Ready, Set, Resilience
The Resilience Program: an initiative between St Andrew’s Cathedral School and The Butterfly Foundation
Young people today face more issues and concerns than any other generation in history. A disproportionately large number of youth struggle with serious mental health problems. The rate of deliberate self harm has increased by one third over the last eight years. Most people are unaware of the terrifying rates of eating and body image disorders amongst our kids or, the rather confronting fact that experts generally agree adolescents have the worst mental health in the human lifespan.
Of particular interest to SACS are the emerging indications that well designed school programs can have a significant and positive impact on these issues. As a Christian school, we are committed to nurturing our students from Junior to Senior College; preparing them for the challenges that life will inevitably throw at them. We realise that there are direct correlations between social and emotional competence as early as year 2 and a student’s academic performance in year 8. Positive mental and body image are inextricably linked to educational development. St Andrew’s aims to give its students more than just good marks; we believe in helping individuals grow into ‘whole’ people, confident and self-assured.
In light of this, St Andrew’s has entered into a partnership with The Butterfly Foundation; Australia’s largest charitable organisation supporting people with body image and eating disorders. The Foundation is renowned for its innovative and inclusive work with over 50,000 young people.
With a team of internationally recognised academics and educators selected from three universities, a unique ‘Resilience’ programme is being specially designed and implemented from Term Four 2009. By equipping students, educating parents and supporting teachers, the programme aims to enhance psychological and emotional resilience in boys and girls from K – 12, as well as promoting positive mental health and body image. The focus is on prevention, with the programme spanning 3 – 5 years and being largely concentrated on prevention in the Junior School. We want to encourage our students to recognise that they don’t have to get things right all the time, that seemingly impossible tasks can be achieved when split into manageable chunks.
As part of an ongoing relationship with The Butterfly Foundation SACS will be introducing The Dove ‘BodyThink’ workshops in the last few weeks of Term 4. Presented by Paula Kotowiscz, the workshops will focus on media driven images of beauty and attempt to break down the concept that these must be conformed to, as well as the power of our words to influence the self worth of others.
We are very excited about the opportunity of working in partnership with The Butterfly Foundation in the hope that, as a result, our children will be happier, healthier and more resilient to face the obstacles of the years ahead.
