The NZ Government recently unveiled 17 new initiatives to support mental health.
Part of this involves the following:
- “This includes $4 million to pilot a culturally responsive therapy service for children aged 5-12 years that have experienced or been exposed to family and/or sexual violence.
- “A lens placed on building resilience within primary school aged children”.
I believe that resiliency is not the ultimate goal for our children. We need children who can not only bounce-back, but bound-forward. They need to be able to move from a place of “I can’t to “I can” through to “We can”.
Within the education sector resiliency is a word we often hear bandied-about. We hear messages that we need to develop youth who are resilient, who can cope with their fast-paced, ever changing world. Yes, the modern world is extremely wired and fast-paced, but in my mind resiliency is not enough… We need our youth to have courage.
To have courage means we are no longer at the mercy of ourselves, others or our environment. We are calling the shots in terms of how we choose to respond. We are actively and courageously leading our own lives, which has a flow-on effect to those around us, giving them permission to do the same. When we think of leaders over the past 100 years we may think of Sir Edmund Hillary, Mahatma Gandhi and Rosa Parks. Each of these people were not just resilient; they stepped into spaces of leadership with determination, conviction to show deep courage.
So what is it that we need to achieve this? I think it requires a multi-faceted approach:
Let’s shift our thinking about the term ‘resiliency’. Let’s level-up so we are fostering our youth to become leaders who are not just merely coping, but are courageously taking action in their own lives to make meaningful contributions that will change our world for the better.
Contact Mary-Anne to find-out more about the “Mind your Mindset” programme for Leaders, Staff, Students and Parents.
Mary-Anne also offers youth Emotional Intelligence workshops and assessments using Roche Martin tools. Contact her to find-out more.
