops. The Program will be delivered in three streams.

  • Stream 1: Education and skill building through school-based supports
  • Stream 2: Activities and programs to support community resilience building, connection and counselling to meet the needs of children and young people
  • Stream 3: First Nations Children and Young People Initiatives

The Family Centre has been delivering innovative social and emotional wellbeing REALskills programs in schools in Tweed, Byron and Ballina Shires for over 20 years, and will deliver Stream 1.

There are 3 education package options available to your school community that can be delivered to students in primary and secondary school aged 8-18 years:

  • Disaster Education, Resilience and Wellbeing Education – Half day large group
  • Disaster Education, Resilience and Wellbeing Education – Full day large group
  • Stormbirds – Multi-session small group

School communities affected by the 2022 floods and school communities that are isolated from support services will be prioritised. However, the aim is to provide the packages to as many primary and secondary schools as possible.

The education packages will be delivered in schools between Term 4, 2023 and end of Term 2, 2025.

Disaster Education, Resilience and Wellbeing Education

This package shares information and provides children and young people with the tools to explore their strengths and how they contribute to their resilience and emotional wellbeing. It is also designed to support them to build their knowledge and skills in relation to disaster preparedness and support seeking strategies. 

There are two formats are available:

  • Half day presentation – designed to be a brief information and skills session for a large group, delivered in an interactive and engaging supportive style; or
  • Full day presentation and workshops – including activities for a whole large group of students and workshops that those students travel to in smaller groups, for a more personal exploration of topics and opportunities to share individual experiences in more depth with support. The group could be a year, class, school or other group dependent on need.

Both formats include content from The Resilience Doughnut which has been proven to help children, adolescents and adults to identify and combine their strengths to build resilience. With its focus on strengths and encouragement to do more of what’s working, The Resilience Doughnut can support individuals to take responsibility for their own wellbeing, build their competence and confidence to face adversity and deal with times of rapid change.

Children and young people participating in these programs will learn:

  • to identify personal strengths that contribute to resilience
  • about areas in their life they are able to change in order to improve their ability to cope
  • to recognise strengths in their peers and learn the skills to encourage them
  • knowledge, skills and education in relation to disaster preparedness
  • to seek support and support others (where appropriate).

Stormbirds

Stormbirds is a small group education program that supports the recovery of children and young people in response to change, loss and uncertainty that often results from natural disasters. These events include storms, floods, bushfires, earthquakes, droughts, cyclones, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis.

Stormbirds is generally offered to children and young people following a natural disaster. It provides an opportunity for children and young people to learn the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to understand and respond well to such experiences.

To ensure the integrity of the program Stormbirds is generally delivered to small groups of students.

Stormbirds provides a safe learning environment for children and young people to:

  • acknowledge their experiences and recognise they are ‘not the only one’
  • understand that their feelings and other behavioural reactions are normal
  • develop skills for coping, positive choices, goal-setting and decision making
  • build a peer support network and a felt sense of belonging and connection
  • help restore self-confidence, self-esteem and self-respect.

If you have questions or need more information you can email us at [email protected] or call Kat Fermanis, Manager Resilient Kids Program on 1800 211 154.

You can find out more about the funded program and service design at Healthy North Coast Resilient Kids Program