A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Associate Professor Terry BowlesCan you remember when you left your primary school for the excitement of secondary school; or when you sold your cherished first car and bought a better, more reliable one; or when you first left home? These are all examples of how profound events prompt identity change. In these cases each previous [...]
Kate Noble, Victoria University; Peter Hurley, Victoria University, and Sergio Macklin, Victoria University Three quarters of a million Australian children are likely to be experiencing employment stress in the family as a result of COVID-19. This is on top of around 615,000 children whose families were already dealing with employment stress, whose situation may have [...]
Associate Professor Terry BowlesAs COVID-19 restrictions are gradually lifted across Australia and we emerge from months of isolation, it’s important to note that we have passed the threshold of time required to establish new habits. Research shows that it takes between 30 and 60 days to establish a new habit or to stop a bad [...]
Can the challenges we face during the coronavirus pandemic help us reconsider what matters most and how we live our lives? - Professor David Forbes The challenges we are all facing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic have the potential to cause serious and sometimes long-lasting problems for individuals and societies. But can they [...]
Dr Greg Nyilasy In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has come to dominate the media, both domestically and abroad. Alongside increased attention on the pandemic, has come the viral spread of COVID-19 fake news online. Many of these stories, as tantalising as they are, are patently false. In the case of COVID-19, the spread of fake [...]
Every year about 150 students enrol in the introductory English literature course at the Australian National University, which I teach. The course includes works by Shakespeare, Austen, Woolf and Dickens. I know what these books did for me as a student 20 years ago, but times have changed. I am curious to discover what reading [...]
Young people are demanding change. In the last few days, young Indigenous activists and their supporters blocked parliamentarians in Victoria, B.C., from accessing the provincial legislature and led waves of protest across the country. For some young people, climate change is urgent. For others, gun violence is a crisis. From truth and reconciliation to inclusion [...]
Alfred Tatum, a US education professor specialising in literacy for African American boys, coined the term “bookprint”. He said it’s something we all have – a list of books that have impacted how we see ourselves and the world. What we read matters. Reading shapes the way we see the world, increases our understanding of [...]
As bushfires rage and our cities lie shrouded in smoke, climate change is shaping as a likely topic of conversation at the family dinner table this Christmas. Such discussions can be fraught if family members hold differing views. You may not all agree on the urgency of dealing with climate change – or indeed whether [...]
Empathy isn't always what people think of when considering important factors in leading a good and successful life. It's difficult, uncomfortable, and doesn't seem to yield any immediate, tangible gain for either the giver or the receiver. Like many words to do with emotions it's also fuzzy; hard enough to define, let alone quantify. Despite [...]
