The Power and Purpose behind ‘Next Steps’

Posted: 01/01/2025

Every step we take follows another. Every step we take precedes another. The smallest shifts—doing some dishes, putting something away, stopping something, starting something, taking a shower—can all be significant events on a continuum of ‘next steps’, representing our unique pathways through life. ‘A …Read more

Mental Illness Does NOT Have a Size

Posted: 30/09/2024

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

Exploring Shame in schools

Posted: 31/05/2022

Feelings of shame can be heightened as children and young adults start to compare themselves to others. As children grow, they become more aware of what is considered normal—if their experiences and feelings don’t fit into this version of ‘normal’, this may result in …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

Taking a strengths approach to working with young people

Posted: 10/02/2021

Young people’s lives are in a constant state of flux. They are dealing with growth spurts, the unnerving appearance of body hair in odd places, the making and breaking of relationships, changing schools, hormones, brain restructuring (yep, there are a lot of upgrades happening …Read more

Listening to children’s voices

Posted: 01/06/2020

So often in the work we do, we are looking for innovative and creative ways to include the voices of the people we work alongside. This can be particularly challenging if we are working with children. Dr. Lisa Stafford and her team at the …Read more

Supporting students with the curveballs of life

Posted: 22/01/2020

In this article we talk to student counsellor, Jack Bornyan, about how he used The Nature of Strengths cards in his work with a secondary student. Jack is currently completing a Bachelor of Counselling and is on placement at a secondary college in Frankston, …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

The Power of Vulnerability and Trust in the Classroom

Posted: 25/07/2019

Lillian Daley, a Grade 6 teacher in Darwin—the capital city of Australia’s Northern Territory—writes about the power of vulnerability and trust in the classroom. I first came across Innovative Resources when I was a pre-service teacher completing a placement at a school for disengaged …Read more

Directing Traffic in Schools

Posted: 22/07/2019

Thinking of ourselves as a car can be a very useful thing to do. Clean and green with zero emissions, of course. Or maybe not. Depends on the fuel you are putting in your tank, the junk in the trunk, the road you take …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

Self-Care at Work: Giving, Receiving and Balance

Posted: 15/02/2019

In our work, regardless of the industry, we often find ourselves being pulled one way and another … both at the same time. How do we look after ourselves so that we don’t ‘snap’ in half? Maybe it’s about balance. Whilst looking through the …Read more

Hypervigilance

Posted: 23/01/2019

‘While our so-called “panic hormones” are part of our self-defence mechanism and are therefore to be celebrated, a few skills to “unpanic ourselves” and decompress are also crucial to have in our bag of tricks.’ When you think of a meerkat, what image comes …Read more

Body Signals®—Signposts for Feelings

Posted: 26/10/2018

Our body signals are the gateway to recognising, interpreting and managing our feelings. That is why Body Intelligence (BQ) is such a fundamental aspect of developing Emotional Intelligence (EQ). There are times when each of us, no matter how skilled we may be, has …Read more

Body Signals®: Wisdom from Within

Posted: 26/09/2018

Our body communicates its wisdom to us long before our conscious mind can get a word in.  That’s why body signals are sometimes called our ‘early warning signs’, and they are an important key to staying safe, and building social and emotional wellbeing. How …Read more