HEALTH & WELLBEING // MACKILLOP INSTITUTE
Helping students overcome change and uncertainty THE CUMULATIVE IMPACTS OF DROUGHT, FLOODS AND BUSHFIRES, COMPOUNDED BY RECURRENT COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTED MANY COMMUNITIES. THESE SUCCESSIVE DISASTERS HAVE TAKEN A TOLL ON THE WHOLE SCHOOL COMMUNITY, INCLUDING SCHOOL TEACHERS AND LEADERS WHO ARE THE BACKBONE OF THE SCHOOL AND PROVIDING THE SAFE COMMUNITY HUB.
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The MacKillop Institute is committed to supporting school professionals to support children and young people impacted by uncertainty and significant change and loss experiences with its Seasons for Growth evidence-based programs to help them understand and respond to adverse life experiences. The Seasons for Growth (SfG) children and young people’s program was developed in mid1990s in collaboration with Professor Anne Graham AO, Director of the Centre for Children and Young People, Southern Cross University. SfG General Manager, Fiona McCallum tells Education Matters that SfG is an Australian evidence-based, early intervention program that is trauma informed, and delivered to small groups of children and young people over eight weeks. “SfG is based on the belief that change and loss
are a part of life, and grief is the normal response to these losses. Often people think about grief as a response to the death of someone we care about – in our work, we describe grief as a response to the major life change and loss,” McCallum says. “The last 18 months has been challenging for many school communities with the devastating impacts of bushfires and floods and the additional uncertainty and complexity with the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent research suggests that 85 per cent of parents have reported changes in their children during the COVID-19 lockdown. “Victoria’s Commission for Children and Young People recently cited one third of young people surveyed reported psychological distress as a result of the e pandemic. The experiences can negatively impact children and young people as it affects
The program is based on the belief that change and loss are a part of life, and grief is the normal response to these losses.
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their development and overall social and emotional wellbeing. We also know that children and young people are more likely to adapt well given the timely and appropriate information and support.” Other experiences that trigger feelings of loss can include family separation, death, parental unemployment or imprisonment, loss of a pet, illness, change of house or school. These losses can trigger additional impacts including losses of routines, safety, dreams and traditions. The SfG program aims to provide children with a safe space to come together to reflect on their experiences and to learn knowledge and identify support networks to help them now and in the future. Over the past 25 years, McCallum says the SfG programs have expanded to meet the increasing needs of communities in Australia and internationally, having supported more than 350,000 children, young people and adults in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales. With a commitment to supporting children and young people following experiences of disaster, suicide, forced migration, home-based care, Good Grief can also adapt to support adults, parents/carers, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. “The core intentions of SfG are the development of resilience and emotional literacy in order to promote social and emotional wellbeing, with the overarching aim to improve the quality of life of children and young people,” McCallum says. “The program activities align the metaphor of the seasons with change loss experiences. We reflect on the changes that we see and feel with the seasons, like the changes in the leaves in Autumn and how we can feel we want to hibernate
