Taking agency towards resilience

Karin Humphrey

Hey everyone, thanks for joining us today. My name is Karin Humphrey and I’m a Be You Consultant with Early Childhood Australia. With me today is Margaret Nixon a Be You Consultant from headspace, Narelle Corless headspace Schools and Communities Program Manager, and all of us have worked extensively with disaster impacted learning communities. And joining us today from a disaster impacted learning community is Kerry Harten and she's from Lobethal Community Kindergarten in South Australia. So just to let you know this session is appropriate for all educators and we are going to explore some learnings from disaster impacted communities and how we can translate these into practical strategies that all educators can be implementing to take agency towards resilience within their communities. Before I go any further though I’d like to acknowledge that I am meeting, we are meeting on the land of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation and we pay our respects to elders past and present. I’d also like to acknowledge that this land was never ceded and always was and always will be Aboriginal Land. We are aware that we have people joining us from all over the country, so if you’d like to put your acknowledgement from the Lands that you are on in the chat, we’d love to see them.

Margaret Nixon

In today's session we aim to provide a safe space to discuss information around personal wellbeing and as part of making our virtual space safe, please consider confidentiality and privacy throughout the session when using the chat box. We’d really love to hear you throughout the session so please feel free to participate through the chat and any polls that are made available to you. We’d also like to acknowledge that each of us comes to this session potentially juggling many different things and that we are all busy. So, we just want to thank you for making time for joining the session and taking this time to learn about how we can take learnings from disaster (impacted) communities and use those within our other education settings. We hope that you will along the way feel empowered to try some new strategies and also highlight the strategies that already work for you.

The learning objectives for today, we’re hoping that it brings an understanding of how educators can take agency towards increasing the resilience of their learning community. We’ll look at translating experiences from disaster impacted communities into everyday practical strategies, and we're also wanting to learn how fostering positive relationships within your community and with external supports can build resilience. So first off, I'm going to throw to Narelle, thank you for being here today. You've been managing the response and recovery program in the northern New South Wales area since 2020. As most people know this region was devastated by numerous flooding events and I'm just wondering if you can give us a bit of a picture around what you're seeing now within those communities.

Narelle Corless

Thanks Margaret, I think the northern New South Wales area have experienced probably very similar things to other communities that have also been impacted by different natural disasters. It's a complex and very challenging environment to be in. There’s a lot of grief and loss, there's a lot of trauma, anxiety and there's also disruption to services and access to learning communities, businesses, food security and a whole range of other things. We found that a lot of supporters including educators, were needing support themselves. So, they were in dual roles of what they were doing across community and we know that everyone wears multiple hats in community. So, whether you’re a sports coach or a volunteer or a service provider of some kind you are impacted on multiple levels when you're in a natural disaster community. We've just passed the 12-month first anniversary which you know is a bit of a milestones, and we’ve found that most people and most of the communities have returned to routine of some kind. However, we do we know that there's quite a few people that have had to leave the area, there's been a disruption to relationships and connection. And so, the impacts vary from person to person, as well as community to community and recovery will be a long-term process.

Margaret Nixon

And you touched on there about the complexity and the individual nature of recovery. The national principles for disaster recovery developed by AIDR recognise that each region has their own distinct challenges and complexities and that's why this community, the notion of community-led recovery is so important. The principles state that this recovery needs to be well coordinated and that information channels are open and consistent. It also recognises the importance of building capacity within a local community and considering these principles I'm wondering if you can share with us how your program has worked alongside communities.

Narelle Corless

We’ve been really privileged to be able to work alongside communities and with communities and for communities. Each community is unique, and it has its own history, its own identity, its own complexity but also its own strengths. And so, our role has been really to listen and learn and understand each community and work with them and other partner organisations to be able to support them in a community led initiatives that will support their recovery and the and also based on evidence, so and other experiences in other communities. So, we've done a few things, and they include developing a recovery action plan which we've used with school leaders across all education sectors in the northern New South Wales area. And it's a beautiful document where they can focus on staff, they can focus on family, students, and school leaders because they've had to lead in a really disruptive time. And then pick one or two key things they want to achieve each term and they will fit into categories that align with the disaster recovery principles of care and concern. So you know, who are your local support services and how do you make referral pathways to those services. About communication so what can you put in your newsletters, how can you communicate more broadly with your community about other things that are about recovery and whole other list of strategies. But we were also able to bring up some disaster recovery experts into the northern New South Wales communities, across the seven impacted local government areas and they were able to have community forums where people were able to connect together, understand what trauma and natural disaster recovery looks like and different coping. So, it's been a multifaceted and partnered with lots of different organisations.

Karin Humphrey

Can I just add something in there. Sorry, I just want to touch on the point that you said pick one or two things. Kerry and I had a quite a robust conversation earlier about how much information can be given to you…

Narelle Corless

It’s overwhelming.

Karin Humphrey

 

When you're disaster impacted and it's great to get all of the information but you're overwhelmed yourself and it's really hard to know where to start. So, I think that picking one or two things makes sense.

Narelle Corless

Well it’s empowering, a sense of agency and it's actually achievable.

Karin Humphrey

And what make sense for you at that time, right now, right here.

Narelle Corless

And it will be different for every school or learning community.

Karin Humphrey

That’s right, I agree.

Kerry Harten

And I think that where it's really important for those that are part of that community to really take out what is vital for them at that point as well.

Margaret Nixon

We’re going to go on and just have a bit of a look and a think about the Be You Bushfire Response Program which supported learning communities after the 2020 fires. What came out of that were three themes that really came through strongly, and I think that you have touched on these which is just amazing to see how it, through different disasters we had similar themes that can come out. So, one was understanding trauma aware principles and strategies, looking at how we can provide support for children and young people who are really struggling. And then that very key one about educator wellbeing and you have touched on and I think we're going to hear a bit further, a bit more later on around how many different hats an educator and leaders can be holding as they are also trying to be providing education and bringing our young people back together within the school.

Staff were not only trying to manage their own trauma reaction from their students but you know, as we said they’re wearing the hats, and they're often impacted themselves. Many of the school leaders within, who are involved in this program were quick, quick to recognise the need to support their staff and to encourage connection. And this could be through things as simple as morning teas and coffees being brought in, but they also recognised in that practical way of wanting to reduce the workload, so that staff were asked really to fulfil the essentials as well as making sure that we call on those support networks that we have such as EAP. Many of the schools adapted quickly to the needs of their students and then we had the complication of COVID coming in, which really interrupted all that we knew previously around recovery after natural disasters because we couldn't do that close connectedness. It was very difficult to get back to those routines that we know are so important but the schools prioritised when they could, the returning back to work and that when they could bring students in then they were looking at what can we build in that was fun? What are some of those routines that we can get back to? Looking at how they can encourage kids to make sense of the experiences they’ve had through using activities such as, visual art or writing but also making sure that there were those really intentional social, social and emotional wellbeing programs that helped build those skills that were so important such as self-regulation.

All of that is a very long preamble into looking.

Karin Humphrey

Before we go any further, sorry, I just want to touch on the fact that you said managing trauma reactions of their students. We also have to manage the trauma reactions of the educators within that as well because I know from talking and working with Kerry that they were heavily impacted by the bushfires 2019 in the Adelaide Hills not 2020. And Kerry was evacuated from her own home and didn't know if she was going go, going to come back to her home. So, we're managing that for the children in our care, the children that we're supporting with their development and learning but we're also trying to work that out for ourselves as well.

Kerry Harten

And a lot of these educators are living and working within these disaster areas as well.

Margaret Nixon

I think that is one of the characteristics around community trauma. It's where the whole community is overwhelmed, all the systems that support our communities. It's the footy clubs, it's the headspace centre, it's the local oval, it's the church it's the library all of those connections as well as our schools and our hubs that are overwhelmed so everyone is trying to keep rebuilding the boat while they’re still sitting in it or building the plane whatever that analogy is. Which does take time, which is where learnings from other communities have gone, that have gone through it can then also help and affirm and say hey you're not alone, may have got over it or got over it is not a good term to use they have made sense of it, there has been a moving on with this experience within their life and their history. So with that I'm going to throw to a video which will just show you a little bit of the Be You program.

Video

The educator’s framework for supporting resilience and recovery is designed to help educators support children in the event of a natural disaster or community trauma. It includes strategies which can be useful in preparing for the event or in the immediate short-term or long-term aftermath. The framework is made up of four parts. Educator wellbeing, daily approaches, monitoring progress and activating support.

Let’s start with educator wellbeing. Educator wellbeing is based on the idea that to best support children you need to take care of your own physical and mental health. This part of the framework is built around the three pillars of wellbeing, self-awareness, self-care and supports.

Daily approaches looks at how everyday routines and relationships play a powerful role in supporting children's regulation and recovery following a traumatic event.

Monitoring progress recognises that as an educator you are in a unique position to observe children's recovery overtime and to identify those children who may need extra support. This part introduces the Be You Mental Health Continuum and BETLS observation tool which can assist you in gathering information and documenting observations about a child's behaviour.

Activating support involves working together with your colleagues, the child, their parents and their support networks to establish next steps for recovery. This is an ongoing process and may involve sharing information with the family, providing tools and tips, or connecting them with specialist support services.

At the centre of the framework is the child who's social and emotional wellbeing and ability to learn and engage is supported by these four domains. Much of what you are already doing in your day to day role will naturally help children following a disaster or community trauma. This framework is designed as a guide to help enhance your existing skills as an educator in supporting their resilience and recovery.

Karin Humphrey

I hope you enjoyed that little video and it leads me into a last question for Narelle. I do like in the video where they say though what you were already doing is supporting your children, it's really important. I always come from a strengths-based perspective so it's really important to acknowledge that. So, I would just like to touch on the fact that learning communities are often seen as the hub of a community and especially in regional towns, and we’ll touch on that later Kerry. So do you have any examples of how some of the schools that you've worked with have promoted recovery and built their resilience?

Narelle Corless

Yeah, it’s been a real privilege to work with the learning communities in northern New South Wales and you know as we've said, that have been multiple cascading traumas in some of these communities so they've been managing a lot. And coming back to keep doing what you're already doing so well don't drop that off your radar but adding to that they, the northern New South Wales communities have been doing things like going back to essential business to reprioritise that. Have been creating space to have connection and some fun for the children and young people to come back to school and they’ve also had time release for staff to be able to attend to their own personal needs. Like insurance claims and medical appointments and other life kind of things that are happening. So, there's been a lot of flexibility and acknowledgement that there are multiple needs for people within their learning communities.

There are some fantastic examples, one of a primary school who utilised their parent body to, who are musicians, so a local community with some fantastic musicians and they came in and worked with the children in the primary school to give their voice to their experience and then they, they created songs which were then put into a song book and that was performed for the community. And so, the children's voice was represented but it also was a nice healing space for them and a connection with the broader community. There was a secondary school who interviewed and worked with community members and put their stories into a drama which was then also performed back to the community. So that creative art space has been a really well utilised vehicle for some of the trauma recovery process. And also connecting with that the richer, broader community that surround schools. With the flooding for example you know mother nature took on a bit of a role in people’s lives that wasn't very positive for many of them and so some schools have had to really reconnect with their natural environment and remember what a beautiful natural context they live in. And so some schools have had maths lessons for example down on the river bank or social sort of lunchtime BBQs to be able to reconnect with mother nature which is why families are living there in the first place often. But one of my favourite events was a school who had been unable to return to site for about 28 weeks and they've been co-located with another school which has its own complexities and when they were given the green light to come back onto school, the school leadership team recognised that there needed to be a reconnection for everybody and reconnection to their community because of, that had been quite an extensive period of time. So we worked with them to bring in their local music teachers, their artists, their sports, dance and we had food and we had grandparents and we had pets and we had the local community members come in and it was a day not of joy but of connection and people shared stories, they shared supports, they got to see their kids having a really nice time and enjoying some life and a bit of levity after a period of time that had been quite complex.

So, there's so many wonderful examples and I think if you're interested, get in touch with some of your local learning communities and hear their stories because they’re really willing to share and pay-it-forward.

Karin Humphrey

Thank you. Now we're going to move on and hear from Kerry. Hoping I'm not going to steal some of your thunder but, hoping, but when we talked this morning when we were preparing for this, one of the things that you talked about was getting back to what felt normal and getting back to those connections. So, I'm just extending a little bit on what Narelle has said. You had to leave your home, you had to leave your community and you didn't know what you were coming back to but the thing that your son did was packed his cricket gear, so that when you came back he went straight to cricket so he could play his game.

Kerry Harten

Just for some normal life and we gave him the choice at the time and said do you want to, or did you just want to be at home and he said, ‘no I want to play.’ OK let's just get on, let's just move on and keep things somewhat normal for our children. Yah so it was important for him I think

Karin Hunphrey

Sorry, that wasn’t one of our questions, I segued all by myself. Ok so now I am going to ask you one of the questions. So, we know that strong partnerships will support you through recovery, they'll positively impact a child's resilience and empower your immediate and extended community. Can you talk to us about how you have strengthened partnerships within your service and the broader community in order to implement a whole community approach to supporting resilience and recovery.

Kerry Harten

Look I think it's one of the very first things is that when a whole community, and you're part of that community, it's really tricky to know where to start. We were in, we were on holidays for us so we’re a department for education site so we run on the same terms as school so we're a kindergarten. And for us we’d farewelled our group of children, they were moving off to school and we had, well we started to get to know our new group, we didn't really know them yet. So, we had this group of families that didn't have a sense of belonging, they had no normal yet they didn't know what normal at school was going to look like. We then had another group of children that were going to be coming to us that were in between as well, they were in limbo they didn't know what normal was yet at kindy. So, you know our approach initially was to try and contact both and sort of see where everyone was sitting, how they were feeling and trying to just make a connection with them. I think like that idea of not really knowing where to start was really quite tricky and it really did come down to a whole community approach. It wasn't just us and it wasn't left us, I think that was what was amazing. You know you feel privileged to have worked with these communities, we feel really lucky to have had all these organisations and people come to support us as well.

So, you know we are getting people come in like backpacks for kids and our Director at the time was incredible, she liaised and worked with them and handed out backpacks for hundreds of children in our, in our district. We had, she was working with DHS and playgroup SA to set up a crèche. We had, I’m really proud of all of our stuff because well they are also locals and community affected. We had staff working in our local recovery centre, so she was volunteering in there getting firsthand experience, firsthand stories. Sometimes the first point of contact outside of the fires, people had first time they left their home they came to the recovery centre. So, she was hearing those sorts of things. We had staff working in their holidays, setting up the creche. We were working in there, we wanted to be that familiar face so that our families had something to connect with.

I think what we feel really lucky about is actually the fact that we, we kind of became that middle ground where we had all these agencies trying to help us and we were then able to put it back into our local community. So having that support meant that it could become a whole community approach as well. In terms of end of holidays knowing that we needed to get back to kindy and we needed to somehow make this ok for everybody, it was all about really setting up those routines. Setting up, you know making sure that everyone knew exactly how the day was going to go. Making sure that it was planned, and parents knew, and children knew exactly when mum and dad were coming back or whoever

Narelle Corless

and well communicated.

Kerry Harten

And well communicated, yes exactly. We, from all the information we were given, we knew that connection was really important. So, within our site we’d set up a wellbeing space. We purchased a coffee machine.

Margaret Nixon

Food is a healing, drawing together, connecting thing to participate in.

Kerry Harten

Yes, and it and it helps people I think to just sit down and kinda go huh, or to have someone else there to be able to talk to and bounce off of.

Karin Humphrey

And these are the time too when you said people were coming in that didn't feel that they had been affected because they still had their home and they hadn't lost, “lost”, anything but that's when the tears would start and you’d see, ‘well I didn't realise I was affected but maybe I am.’

Kerry Harten

Yeah

Narelle Corless

Validating.

Kerry Harten

Yes exactly. And so, you know this space that we created just provided that opportunity, and we had a lot of parents who weren’t quite ready to leave their children. So, it meant that they could sit, they could be, they could feel comfortable, they maybe had someone to talk to but they weren't far from their children because some people really struggled with that. We also had other things going on. We actually lost a sibling of one of our children, so we really realised that we had layered trauma within our community as well. So not only was that another grieving point for our, our area but it meant that again our whole community could come together as well and connect and that was really, really important to the recovery process.

Karin Humphrey

Layered trauma, it’s an interesting thing to unpack isn't it. No time for that now unfortunately.

Margaret Nixon

Next one.

Karin Humphrey

So, ok we've had a look at that framework for supporting resilience, that was the little video we watched. So, one of the parts of that is our daily approaches, so can you talk with us about your everyday routines and relationships and you've touched it on this quite a bit already, have played a big role in supporting children and families since those bushfires

Kerry Harten

Look I think as we entered our term one of the main things that we really wanted or that we talked about as a staff team was, we wanted to be that welcoming face. We wanted to have a familiar space, a fun place, a place that was really comfortable for not only our children but our families as well. So that was I guess our approach to that beginning of term. So that was not only sort of I guess our approach but that was a routine. Every day we wanted it to be, well the days that they attended, we wanted it to be the same. We wanted them to come in and feel comfortable. So building that sense of belonging was probably really, really high priority early on

Narelle Corless

And safety

Kerry Harten

And safe. Needed to be a safe place and again that was not only for children that was for parents to feel that their children are safe.

Narelle Corless

And staff.

Kerry Harten

And staff.

Margaret Nixon

We’re not throwing any curve balls at you. We are going to keep it consistent and safe so that everyone knows what will be happening at a given time.

 

 

Kerry Harten

Yes, and that was really important and that wasn't just important for term one that's actually been important for more than multiple years, to keep that there as well. I think the other thing that was really important for us was staffing. We knew that parents would potentially need someone to talk to. We knew that children would need someone to talk to. So, we made sure that we had extra people around so that every moment they could come to somebody if they needed to. So, we knew that at the beginning of the day we needed more than one person on farewell, sorry welcoming, and then at the end of the day farewelling as well, just to support those families. We had to do a lot of hand holding. We had to support them through reading of notes, get getting the information it wasn't as simple as just here’s your note and there had to be multiple processes that we had to go through to support that getting back into, into those days as well.

And we did hold transition meetings at the beginning of the year which really was a beautiful opportunity for us to connect with families, build some relationships and find out that most people were fire affected. They, they didn't think they were but once they started talking and once they started sharing the impact of their moments or even the return, if they evacuated when they returned there were there was yeah a lot of a lot of things that they needed.

Narelle Corless

I think you’re describing an opportunity, and create, your creating an opportunity for people to be able to share their experience and validate that they have been affected. Because I hear all the time that person’s worse than me and so they hold back or delay what they need to do because they don't think that they're as bad as someone else. So, creating that space is important.

Kerry Harten

To be honest with you I think staff did that for a lot longer because I think we had to play a different role at that point.

Margaret Nixon

And that's something I’ve seen played out in schools where teachers will say, well we weren't here when the disaster hit so I don't feel like I can go to my normal support people within the school because they're still coping with a whole lot of things, I feel bad about taking their time. It does impact for a long time. That's one of the things around recovery, it takes whatever time it takes for each individual.

Kerry Harten

And it does come out at different times definitely.

Narelle Corless

And it's not linear, the journey of recovery.

Kerry Harten

No, it’s not.

Margaret Nixon

And it’s not cyclical anymore. We don’t have these little cycles anymore.

Kerry Harten

No.

Karin Humphrey

Can I ask then, have your daily approaches changed and how have they changed as a result of the impact of the bushfires?

Kerry Harten

I think we've done a lot of reflecting over the last 3 and a bit years. Yes, we've learnt a lot. I think communication is one of those really big learning experiences for us and also just how vital relationships are. So, I think initially the parents need to, to gain some control. We were trying, we probably over shared early on we, because we had parents really needing to know exactly what their children were doing every step of the day. So, we would try really hard to do that and it was really challenging for us.

Narelle Corless

It was exhausting.

Kerry Harten

It was exhausting and you know I know our wellbeing probably wasn't overly well looked after at that point.

Narelle Corless

Do you think it was actually something that really aided the recovery of your families?

Kerry Harten

Yes, yes I do. I think it probably helped meet that need at that moment. I think the other thing that’s really just important to note on that was that we often knew that, there was points where people were frustrated and that would often come to us. So, we quite often…

Margaret Nixon

You’re a constant.

Kerry Harten

Yeah, and so we would often find that we had to step back and take a breath ourselves. And we knew that you know all we had to do was respond with calm and kindness. So that became a little bit of an approach for us as well.

Karin Humphrey

And to learn to be kind to yourselves which you've admitted was probably one of the last things that you thought about.

Kerry Harten

It really was but it was really important and we, I think, as a staff team that was something that we had to really remind each other of and we were lucky enough to have, to have that. There's things I think in our program that have changed as well. The importance of just sitting down talking and listening and taking as much time as that needs. We don't need to move on to this, and this, and this. If we’re having conversation and we're sharing that with our children, then it's really important and it's valued by our children. We have group times that go for a really long time because our children, they want to be heard. They have something to say and they want to be heard and it started from the fires.

Karin Humphrey

And that to me is what a group time about, is about. It's child led, it's not because we need to transition into something else as educators. It's about the children want to be here with us and have that connection.

Kerry Harten

And they want to share those things. So, there's definitely been changes that we’ve made around and they've sort of just evolved as well, but yeah.

Karin Humphrey

Thank you. Ok I'm still asking you questions so you did really well. So as a way to support the children's resilience after the bushfires, you implemented a number of practical strategies and I know a lot about these being your Be You Consultant so that's great. So, it was to support children's understanding of what had happened and to also increase their sense of agency, something that we value in early childhood so much. Can you talk us through a couple of examples of what you included in your program and practise as a result, and I know that you still include.

Kerry Harten

This is probably one of those ones that I could take a lot longer than we have.

Karin Humphrey

Have you seen the time?

Kerry Harten

I have.

Margaret Nixon

It’s important we give people as much time as they need.

Kerry Harten

I’ll try, I’ll try. Look in the beginning I think there's been things that we did early on, things that we did a little bit further down the track and things that we do now that that still impact that. Early on we actually have this really big book of like, so it's a big book, blank. Children draw in it, we sit down with them and they can come and go as they please and they just draw. So early on this almost became that real art therapy where they sat, they drew. We have pages that are just covered in black. We have pages that have red and black and you know not much else.

Karin Humphrey

Can I ask what they used to make the black with?

 

Kerry Harten

Ah we did use some charcoal early on as well and we used that in a, in a variety of ways but then we also just had their pencils and for some it was just, I just need to get my frustration out as well. But for a lot of them it was that opportunity they, they talked about losing their house while they sat there and drew. They talked about where their families went when they evacuated. They talked about what, what happened on the day of the fires. What happened when they came back, what they saw, what was, what was important to them. What the, our Country Fire Service did. What, yeah, so it was really you know it was beautiful from our point of view being able to be part of that and to hear that and to be open and just to listen. Again, I think we learnt a lot through that process of just listening. Asking respectful questions. Children did want to talk about it they wanted to share their experiences because sometimes their experiences were not as important at home than maybe it was for them.

We had little girl who actually had her umbrella burnt in the fire because it was being used to protect some plants because of the hot weather but that was probably very minimal in the big scheme of things at home. But for her it was really, really important and she needed the opportunity to express that and doing it that way was really important.

And some other things were, we did use charcoal. We, we collected charcoal, children brought it from home. Children covered themselves in it. They, they immersed themselves in it. They explored it, they looked at it, they talked about it, they where did it come from? They drew with it. It was, it was just another step of, of what had happened and what they were seeing cause everything was black.

Karin Humphrey

Can I extend you a little bit and talk a little bit about your bush Kinder and how that has been such a valuable part of your program and practice and how the regrowth within the bush Kinder has supported recovery.

Kerry Harten

Look I think the first thing we had to address with returning to our Bush Kindy program, it had to hold because it was burnt and they had to make it safe before we were able to get back out there again. So, you know our families were very appreciative because they didn't want to have to grieve the loss of something else. Getting back out there was amazing. We as a staff team went out there first, again we needed to address our wellbeing and how we were going to manage that. How we were going to move forward this year because there's nothing there like. So, we went out there and while it was confronting there was also this real sense of hope and taking our children out there was, you know we got the opportunity to walk and talk with them, to listen to them again, to hear their stories again, for them to keep talking about it. But our program for that year really took this opportunity for growth and hope and revitalising you know and looking at it from that point of view. And I think that was not only our children, our parents could see that as well so it was a really beautiful process that we were able to go through, through returning to our Bush Kindy. And again our families wanted it. They really, really were desperate for us to be out there again because they didn't want their children to miss out on that so that was important.

Karin Humphrey

And that's almost getting back to that new normal, isn't it. The new normal.

 

Kerry Harten

Yes.

Margaret Nixon

Yes.

Kerry Harten

Yes. And you know our children were covered, everything was black from, you know they went home completely covered.

Karin Humphrey

We always say in early childhood, ‘don’t send your children in good clothes.’

Kerry Harten

Exactly, exactly we’ve had to get some new jackets because of it but you know it’s been worthwhile. It’s been a huge part of that, that growth and moving on and recovery process as well so. And you know there's things that we are doing now that still, we connect with our community, we get our children back out in different ways. We’ve set up a community garden and we've had a mural painted by an Aboriginal artist that depicts our connection to Bush Kindy and that sits next to our community garden. So, it all is part of being able to connect with our community and bring our community together as well.

Karin Humphrey

Awesome, thank you.

Margaret Nixon

I just have one sort of final question and we have touched around you know this sort of cascading disasters and disaster in, we have these stages and that sometimes in the last few years we’ve never really finished one sort of full stop before we’re starting again. But I know with your community with the fire season that we've just had, I'm wondering how you looked at that notion of preparedness that we might you know traditionally put as in that sort of first stage? How you approached that and how you managed that with your children? Both sort of in what you are the practical actions but also emotionally supporting them.

Kerry Harten

Look I think one of the very first things again come, our, that was not only our children that were having to face that next step. Our families were already doing that, our local country fire service were promoting and pushing people to have bushfire action plans. They were talking about it, I think it's made, I think probably taken away a bit of the complacency that may have been there in the past. People are making bushfire action plans, they know what they want, they’re preparing. And with that our children are coming and they talk about it so which is great. They have the opportunity to hear that at home and, and then share that with us. And we want them to share that with us.

Narelle Corless

Be actively engaged.

 

Kerry Harten

Exactly, you know our, we have invacuation and evacuation practises and they’re perfect opportunities for our children to share and to tell us, ‘well we do this, or we do that’ and it's like well great. What do you do? What do you do? And it just it opens that and others who might go, ‘don't know,’. Go home ask mum and dad, see what you’d do for that. So, you know again it's very conversational, opportunities to just talk and to listen as well. We also make sure that we bring in our emergency services for our children to become familiar with. So, the police officer, an ambulance officer, CFS for us what they look like. So, they know that they're part of our community, they’re part of what helped us and what will help us as well and it's also an opportunity to arm our children with knowledge. So that they know what to do if it, if there's things left for them and I think that's really, really important for them.

We have planes, we have the bomber planes that generally will often fly over, the helicopters. It gives an opportunity again to sit there and have those incidents, incidental conversations about you know what it means and what do you know about it, what are they for? So you know while initially they were probably triggers now it's become more about what, what is that? So it's still things that have moved on and, and talking about it.

Karin Humphrey

And those incidental conversations become your intentional teaching moments.

Kerry Harten

Yes.

Karin Humphrey

So, I think that's really important to acknowledge because those incidental conversations that happened throughout 2020 after the fires have become your intentional teaching for the next 3 years.

Kerry Harten

Yes exactly.

Karin Humphrey

I want to acknowledge that on your behalf.

Kerry Harten

Thank you. And I think just on that as well we have a little campfire at our Bush Kindy and you know that is part of our children learning about good fires and bad fires. Knowing that there’s purpose to fires. Knowing that there is good that can come from these things, it's not all scary and while it can be a trigger for some parents initially they can work through that process as well by being with their children. So there's quite a few things but they're probably the main, the main ones that we do.

Margaret Nixon

Thank you.

 

 

Karin Humphrey

Looks like we've got not long to go. We've got a couple of questions that have come through that we might just touch on now.

Margaret Nixon

Sure.

Karin Humphrey

I'm going to have a look at the first one Kerry on your behalf. I'll read it out and if you feel like you've got some words to answer that that'll be great. So, has connection with community changed forever post-disaster or do you anticipate a point when life returns to normal? Thanks for that question, Sarah.

Kerry Harten

I think this is really tricky because we had layer upon layer of trauma because we obviously had our bushfires, we lost baby Dot, and then we had COVID. So, it's really hard to know for us what is post-disaster, what is post COVID.

Margaret Nixon

Yep.

Kerry Harten

I think there is a normal that we're going to return to, but I think it will be a little bit of a, a new normal. Especially within our learning environment there’s certainly things that we've learnt along the way and we've adapted to and we've changed, that I really do think but will stay like that because it's changed for the better. It's made a difference.

Margaret Nixon

And I think that's a stream that we’ve heard from both of you, is that the school is in the community and the community is in the school and that those connections, while we it might be something like a disaster that kind of makes us focus on that connectedness it is something that's there forever. And our kids that are in the school are also outside in the community and those people in the communities are coming into our school. Whether it's at the fete, whether it as musicians you know.

Narelle Corless

It deepens it.

Margaret Nixon

Absolutely and so if anything, it's that richness that it does really highlight about how schools, communities connectedness is part of preparedness if you even wanted to go back to whether we have the stage of being able to prepare.

Karin Humphrey

I'm conscious of time and I apologise that we can't answer any more of the questions but something for you to reflect on Kerry. There was a question from Judith, have the stories been recorded in any way for the community. Short answer please.

Kerry Harten

Short answer. There has been done through some of our local community. So, the Adelaide Hills Council have pulled together some bits and pieces. I'm not exactly sure if it's been recorded to go out further.

Karin Humphrey

Might be something to look at?

Kerry Harten

But yeah, I agree, I think that's going to be really important for others who have been through it as well.

Karin Humphrey

Thank you.

Margaret Nixon

So, what an amazing panel to have sat on but we would also encourage all of you to continue to be engaged with Be You and to keep up to date. If anything around what we've learnt today is that this whole school notion of mental health and wellbeing creates a beautiful safety net that can support your school community

Karin Humphrey

Or early community

Margaret Nixon

Or your school community meaning early learning, meaning secondary schools.

Karin Humphrey

I had to do it.

Margaret Nixon

Where you can use that as a safety net for whatever your school faces and you know we have these challenges that many schools have been through in the last 3 years. Having that, having that school-wide program, which is really going to help support your students, support your staff but also build that connectedness with parents which is then leading onto the community. So, I would just you know, encourage you to keep in touch with what, with what is happening with be You. Reach out to your Be You Consultant. You've got one of us sitting there just waiting for a call but also make sure that you look at the resources. Visit beyou.edu.au keep in touch on all the socials.

Karin Humphrey

Thank you. Alright so on behalf of myself and my panel members, I've really enjoyed this 45 minutes, it's gone so fast.

Kerry Harten

Really fast.

 

Karin Humphrey

So, I’d like to say thank you for attending and we hope you enjoy the rest of the conference.

 

End transcript.