School program supports youth mental health and disaster recovery
A promising school program rolled out to help young people cope with fallout from the Black Summer bush fires could also be used to support mental health amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hundreds of children in bushfire and flood-ravaged communities across Australia say they have benefited from an Australian-first mental wellbeing and resilience program, a new Save the Children report found.
The Journey of Hope program, run in 77 schools across the country since 2020, targeted children who lived through the Black Summer bushfires and floods to support mental health recovery from the disasters.
The program is school-based for children and teenagers who have experienced collective trauma, such as a natural hazard or disaster.
Evaluation data has revealed 92 per cent of more than 500 students surveyed reported their mental health improved after the program. As well, 92 per cent reported felling safe to share their feelings with the group and 91 per cent said they felt listened to by the group.
First developed to support children’s mental health after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Journey of Hope program was rolled out to 5000 children in 2020 who were severely affected by the Black Summer bushfires in regional areas of NSW including Shoalhaven, Eurobodalla, Bega, Wagga Wagga, mid north coast and New England.
In Victoria, the program was rolled out in East Gippsland.
Designed to build resilience and teach children new ways to cope with worry and anxiety in uncertain times, the program is also being rolled out in schools across Melbourne amid ongoing mental health fallout from Covid-19 lockdowns.
The positive evaluation results indicate it could be beneficial for the recovery of young people after homeschooling and lockdowns.
University of Melbourne disaster resilience expert Lisa Gibbs said children reported significantly less difficulties in their lives after they participated in the program. “Communities affected by disaster tend to be highly disrupted in the following months and years and children are at risk of emotional distress and mental health problems,” Professor Gibbs said.
“Children (who participated) showed significant improvements in their relationships with others and in their use of positive coping strategies.”
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