A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Teachers - is there something missing in how you are connecting with your students - those kids in Years 5 to 9 who sometimes seem to be in a world of their own? Do they appear to be at times fidgety, uninspired, unsure and at other times loud, challenging and emotional? The 'middle years' period [...]
A couple of weeks ago I attended a lecture at the Sydney Opera House. Speaking was Professor Martin Seligman, the founding father of what has been termed Positive Psychology. His research has led him to devise a model that he has termed the PERMA model for wellbeing. P = Positive Emotions Seligman cites the [...]
Surveys reveal deep social pessimism and public unease in developed nations, including Australia; pessimists outnumber optimists about our future quality of life. But environmental and resource issues are not the main reasons. The concerns are more immediate and personal; more social, cultural and economic; more about the quality of relationships than material conditions. We need [...]
From Mindfulness to Masturbation: Girlfriend’s January issue ‘Switched on: Sorting out the small things’ provides readers with 10 things they need to know about 2013, which ranges fascinatingly from the Australian Federal Election and our troops exiting Afghanistan, to One Direction’s World Tour and actors Ryan Gosling and Robert Paterson in Australia. ‘Are you a [...]
Happiness in adulthood may be determined by the quality of relationships in your youth, not brain power or academic prowess, new Australian research suggests. "This shows that there is an enduring, significant relationship between being well-adjusted as a child and being well-adjusted as an adult," said Dr. Victor Fornari, director of child/adolescent psychiatry at North [...]
Hardly a week passes without some sensational news about brain scans unleashing yet another secret of our cognitive faculties. Very recently I stumbled upon the news that according to recent research neuroscientists can tell, depending on your brain responses, whether you and your significant one will still be together in a few years: “You might hide [...]
A separation or divorce in the family is all too common now days with the divorce rate in Australia at almost 50%*. Many young people are placed in a situation where they need to learn new skills to cope with the changes. It can often bring out a mixture and extremes of emotions from sad [...]
At any age friends play an integral part in people’s lives. For young people the forging of friendships is important for their social and mental development. However the process of making and keeping friends is not always easy. Children who feel they do not have friends may become withdrawn, exhibit antisocial behaviour and even become [...]
While the traditional three Rs (reading, writing & arithmetic) were only aimed at the students, these alternate three Rs could serve as a guiding philosophy for the whole learning community; students, staff, parents and the wider community. Relationships - Humans are social beings and as such positive relationships are key to human flourishing. As well as [...]
Brad and Fiona were just your typical 17 year olds. Brad worked at the local service station and Fiona didn’t work at school. Brad was out to prove his manhood and Fiona was out to prove to her friends that she wasn’t frigid and she could bed a man as well as the best of [...]
