Life Buoyancy Institute Foundation

NEW RESEARCH ALERT: Our impact across education. This paper supports the impact of LBI's work at Tenison Woods College, and the building of a wellbeing and trauma responsive educational community. This is school site where the science of wellbeing and trauma is a 'way of thinking and being, not just another thing to do'. It represents a ‘well-being first’ approach to education. The capacity building work was led by David Kelly in partnership with the school leadership team and Principal Mezinec David, with background leadership and support provided by Ivan Raymond, PhD. The evaluation reflections the great collaboration between CQUniversity and Life Buoyancy Institute Foundation, and efforts of the lead researchers: Stephen Burrowes, Adam Gerace, Tessa Benveniste and Karena J. Burke. https://lnkd.in/g8Sb5UD5

Where does ‘love’ sit with you.....in your role as a caregiver, teacher, case worker or practitioner? Some caregivers, educators and practitioners report, “I would never use the word with children….it is unprofessional”. Others share that “children need to learn what love is, and they need to hear it, feel it and experience it”.  Clearly, 'love' is a contested and polarising concept. In 2023/2024 we led two community conversations with our partners to unpack the concept of 'love' across broad supporting adult roles. We have summarised the conversation and themes in this blog, including a set of working guidelines for individuals, agencies and schools. https://lnkd.in/gcDS-tp7 This content is designed to challenge you to think deeply about where 'love' sits in your care, teaching and support. Our intent is to start a conversation that disentangles the greyness of 'love', and offers a space to explore the risks and benefits of uplifting love across broad care and teaching contexts.  

Being intentional in how we care and support others is at the foundation of everything we do. If you are interested in learning about the role and impact of being intentional across education, child protection and communities (big and small), check out this podcast.

Today we celebrated the reach and impact of The Bush Telegraph with other finalists in the Department for Child Protection, South Australia Awards category: Outstanding Service Award Regional Impact. We were delighted to share the moment with two key partners, namely Cassandra Mills and Kerry Court from Centacare Catholic Country SA and Uniting Country SA. These incredible leaders have brought so much to their local communities. Congratulations to Kerry Court for your deserving win of this award. Thank you to Ivan Raymond, PhD for your leadership in program design and implementation, and to Greg Hatcher for bringing The Bush Telegraph alive in action.

🌟 Exciting News! The Bush Telegraph Named Finalist in Child Protection Awards for Regional Impact. We are thrilled to announce that our community capacity building program, The Bush Telegraph, has been honoured as a finalist in the 2024 Child Protection Awards for Regional Impact! This recognition highlights our unwavering commitment to working with our partners in shared intent, offering great power and possibilities in how care, support and services are delivered in regional South Australia. The three-year project has and will continue to empower community members in the "bush" (regions) to "telegraph" the science of wellbeing, trauma and growth into action and work together in shared intent, moving trauma and wellbeing practice to a way of thinking and being, not just another thing to do. Our intent to reduce interagency silos, and unite people, programs and communities in shared intent would not be achieved without the vision and determination from all our partners across South Australia who have made a commitment to work together to improve the outcomes for local children and young people. Thank you to each and every one of you - our journey together is far from over. We are delighted that two of these partners, namely Cassandra Mills and Kerry Court from Centacare Catholic Country SA and Uniting Country SA respectively are both named finalists in this same category. We also celebrate the regional contributions and recognitions of these incredible leaders. Congratulations on being a finalist, it's an honour to work and journey with you both. LBI Foundation is proud to stand alongside many remarkable people and programs making a difference in child protection. Good luck to all the finalists! Department for Child Protection, South Australia

Across our touchpoints with many caregivers, educators, leaders, practitioners and community members, we see people looking for more practical ways to make sense of wellbeing. The IMPACT Program introduces the PERMA model as a practical model of wellbeing and is readily understood and applied by children, families and adults. The model, developed by Martin Seligman, a pioneer in positive psychology, indicates that you will experience higher levels of wellbeing when you bring an intent to five key areas of you life. Which of these could you embrace this weekend? 🧩 Positive Emotions 🧩 Engagement 🧩 Relationships 🧩 Meaning 🧩 Accomplishment For a deeper understanding, we encourage you to read Dr Seligman's book Flourish.

Next Workshop: Growing Healthy Sexual Expression in Children and Young People 26th July 2024. This workshop is for teachers, caregivers, disability workers, social workers, youth workers, case workers, support workers, professionals and practitioners who provide support, teach and care for children and young people. Presented by Dr Ivan Raymond (Clinical Psychologist), the workshop explores areas of growth intent: ✅ Understanding sexual expression within a developmental context. ✅ Understanding the difference between normal/healthy and abnormal/unhealthy sexual expression, across different developmental ages. ✅ The core developmental, contextual and other factors that lead to children and young people presenting with unhealthy sexual expression. ✅ An overview of ‘under the surface’ factors that drive healthy versus unhealthy sexual expression. ✅ Best practice and intentionally delivered strategies to foster and grow healthy sexual expression and identity, across different developmental periods (including balancing risk and supporting growth). Register online 👉 https://lnkd.in/gmFG5MYs

During a coaching session with Reynella East College IMPACT Trainer, David Kelly, quoted the What-What-How® as a ‘key driver’. This inspired Reynella East College Head of Middle School and a creative team of local IMPACT Coaches to play with the golf analogy and design a presentation to 85 teaching staff P-12 to encourage them in the various strategies educators can select from when applying trauma informed practice in education. The presentation to educators reinforced that golf is challenging, frustrating at times, requires multiple approaches for different contexts, and emphasised the importance of selecting the right club for specific situations on the course; much like teaching. Thank you to Reynella East College for sharing this story with us. It’s a delight to hear and uplift IMPACT content being creatively contextualised to local contexts.

Three Lutheran Care staff and two Foster Carers recently participated in the one day IMPACT Foundations workshop facilitated by two newly accredited Lutheran Care IMPACT Trainers. At the core of our work, we build the capacity of local people who are integrating IMPACT content into their practice and can grow the awareness, skills and mindsets of members of their community. Our knowledge, tools and resources are intentionally designed to deliver sustainable ripple effects that expand from people, to organisations, to communities and into systems. Our mission is a wellbeing and trauma-responsive Australia for all, independent of LBI Foundation, where the science of wellbeing and trauma is embedded as a way of thinking and being, not just another task or thing to do.

The IMPACT program is equipping a local Port Lincoln afterschool fishing program to teach young people more than how to catch fish. This afterschool fishing program is tailored for young people who are having some difficulty fitting in at school. LBI Foundation’s Community Development and Wellbeing Lead, Greg Hatcher, was recently on the Port Lincoln wharf after a day of training, to see Jim and his co-leader interact with young people naturally using the elements of validation, curiosity and coaching in their supporting roles. Read the full story here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gm2Xwkqp