Students at Garbutt State School have been armed with the tools and strategies they need to overcome tough times, resulting in better behaviour and improved focus as they take on The Resilience Project for the first time.
The primary school commenced a P-6 rollout of The Resilience Project schools program at the start of 2023, delivered by the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys and supported by the Bishop Michael Putney Fellowship through the Tropical Brain and Mind Foundation.
Using the program’s online resources supporting teachers with the delivery of the pillars of gratitude, empathy and mindfulness, underpinned by emotional literacy across 30 lessons per year, it’s seen a shift in the way students from prep to year 6 deal with daily challenges.
Garbutt State School teacher Megan Morris said the program has provided students with tools to overcome negative feelings, deal with them effectively and move forward.
“All our teachers attended a professional development session where Ray (Thompson) came out and met with us to explain how the program works, and we had a look at all the online resources which we thought was a great fit for our school,” she said.
“We’re seeing that it’s really starting to work, the kids are using different strategies we’ve taught them through the program this year like five-finger breathing when they need calm down or focus on something, and they instigate that themselves.
“If they’re escalated or having a bad moment it helps them stop and think, is this a small problem or a big problem, and if it’s a small problem do I need to react to it in a big way?
“We really want to get the kids thinking about the program pillars of gratitude, empathy and mindfulness with a real focus on them being grateful for the things they do have.”
The rollout of the program follows an evaluation study* which found a higher level of wellbeing problems in primary and secondary students in the North Queensland region compared to national averages, with the school-based program having a measurable impact on reversing these statistics through a long-term approach.
The study found around 3 in 10 North Queensland primary students and 4 in 10 secondary students report high levels of depression symptoms, anxiety or both.
In comparing North Queensland program and non-program schools, results show that involvement in the program had a positive impact across key mental health and wellbeing indicators including depression, anxiety, engagement, life satisfaction and hope.
Conversely, the evaluation found that primary students not participating in the program experienced heightened levels of anxiety and depression and reduced levels of life satisfaction and hope.
Cowboys Community ambassador Ray Thompson said the program provides strategies to support students, parents or teachers through a difficult time, with those strategies becoming more effective when used over the long term.
“We’ve been able to get longitudinal results to suggest the program, when implemented over a period of four to five years, has a significant impact on the wellbeing of students within the school so to have that support to continue the program has been enormous,” he said.
“This is the first year Garbutt State School have been able to roll the program out and we’ve seen great change particularly in behaviour and language, the way they regulate their emotions and the strategies they use as well as their practices of gratitude, empathy and mindfulness.
“The support from Bishop Michael Putney Fellowship through the Tropical Brain and Mind Foundation has been massive for schools like Garbutt State School who don’t have the funding to support a wellbeing program as comprehensive as The Resilience Project.”
In 2023, The Resilience Project is delivered to participating Townsville schools and supported by the Bishop Michael Putney Fellowship.
The Fellowship was established in honour of Bishop Michael Putney, a Bishop of the Catholic Diocese in Townsville from 2001 until his passing in March 2014 and keen Cowboys supporter and rugby league fan.
Its purpose is to promote mental health and wellbeing among young individuals, initially focusing on elite sportspeople aged 15-20 years and now expanding under the partnership to reach primary aged students using rugby league to encourage further discussion around mental wellbeing and emotional literacy.
*Source: “Cowboys and The Resilience Project partnership program: Comparison of mental health outcomes in North Queensland Schools 2020-2022” by Dr Amanda Santamaria and Dr Mark Kohler, The University of Adelaide (2023).
