• 2-day interactive training programs (also available as 6 x 2-hour weekly sessions).

• Courses cost $550 pp (includes GST & workbooks) 

Our programs include:

Working with Families

Apart from the school, families have the most profound impact on children’s development and individual’s lifelong mental health, wellbeing and success. Yet many practicing health workers have had minimal training in ecological frameworks or their application to family systems theory, evidence-based methods for facilitating family change, or strategies for promoting family resilience. In this 2-day training program, participants will review the principles of family systems drawing on Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Model of Development, as well as the internationally recognised work of Virginia Satir and Murray Bowen. We also review contemporary evidence regarding attachment theory, and the emerging field of family resilience. Throughout this interactive workshop, participants have the opportunity to translate theory into practice with structured skill-building activities designed to provide them with a toolbox of techniques for working with families including special issues such as adapting to disability within the family, family loss and grief, working with dual-household families, and strengthening family resilience including an exploration of family resilience from a multicultural perspective.

 Basic Counselling Skills Program

This is a practical skills-focused program that aims to train participants in the basics of counselling applicable to various settings. It covers theoretical models of counselling, understanding the power of non-verbal communication, practical goal-setting and problem-solving, establishing priorities, resolving conflicts, developing action plans, and evaluating outcomes. These skills can be applied in work life as well as to improve personal communication. Specialised components can be included, such as grief counselling, employee counselling, or critical incident counselling.  This program is suitable for anyone in the position of needing to apply basic counselling skills, and can be adapted to the specific counselling needs of your staff or organisation.

Health Promotion Skills Program

Promoting wellness is far more complex than simply placing posters or pamphlets in the school or company canteen. It involves strategies called “social marketing” – finding the right medium to convey relevant health messages to your audience; it involves understanding the principles of change and why people alter their lifestyle habits; and it involves understanding the ways in which social, organisational, and political activities affect health. This program covers health promotion theory and practice applicable to various settings such as schools and the corporate sector, It is suitable for community health workers, workplace health & safety officers, teachers and school principals, and anyone in the position of wanting to understand and apply health promotion principles.

Promoting Resilience in the School Setting

This program is specifically for teachers, school-based health nurses, and others working within the school setting. It is based on contemporary evidence and several key research studies with which the facilitator has been involved over recent years. Resilience is the latest buzz-word, but many resources currently available to schools offer little more than a collection of fun activities with little reference as to how they develop children’s capacity to “bounce back” after difficulties. In this program, the underlying principles of resilience, based on international evidence, are explained. We then apply these in practice, exploring a range of approaches suitable for both primary and secondary school settings, that have been shown to effectively strengthen resilience at individual and classroom levels, as well as changing the school culture to become a resilience-enhancing environment for students and teachers.