Category: blog
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The key to student wellbeing is…
by Alice Peel November 23, 2020 LOVE? NO! (although we are fans of the stuff) MONEY NO! (also fans) STAFF WELLBEING? YES! You can stop reading now. Still here? Need more convincing? Here…
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Everyone has mental health. Here’s how to help students take care of it.
5 ways to encourage positive mental health habits and practices with students. It can be very difficult for young people to navigate their way through the world. They need to learn how to deal with big feelings and new emotions, all while trying to make friends, experience new learning environments and manage their self image…
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A cultural shift in how we think about mental health
by Alice Peel October 14, 2021 Let us begin by saying: BRING IT ON! BRING ON the National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, an initiative of the Australian Government’s National Mental Health Commission. BRING ON the fact that this is the first time a national government has developed a strategy that considers mental health and wellbeing…
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Does mental health + wellbeing education need its own swimming lane?
by Alice Peel October 1, 2021 Mental health and wellbeing tends to be tucked tidily into the PDHPE curriculum. This to date has highlighted to all that it is a requirement of Australian schools to teach mental wellbeing. However, as I sat and listened to Christine Morgan (the CEO of the National Mental Health Commission and National…
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A ticking emotional time bomb: being a school principal in 2021
by Alice Peel July 5, 2021 we meet serving the wide variety of schools that Grow Your Mind is in. Even if you are not a leader the reasons why this particular role may be stressful are glaringly obvious: Students! Parents! Staff! COVID-19! The ACU’s 2020 Principal’s Health and Wellbeing report found that our school leaders are not only overwhelmed by the…
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Primary school classrooms are where mental health education must begin
by Alice Peel May 12, 2021 Guess what the largest burden of disease effecting children aged 0-14 is? Mental health problems. In fact: 50% of adult mental health conditions begin by the age of 14 1 in 7 primary aged children are experiencing mental health problems today Society is experiencing major and rapid changes and this is…
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A FREE social + emotional wellbeing tool is waiting for your classroom
by Alice Peel March 8, 2021 Oral storytelling is as universal as it is ancient. Most of us grew up listening to the soothing, mesmerising, entertaining words and sounds of the voices closest to us. We know how the voice can bring a more personal, informal and often engaging touch to what is being said and…
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Building resilience in children with ordinary magic
by Alice Peel September 3, 2020 An artist residing in rural Victoria makes herself a cup of tea, heads into her studio and starts the detailed process of creating a portrait entirely out of playdough of someone remarkable. She started this ritual at the beginning of the pandemic. We know this because we asked her to…
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Thank you Michelle Obama for waking me up to how I am feeling
by Kristina Freeman August 24, 2020 I am Kristina Freeman, the co-founder of the wonderful Grow Your Mind, a mental health social venture and I am also an acupuncturist. My days are often filled with writing, reading, talking and dispensing tips and treatments to help support physical and emotional wellbeing. Lately however, I have realised how…
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Creativity and how it is helping me embrace this ever changing world
by Kristina Freeman July 21, 2020 My name is Kristina, I am the co-founder of Grow Your Mind, an acupuncturist and the mother of 2 smallish humans. When the first lockdown occurred I thought I had it in the bag. Homeschooling and running a business that values being present and calm. How hard could this be?…
