MELBOURNE, 13 JUNE 2019
Yarra Glen Primary School is the latest school, joining dozens of other around Australia, to benefit from a mindfulness program that aims to improve the long-term mental health of students.
The school, based in Yarra Glen, Victoria, has been selected by not-for-profit education and mindfulness organisation Smiling Mind as the latest beneficiary of an opportunity that offers the mindfulness program to Australian schools for free.
The offer has been made possible by a three-year charitable partnership between Smiling Mind and Frasers Property Australia. Now in its second year, the charitable partnership aims to reach 90 schools and bring the benefits of mindfulness to an extra 75,000 Australian children.
“We are making real progress reaching into more and more Australian communities and introducing the benefits of mindfulness,” says Smiling Mind Chief Executive Officer Dr Addie Wootten.
“Working with students in particular is so important to build awareness and resilience around mental health. It doesn’t matter what age they start.
“With one in four secondary students and one in seven primary students suffering from a diagnosed mental illness it’s vital that we, as a community, do everything we can to take a proactive approach to preventing this health issue into the future.”
So far, the charitable partnership has allowed Smiling Mind to reach an extra 22,100 school children and more than 1,000 teachers through participation in training workshops. Globally the guided meditations and mindfulness activities available via the Smiling Mind app is reaching 1.8 million students.
Dr Wootten says some of the benefits of introducing mindfulness into schools can include:
⬥ Managing stress
⬥ Developing emotional intelligence
⬥ Enhancing creativity
⬥ Enhancing decision making and problem-solving skills
⬥ A sense of calm, clarity and contentment
Dr Wootten says that teachers, and parents, are positively impacted by students enrolling in the program.
“Teachers learn the skills they need to guide their students through the program and they can apply the techniques to manage their own stress. We also conduct a workshop for parents in each of the school
communities we work in so that they can learn about mindfulness, support their children and also learn the techniques themselves,” says Dr Wootten.
Dr Wootten says the program, via the Smiling Mind app, is tailored to each year level and teachers receive support from the organisation over the whole school year to help introduce mindfulness into the classroom.
Acting Principal Gerard Fay says the school is grateful to be offered access to the valuable program at no
cost to the school.
“We know from other schools that have adopted the Smiling Mind program just how beneficial it is. It is so encouraging that we have been given the chance to offer this to our own school community. I really hope all the students, teachers and parents get on board and learn these valuable techniques,” says Mr Fay.
150 students will take part in the Smiling Mind program at the school.
Rod Fehring, Chief Executive Officer of Frasers Property Australia, says Frasers Property not only looks at the physical environment people want to live in but all the other factors such as lifestyle, physical and mental health that contribute to overall wellbeing.
Frasers Property’s donation of $700,000 over three years – provided via the Frasers Property Foundation – enables Smiling Mind to offer the Smiling Mind professional learning program to educators at schools each year over the three-year partnership. In 2018 Smiling Mind signed on 23 schools through the partnership. Yarra Glen Primary School is one of 30 schools expected to benefit this year.
“Our charitable partnership with Smiling Mind is a great opportunity for Frasers Property to make a contribution to creating healthy communities in Australia and it supports our goal of creating communities where people feel truly connected. This is one way we can make a positive long-term impact on children,” says Mr Fehring.
To find out more about how to register your school, visit: www.info.smilingmind.com.au/frasersprogram.
For more information about Smiling Mind visit www.smilingmind.com.au. For more information about Frasers
Property Australia’s developments nationally visit www.frasersproperty.com.au.