NSW Past Activities

This page publishes stories about training activities and special events, and information about the implementation of MindMatters in school communities. If you have a story to tell and would be happy for it to be published on this website, please email one of the NSW State Project Officers, Katharine Pryor or Maryanne Vorreiter.

Level Two Planning Workshop – Dubbo, 7–8 June 2011

Twenty-two people participated in the Level Two Planning Workshop at Dubbo Golf Club on the 7 – 8 June, 2011. Teams of people came from DEC (Department of Education and Communities) schools in the region. Some schools were able to send six people as part of their teams. One team who had difficulty finding relief staff until the last minute ended up with four people including the Principal attending. Three people travelled three hours from Walgett to come to the workshop. There were diverse teams with representation from a Principal, Deputy Principals, Head Teachers, Chaplain, School Counsellors, Aboriginal Education Officer and classroom teachers. It was exciting to see the size of the core teams and their breadth of experience. The new School Link Co-ordinator and a Health Promotion Officer from Greater Western NSW Area Health Service also came along.

Dubbo is an area where there has been an increase in participation in workshops and it is due mainly to the relationships that have been formed with key people at the local level. The Student Services Consultant in this region is very proactive, constantly promotes MindMatters. and maintains contact with the State Project Officer, via email or over the phone, about the workshops and who has participated. Centacare Wilcannia Forbes, which is located in Dubbo, has a number of proactive Partnership Brokers and a good relationship has been formed with these people. A new School Link Coordinator has been appointed to the region and he has now attended two of the workshops in the region. Much of the success of the workshops can be attributed to the strong support provided through the relationships that have been formed with these key people.

The 30 second marketing spiel towards the end of day two of the L2 Planning workshop had everyone in stitches of laughter. It is hoped that participants will take some of this enthusiasm and engagement back to their school communities and use it in some way as part of the process of communicating their intentions for whole school interventions to support the mental health and wellbeing of their school communities.

Level Two Planning Workshop – Tweed Heads, 11–12 February 2010

The Tweed Heads workshop was fantastic! There were five school teams represented, which showed a marvellous commitment so early in the year. A mixture of staff attended and the participants included principals, deputy principals and various heads of departments, reflecting the solid core-team commitment to moving MindMatters forward in their schools.

Teams focused on a variety of outcomes for their school plans including an emphasis on increasing staff understanding of mental health and wellbeing – the second of four key enablers from the MindMatters Implementation Model.

Participants' comments included:

'Great for strategy planning.'
'Need to adopt a whole school approach – again tools provided a blueprint for our implementation.'
'Realisations made with regard to coordinating what is already happening.'
'Again very practical, doable; could be applied to our school setting.'
'Variety of useful data that we can now utilise.'
'Excellent practical approaches to model how to get the message across.'
'Formed a core team as a result.'

Level One Introductory Workshop – The Entrance, 16–17 February 2010.

Week 4 of Term 1 saw 29 participants attend this workshop, reflecting the interest and commitment from schools for MindMatters.

Several schools had attended a Level Two Planning Workshop during 2009 and were building staff knowledge and understanding by sending more staff to the introductory workshop. Twenty per cent of participants were executive staff who accompanied year advisors and classroom teachers from their schools.

Feedback from the workshop included:

'Very informative and practical.'
'Great activities.'
'Really enjoyed it – reminded me of and reinforced a lot of what I learned in Level Two Planning Workshop.'
'Would have been better had others come from my school.'
'Fantastic, very valuable information.'
'Useful, practical, thought-provoking.'
'Both days were excellent; found them very exciting and useful.'

Student-Led Youth Empowerment Process – Armidale, 23rd February 2010

Youth presenter, Joel Anderson, and I flew into Armidale excited about the 36 participants we were going to work with the following day. Eight schools had registered and were bringing a mix of staff and students to explore the possibilities that exist within their schools for students to share the lead for the promotion of mental health and welbeing.

The enthusiasm of the staff and students added to our excitement and everyone engaged with the activities in a meaningful way. One highlight was when students ran some of the activities from the NSW SRC resource 'Creating Connections Student to Student'. I am sure the catering staff were wondering what was going on in the training room as the laughter and movement may have been a little unexpected!

Staff and student feedback included:

'Good to have hands-on participation.'
'Great to break up students and adults for activities.'
'Would do everyone some good to attend this.'
'It was fun to interact with others, get to know each other, break the ice a bit and feel a lot more comfortable in the environment.'
'It was great fun and I learnt a lot. I am going to bring a lot of this back to school.'
'This was really helpful – student feedback was enlightening. Great workshop as always!'
'Very informative and I feel this is a major focus for our school.'

Level One Introductory Workshop – Parramatta, 29–30 April 2009

New and experienced teachers were actively engaged in this workshop at the delightful venue of Old Government House in Parramatta. Level One introduces participants to the MindMatters resource kit, raising awareness of social and emotional learning and wellbeing at a teacher- and whole school level.

Presenters Maryanne Vorreiter and Christine Moran took a tag-team approach, encouraging participants to engage in discussion and reflection about their teaching experiences. Participants appreciated the opportunity to develop their understanding of a whole school approach to social and emotional learning. They enriched the workshop by readily sharing their knowledge and discussing ways to use the MindMatters materials.

A highlight was learning the Kate Miller-Heidke song, 'Caught in the Crowd', which focuses on bullying and bystander behaviour. The video clip on YouTube would be a useful stimulus to use with students in a pastoral care group.

Participant feedback suggested that they found the workshop very useful.
•    'Would come again and suggest it to others.'
•    'I can now encourage other staff members to access these tools I learnt today.'
•    'I gained resources I can use in the classroom and (a knowledge of) where to find them.'
•    'I appreciated the opportunity to network and compare progress, and unpack the resource kit.'
•    'It gave me a chance to reflect on school policy and how to integrate social and emotional learning into our school.'