Introducing Strength Cards Unlimited!

Posted: 05/09/2022

Introducing the latest edition to our suite of strengths-based tools and resources—Strength Cards Unlimited!  Everyone has strengths. But did you know that strengths are more than just personal qualities? They also include your relationships, culture, health, community, the natural world and access to supports. …Read more

Mental Illness Does NOT Have a Size

Posted: 04/09/2022

Eating Disorders, and mental illnesses come in all shapes, sizes, colours, ages, race and social economic levels. Throughout my lived eating disorder experience I have had to deal with weight stigma and being told things like “you don’t look that sick or underweight”, “your …Read more

Big emotions and the 5 Bears

Posted: 08/07/2022

When it comes to dealing with big emotions, not everyone has the language to describe how they’re feeling. Today we talk with one school counsellor, Judith, who co-created a story to accompany the tactile Bears. What began as a story to help one young …Read more

Can Bears and Meerkats be Friends?

Posted: 10/05/2022

Maybe not in the wilds of nature. But in the wild world of our feelings many unexpected things can go together. Look inside on any typical day and you may notice a swirling mix of emotions and body signals. The limitations of language mean …Read more

Creative ideas for capturing the voice of the child

Posted: 10/09/2021

Many of us who have worked with children have grappled with how we can effectively include the perspective and voice of children in our planning and program development. We know it is important and valuable but how do we do it well? And how …Read more

I have a right to be a child

Posted: 17/11/2020

If you ask people to describe the role that children play in the world, you will get a range of responses, which may include things like, ‘They are the future’, ‘They are the reason we get up and go to work in the morning’, …Read more

A resource for talking about safety with children

Posted: 04/05/2020

As parents, grandparents, carers, teachers and other people who support children, one of our priorities is to keep kids safe. Of course, this isn’t always in our control. Unless we wrap our kids in cotton wool and never let them explore the world, they …Read more

Helping children express emotions through art

Posted: 22/01/2020

When children return to school after the holidays, the playground is often abuzz with stories about road trips to visit grandparents, movies with friends, hanging out at the pool, bike rides, camping with family, conquering of computer games, shopping trips, BBQs or just mooching …Read more

Respectful Relationships at Christmas

Posted: 05/11/2019

If someone were to ask each of us what Christmas meant to us, we would probably all have a different answer. We might talk about Christmas trees covered in wonky decorations made by our children, the ‘shushed’ wrapping of presents late at night or …Read more

A Gathering of HIPPYs

Posted: 31/10/2019

It can be tempting to think that education begins when kids go to school, but in fact it is through play at home in the early years that the very foundations of life-long learning are laid. This is one of the foundations of the …Read more

The Resonance of Opposites

Posted: 23/09/2019

  When it comes to emotions, body signals or moods, it is easy to assume that we feel one thing at a time. But even a cursory look inside ourselves using our amazing super power of ‘interoception’ (that’s our ability to notice what’s happening …Read more

Taking Chances

Posted: 23/09/2019

Green Sea Turtle Using her hind flippers, the female buries up to two hundred eggs in the sand. After about two months, the hatchlings emerge and scamper across the sand, taking their chances on reaching the ocean as gulls and crabs prey on them. …Read more

Everyone Deserves Respect: Rainbow Talk

Posted: 03/09/2019

  Diversity enriches our community by … Everyone’s body is different, therefore … A gender stereotype I have experienced is … These are just three of the forty cards from Rainbow Talk, a resource for opening up respectful conversations and storytelling about diversity—particularly in …Read more

Respectful Relationships: What I Want More Of

Posted: 03/09/2019

Money? Happiness? Love? To be that special person in someone’s life or to have that special someone? There are lots of things we would like more of but isn’t RESPECT at the top of the list when we consider an intimate partner relationship? Intimate …Read more

The Work is a Privilege and an Honour

Posted: 24/06/2019

My name is Monique Beglinger and I am a psychologist based in Sydney, Australia. I currently work in two primary schools and one high school across Western Sydney. Prior to this I worked in child protection, out-of-home care, intensive family support, disability support and …Read more

What is Social & Emotional Literacy?

Posted: 13/05/2019

You could say that social and emotional literacy is the heroic journey from the amygdala to the frontal lobe. A very short distance when measured in terms of the physical brain but a life-long journey in terms of developing impulse control, building respectful relationships, …Read more