In response to a growing need for mental health support to extend to the younger years, Macedon Ranges Shire Council is leading a first-of-its-kind primary school mental health program.
After months of community consultation, the co-designed Branch Out program is introducing parents and teachers to clinicians from Tuning in to Kids who will teach them how to manage and respond effectively to children’s emotions while building resilience.
Branch Out is currently a pilot, working with Woodend Primary and Kyneton Primary with the aim of supporting all primary schools in the Macedon Ranges in the future.
The first events were held with Woodend Primary in May and June.
Principal Diana Ellis and wellbeing lead Kylie Minchew said a staff workshop with psychologist Dr Christiane Kehoe was engaging and informative, followed by a parent information session attended by 100 parents.
“One of the reasons we went down this path was because of the amount of parents on a daily basis saying to us ‘we just don’t know how to manage this, these mental health problems, these anxieties’,” Ms Ellis said.
“That’s why we had such a successful turn up and the reason parents are so engaged, because they feel like finally they’re able to access some support.
“A lot of the parents who attended were from our junior students, more than our senior students, and we thought it would have been the other way around, but we know that a lot of mental health issues and anxiety are presenting now right down in the junior years.”
Ms Ellis said students were giving feedback that a lot of what happened on social media overnight was being carried over into school the next day.
“When we’re saying to children ‘if it’s causing you this much distress then get offline’, the standard answer we get is ‘we cried ourselves to sleep’ or ‘we cried all night’, but when we say ‘you need to get off these platforms’ they just say ‘we can’t, we absolutely have this fear of missing out’,” she said.
Ms Minchew said the program was giving parents ’emotion coaching’ strategies to allow children to stop, reflect and recognise their own emotions, and for parents not to dismiss those emotions.
“When we do emotion dismissing, kids feel they aren’t allowed to feel those emotions and there’s not time for them to deal with those emotions, so it’s about allowing them the opportunity to be coached through those emotions,” she said.
“Parents were very thankful for it because they have tried those strategies at home and they’ve worked.”
Branch Out’s monthly events and learning will continue until October when the program will culminate in a graduation event, as part of Mental Health Week.
