Alongside the standard curriculum, students across Orange are learning mental health strategies via The Resilience Project, which aims to equip them with a range of positive, evidence-based tactics to help them deal with adversity.
The Resilience Project teaches the importance of wellbeing as well as strategies to practice a 'GEM' philosophy, which founder Hugh Van Cuylenburg says stands for Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness, which are three evidence-based principles that said are linked to positive emotions and mental health.
In some lessons, students are encouraged to reflect on people they're grateful for in life and pen them a letter expressing their gratitude, while other lessons may ask students to identify phone applications that are 'helpful' or 'not helpful' to their wellness, and brainstorm why they may be detrimental to their health and wellbeing.
Students are then encouraged to build positive wellbeing habits with an individual journal detailing their weekly GEM activities and personal reflections and put these learnings into practice.
Local teacher Mathew Sommerlad said 550 students at Calare Primary School have been part of the program during the past 3 years and that resilience building is increasingly important for young people in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rise of social media.
"Over the past few years, young people have had to navigate a lot of isolation, self-doubt and self image issues, and this program helps them understand and deal with their emotions, regulate themselves, and experience positive emotions," Mr Sommerlad said.
"We're teaching our students positive mental health strategies that will set them up to live happy and fulfilling lives.
"In my class I have seen my students become much more considerate of other students, and there have been huge improvements in how they treat others, and developing lifelong strategies that will assist them when faced with difficulties."
Grade 2 student Amy says her favourite exercise is drawing and group activities, and she has been able to put her learnings into practice in the classroom.
"It has helped me understand how people might feel when we are writing and they make a mistake and might feel sad, so I make sure to be encouraging and help them focus, and tell them they are good at writing," Amy said.
Orange High School year nine student Zac Howarth said the program helps his classmates understand the importance of how they see the world and how to respond when things don't go right.
"It's a great project to have in our school and we've learnt how important it is to communicate with your family and friends about how you are feeling, and how to deal with your emotions," Zac said.
Orange Mayor Jason Hamling said the community, along with NSW Police and NSW Health, recognised the need for a wellbeing program for local youth, and met with local schools to discuss how to increase resilience and improve mental health.
"By adopting a whole-of-community approach, the program is working hard to reduce anti-social behaviour and boost resilience amongst our young people by ensuring student wellbeing is addressed throughout the whole day," Mr Hamling said.
The Resilience Project is offered in 14 local schools across Orange, supporting 3250 students from kindergarten to Year 12, and has been made possible thanks to support from the NSW Government, and the Orange Aboriginal Medical Service.