Resilience and courage
Speaking of hope, resilience and courage
Batyr@school
batyr@school programs aim to remove the stigma around mental health, and engage, educate and empower young people to reach out for support when they need it.
Year 9 and Year 10 recently participated in the introduction program which is designed to be both informative and fun for students and teachers alike. It certainly was all of that!
Young, relatable speakers engaged the students with their stories of hope, resilience and courage in their experiences with mental ill-health. Trained facilitators were on hand to educate our students on the support networks and services available to them (including our school’s services), and to empower students to reach out for help when needed. Here is what Year 9 had to say about the presentation:
“Stories make it easier to understand, cause we're getting different perspectives / experiences rather than just statistics on mental health."
"(batyr) encourages us to seek help for ourselves. It also shows us that if speakers are able to overcome mental issues and so can we."
"You guys should keep doing what you are doing as it clearly has an effect on students like me."
“ (Stories) make you feel like it’s normal to feel this way and that you're not alone."
" Hearing the different stories made me realise talking to a friend makes a huge difference."
" batyr encourages me/others to seek help and keep pushing through our struggles."
"Presentations were very engaging and helpful."
From the Year 9 group - after the program, 66% of students reported being more likely to seek help if they needed it, 75% of students said they felt engaged or very engaged and 90% of students thought it was important to share real stories about mental health. This is really significant as in the broader community.
and from the Year 10 group - after the program, 64% of students reported being more likely to seek help if they needed it, 80% of students said they felt engaged or very engaged and 87% of students thought it was important to share real stories about mental health.
Mrs J Green and Miss M Marks, Year 9 Advisers
Ms L Cossetto and Ms K O'Malley, Year 10 Advisers
Lastly, from the Batyr team:
Wanted to also say a MASSIVE thank you to Cecil Hills High School for being such amazing teachers and putting in extra support for the students after a student spoke out about her struggles! It's not every day that you're able to locate the student who wrote the concerning comment, and then to be able to provide support for their journey. Everything that you and the school have done has been incredible and our team here are so appreciative!
