Whilst commonly believed to be an adult or teenage problem, depression is now increasingly being diagnosed in primary aged children as young as eight or nine.  Stride's Fantastic Friends is a childhood depression preventative program for senior primary student and junior secondary students.  This program is based on Stride's sound experience of holistically addressing serious issues in schools and has been developed through direct consultation with children and teachers in primary schools across Victoria.

Fantastic Friends teaches junior and middle-years children to understand their own and other people's feelings and empowers the students by teaching them what kind of actions they can take to alleviate a difficult or disturbing situation.

HOW FANTASTIC FRIENDS WORKS:

Fantastic Friends has strong visual elements with which the children can identify.  Through activity based learning, the students learn a variety of life skills that encourages them to be aware of the concerns of others.  It teaches them to support other students and feel empowered to take action in their lives as well as providing coping skills for when they may face difficulties.

ABOUT THE TRAINING:

Stride's experienced educators work directly with young people in your school.  Over the course of the day, workshop students enjoy a combination of activiites and self-reflection discussions.  Students are challenged to explore their feelings, think about concepts such as optimism and taking risks, the importance of supporting others and feeling empowered to take action in their own lives.

Using props as a way to work through deep issues, the program is divided into three sections:

Knowing others and ourselves:  This emphasises the importance of valuing and knowing each other's strengths so we are able to support each other in time of need.

Skills training:  Students undertake skills training in; observation (body language), listening/questioning, assertiveness, problem solving.

Dealing with serious issues:  Students identify issues that concern them and may affect their involvement in a friendly school.  They learn to determine what problems require adult support and what issues they comfortably can deal with. 

By learning how to apply all these skills in supporting other students, participants learn how to get the support they need.

Workshop prices Calendar of Professional Development   To enquire about Stride delivering Fantastic Friends direct to your students contact us or fill in our workshop request form.