Resilient Kids

:: A program for Primary & Secondary Schools :: Teaching optimism, coping skills & personal mastery :: Helping immunise young people against depression

Primary - Teacher’s Guide and CD-ROM

Secondary - Teacher’s Guide and CD-ROM

• To reduce the incidence of suicide in the young through teaching primary prevention strategies.

• Teaching children how to evaluate their automatic thoughts and to re-look at failures or set-backs as challenges to be reacted to with activity and hope.

• Teaching parents how to help their children achieve self-esteem through personal mastery.

• Creating a sense of belonging through parents and school working together for the child’s well being.

• Equip the older teenager with ideas and skills for managing the transition from adolescence to adulthood and handling typical stress situations.

• To take a serious problem and make it easy to communicate and fun to learn through interactivity.

The Resilient Kids Program combines traditional classroom practice with the most current and interactive educational medium of CD-ROM in order to maximise learning outcomes through:

• teacher-led class discussion and student worksheets

• complementary interactive computer-based activities for individuals or groups The colour, movement and sound of the CD-ROM take students of all reading abilities through the stories and activities, which consolidate the key learning concepts introduced by the teacher, including:

Both Primary and Secondary programs include a complete set of teaching notes reproduced in full colour which provide detailed guides for classroom discussion, activities, student worksheets and parent/child activities. These can be photocopied if required. These notes can also be found on each CD in PDF format, which allows teachers to print relevant sections in colour or black and white on demand.

• Where computer facilities are not readily available, the Teaching Notes provide a complete stand alone program.

• Additional copies of the CD-ROM can be made available to families, school counsellors and the wider community at relatively low cost. This means that the Resilient Kids Program is easily accessible and directly involves students, teachers, parents and, indirectly, the wider community.

• The program also directs users to the Open Doors website, where there is information for students, parents, teachers and other professionals.

Response to a National Community Tragedy

The increase in the rate of suicide is a cause for alarm in the community. Increased National figures in youth suicide have prompted Open Doors to take a pro-active role in trying to prevent the loss of further lives.

The Suicide Prevention Task Force report indicates that prevention is far more effective than intervention. The Report also indicates that mood disorders, including depression, have consistently been found to be associated with suicidal ideas, attempts and completed suicide. There is also a strong association between depression and substance abuse. However, the Task Force was informed that depression in children and young people often went undetected (National Health and Medical Research Council, Depression in Young People. March 1997) and that prolonged periods of sadness or unhappiness in young people may be a risk factor for long term social problems and for clinical depression.
 

The Primary Prevention approach is concerned with preventing the development of predisposing problems that could place people at risk of suicide or suicidal behaviour. The first National Stocktake of Youth Suicide Prevention Activities conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies recommends that Primary Schools are an ideal setting for Primary Prevention. Martin E. P Seligman, Ph.D., one of the world’s experts on motivation, has drawn on a long-term research program in America - the Penn Depression Prevention Project, which has been clinically proven to halve the risk of depression in children (M. Seligman, 1995, The Optimistic Child). He presents the idea of “psychological immunisation” against depression, through teaching cognitive and behavioural techniques that instil a sense of optimism and personal mastery. Children can be taught to see that there are many contributing causes to any problem and to take responsibility for what they have contributed to the problem, without blaming themselves for things out of their control. He emphasises that self-esteem develops through action - mastery, persistence, overcoming frustration and boredom and meeting challenges.

The Resilient Kids team members are all dedicated healthcare and education professionals who have spent four years in research and 2 years in the writing and creating of the program.
 

		Open Doors Opening Doors to learning since 1984 Open Doors Counselling and Educational Services has responded to community needs through the provision of counselling, and educational material for youth, since 1984. These preventative education programs are used in 4,000 Australian Schools. Open Doors is a community based, non-profit, registered charity that is committed to supporting the family and the community.

OPEN DOORS COUNSELLING
5 Greenwood Ave Ringwood. 3134
Ph: (03) 9870 7044
Freecall outside Melbourne 1800 647 995
Email: info@opendoors.com.au

Updated May 2005