A healthy relationships program for primary schools · Relationships Australia Victoria, known as RAV, is a valued provider of specialist family . and relationship services. Our vision

A healthy relationships program for primary schools

Relationships Australia Victoria, known as RAV, is a valued provider of specialist family

and relationship services.

Our vision is for positive, safe and respectfulrelationships for couples, families,

schools,workplaces and communities.

Contents

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About Relationships Australia Victoria 5

Rationale 6

Program aims 6

Target group 6

Program facilitators 7

Structure 7

The curriculum 7

Key messages 8

Topics explored 8

Pedagogy 8

Session outlines 9

Session 1 9

Session 2 10

Session 3 10

Risk management 12

Group screening process 12

Debriefing 12

Communication to the school community 13

Contact us 13

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About Relationships Australia Victoria

Relationships Australia Victoria (RAV) is a valued provider of specialist family and relationship services. We provide services from 12 centres in metropolitan Melbourne andregionalVictoria,ourCentralOfficeinCamberwellandvariousoutreachlocations.

Our vision is for positive, safe and respectful relationships for couples, families, schools,workplacesandcommunities.Ourobjectiveistorelievesuffering,distressand helplessness and to enhance physical, social and emotional wellbeing. We are a community-based,not-for-profitorganisationwithnoreligiousaffiliations.Ourservicesare for all members of the community, regardless of religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, lifestyle choice, cultural background or economic circumstances.

RAV has a long history and established reputation in providing therapeutic counselling, psycho-education and other support services to children, families and communities. We provide counselling for all aspects of relationships, including counselling for couples, families,children,menandwomenaswellaspre-marriagecounselling.Weofferfamilydispute resolution services (FDR) including child-inclusive FDR.

Through our Registered Training Organisation (RTO), we provide accredited training and professional development education. We also provide relationship education, parenting skills training, family violence prevention, support and recovery services, whole of family and child-focused programs, workplace services and programs which support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

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Closerelationshipsinfluenceusacrossourlifespanandplayacrucialroleinourgrowth and development. Learning about the fundamental ways our connections to others enrich our lives and our wellbeing can guide us to make good choices.

I like, like you: A healthy close relationships program for primary schools is a preventative initiative developed by RAV that utilises a whole of school approach to promote the connection between healthy relationships and emotional health and wellbeing. The program is an adaptation of RAV’s successful and popular secondary school program, I like, like you: A healthy intimate relationships program for schools. This program for secondary schools is currently provided to year 7 to 10 students in schoolsandVictorianCertificateofAppliedLearning(VCAL)programsinVictoria.

Current approaches to violence prevention emphasise primary prevention and early intervention to encourage respectful and equitable relationships. Underlying the I like, like you approach is a desire to, in a prevention context, address issues that may lead to destructive behaviours in relationships, most notably, family violence.

Thereisasignificantpositivecorrelationbetweenhealthyintimaterelationshipandgeneral health and wellbeing (Kiecolt-Glaser and Newtown, 2001; Prouix, Helms and Buehler, 2007). Given this, there are strong grounds for a whole school approach

Rationale for the program

Program aims

• To promote the connection between healthy relationships and emotional health and wellbeing.

• Provide practical skills for maintaining good mental health and healthy relationships.

• Promote attitudes and behaviours demonstrated by equitable and respectful relationships.

• Provide students with an opportunity to consider the kinds of relationships they want to experience in their future.

curriculum that assist students to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes that emphasise the connection between healthy minds and healthy relationships.

I like, like you: A healthy close relationships program for primary schools uses a primary prevention method that aims to introduce the knowledge, skills and attitudes that promote healthy relationships.

Theprogramisspecificallydesignedtobeappropriateforyearfiveandsixstudents,howeveritcanbecustomisedfor other age ranges as required. Both boys and girls can attend the program together.

Target group

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The I like, like you program is run by trained facilitators experienced in working with children, adolescents and families with training in social work, psychology and family and couple therapy. All RAV facilitators are required to have completed Police Checks and Working with Children Checks.

Program facilitators

The program utilises elements of a whole of school approach, in that the groups are run in the curriculum either in conjunction with a teacher or alongside a teacher. The program generally encompasses weekly sessions that run over three weeks during class time.

Facilitators consult with principals and/or teachers about needs of the school and students, and design the program to meet these needs.

The curriculum

Structure

“This program is designed to help you to develop healthy relationships with your friends, siblings, teachers, neighbours and parents.

We believe that relationships involve three key parts….there is a ME, a YOU and a WE.

In order to have a healthy relationship, we believe you need to look after all three parts.”

The curriculum, which has a mental health promotion and violence prevention emphasis, integrates contemporary and evidence based knowledge about healthy minds and healthy relationships.

The program explores knowledge, practical skills and attitudes that encourage healthy relationships and is divided up into three sessions:

Me:

• How to take care of yourself and identify what is a healthy relationship.

You:

• Practicing and learning about the skills and knowledge you need to communicate with people who are close to you.

We:

• Being able to look after the ‘me’ and the ‘you’ together to create a healthy relationship

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• What does a safe and healthy relationship feel like?

• Power relations and Identifying when a relationship is not safe for you.

• The connection between emotional health and healthy relationships.

• Healthy minds: Practical skills for emotional health (identifying and regulating our emotional states).

• Styles of communicating that harm relationships and what you can do instead.

• Managingthenegativesandrepairingafterconflict.

• Boundaries: How to enjoy being friends and still be yourself.

• Attitudesandinfluencesthatsupportandharmrelationships(identifyingandregulating our beliefs).

Topics explored

Sessions have been designed to utilise a combination of learning, experiential and didacticactivitiesthatwillpromotecriticalreflection,relationshipskillsbuilding,empathy, assertion, and analysing and evaluation of self and other.

Pedagogy

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Topics• Introduction to group

• To identify - What is a relationship?

• To explore - What are the important relationships in our lives? Who decides what an important relationship is?

• How do we tell if a relationship is healthy or unhealthy?

• The connection between taking care of ourselves and taking care of others.

• The role of the bystander in taking care of each other.

Learning Objectives• Introduction to the group topic.

• Establishing group rules and responsibilities.

• Confidentiality.

• Planning for self-care.

• Disclosure and safety during the group.

• Knowledge acquisition in relation to healthy relationships.

• Criticalreflectiononattitudesthatsupportunhealthyrelationships.

Session 1 - Me

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Topics• Communication styles that harm relationships and what you can do instead.

• Conflictresolution,managingthenegativesandrepairingafterarguments.

• Healthy minds: Practical skills for emotional health including learning to identify and self-regulate emotions.

• Boundaries: How to enjoy being together and still be yourself.

Learning Objectives• Knowledge acquisition in relation to the connection between healthy minds and

healthy relationships.

• Gaining relationship skills, in relation to maintaining healthy relationships.

• Skills for keeping your mind healthy.

• Criticalreflectiononattitudesthatsupportunhealthyrelationships.

Session 2 - You

Topics• Attitudesandinfluencesthatsupportandharmintimaterelationships.

• Understandingthedifferencebetweengenderandbiology.Howdoesgenderimpact on our identity?

• Whatinfluencesthewayinwhichweinterprettheworldaroundusandhowdoesthis determine our sense of self and our safety in relationships?

• Wheredoyoustandwiththeseinfluences?

• What are your (developing) relationship values?

Learning Objectives• Identifyinginfluencesandafocusonpersonalchoice.

• Acriticalreflectiononattitudesthatinfluencerelationships-media,gender,cultureand power issues.

Session 3 - We

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Group screening sessionRAV group workers meet with teachers/coordinators prior to the group to establish any students that are known to the school as having particular vulnerabilities or are currently identifiedas‘atrisk’.

DebriefingEarlyinterventionprogramsaremoreeffectiveifspecificriskfactorsaretargetedandappropriate methods are implemented to address those risk factors operating at all levels, including the student, the school, the family and the community. RAV group workers are available to support schools with ideas to enhance the above principle.

RAVgroupworkerswillbeavailableforface-to-facedebriefingwithstudentsand/or teachers following the session every week as required. In the event of a personal disclosure during or after the group, RAV workers are available to undertake a risk assessmentanddebriefingwithastudentand/orteacherandadviseandsupportanappropriate referral.

RAV workers will also be available to support warm referrals to RAV individual, couple and family therapy counselling programs.

Risk management

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We welcome the opportunity to discuss how our I like, like you program can be provided at your school and tailored to meet the needs of your students.

Please contact our I like, like you Program Coordinator, if you have any questions or require further information. Phone: (03) 8573 2222Email: [email protected]: www.rav.org.auFacebook: www.facebook.com/RelAustVic Twitter: @RelAustVic

Contact us

We advise that parents are made aware of the program.

We evaluate our group work programs following the completion of each group. It is envisaged that both teachers and students will participate in the evaluation by completing a post-group questionnaire. Feedback will subsequently be provided to the Principal of the school.

Communication to the school community

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