Navigating Depression – charting a course through challenging times

Innovative Resources released its newest card set to the world just before Christmas, when friends and colleagues of psychologist and author, Kate Skilbeck, gathered in Ballarat to launch Navigating Depression.

With stunning illustrations and design by Castlemaine artist, Sharon Dunn, Navigating Depression draws on the metaphor of life’s journey to create person-centred conversations about the lived experience of chronic sadness and depression.

Kate Skilbeck brings almost 30 years of experience as a psychologist, training consultant and mindfulness teacher, to Navigating Depression. In addition to her direct client work, she has provided professional supervision for psychologists, social workers, mental health nurses and clinicians, counsellors, youth workers, school wellbeing staff, teachers, doctors, nurses, managers and CEOs.

Kate also teaches the highly regarded 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program, and other programs, such as the Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression.

‘Over the years I’ve worked up close and personal with people who suffer chronic states of distress and mental illness,’ she said. ‘A diagnosis of depression brings a whole other level of challenging thoughts feelings and emotions.

‘We know that one in five people in this country will experience a mental illness—it’s a big problem to tackle—but we also know there are things we can do to help navigate these situations more skillfully and kindly.’

Navigating Depression was launched by Innovative Resources’ managing editor, Dr Sue King-Smith, who described the journey metaphor as incredibly fertile ground for having conversations around mental wellbeing.

‘The metaphor can be used in so many ways,’ she said. ‘The idea of being able to chart a course—to create agency and choice—is a really powerful one.’

The 40 cards that make up Navigating Depression each feature a visually engaging image, accompanied by a simple question, sentence starter or strategy. The five diverse characters who inhabit the cards portray the common and lived experience of depression.

Kate explained that Navigating Depression’s great strength is the broad range of interventions and modalities that have influenced its creation.

‘We’ve drawn from an enormous body of knowledge—mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, narrative therapy, positive psychology, cognitive behavioural therapy, neuroscience—the whole field of post traumatic growth,’ she explained.

‘The cards are not about pathologising, but rather exploring. Depression is complex. Navigating Depression creates a safe space to discover, learn and reflect on our mental wellbeing, our physical health, the way we’re behaving and being in the world. It’s a deep dive into “what’s going on” for us.’

At the launch of Navigating Depression, Kate used the ‘Observing Thoughts’ card as just one example of an incredibly powerful skill to learn when we’re working with low mood.

‘Often with depression comes a depressed mindset,’ she explained. ‘Thoughts of “I’m not worthy”, “I’m broken”, “No one cares”, or “I’m all alone”. If we can learn to observe these thoughts, we can often find a new perspective—a new way of positioning and orienting.

‘Now, when I have certain kinds of thoughts, I’ll say to myself, “Ah, there’s my mind saying that thing again”, and instead of being hijacked by that thought and believing it’s true, I can recognise that it’s not helpful—and maybe even orient my way of feeling and experiencing that thought in a new way.’

With this in mind, the cards are a great tool for exploring our patterns of thought and recognising warning signs. As Kate explained, ‘if I get really stressed I might overthink things, then I might not sleep well, then I’ll have a lower mood.

‘If we can know these patterns, we have a much better chance of managing our thoughts and developing strategies moving forward—we can be really wise.’

When it comes to the range of applications for using the cards, the sky is the limit. While they are perfect for psychologists, counsellors and wellbeing practitioners working one-to-one, they are also ideal for exploring self-care, burnout and vicarious trauma.

‘We all go through challenging moods and stressful times,’ Kate said. ‘Navigating Depression can enhance anyone’s wellbeing toolkit and is a perfect companion for self-reflection and journalling—our own personal map for charting a course through challenging times.’

Kate also sees the cards having an important role to play in secondary school settings to help build knowledge about mental health and wellbeing.

Many people working in the mental health space have already discovered Navigating Depression’s special magic in transforming their work with others.

Principal Practitioner at Counselling First Professional Services, Kristine Clements, says the cards have facilitated a deeper level of communication and understanding in sessions with her clients.

‘The questions on each card gently encourage clients to open up about their thoughts, emotions, and struggles associated with depression,’ Kristine said. ‘Clients who initially found it difficult to verbalise their feelings, felt more at ease and empowered to share their experiences using the prompts on the cards.

‘The cards support clients to identify and explore potential solutions to their challenges—alternative perspectives, coping mechanisms, and self-care strategies.’

Perhaps the greatest endorsement for Navigating Depression comes from author and Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at Oxford University, Mark Williams. Dr Williams is the co-developer of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), a modality designed to prevent relapse and recurrence in major depression.

In his foreword to Navigating Depression, he describes the moments of hope, ‘where we glimpse the possibility of change.

‘We gradually discover that we don’t need to take our negative thoughts so personally,’ he writes. ‘That we are stronger than we think and have within ourselves more resources, more wisdom and more kindness than we knew.

Navigating Depression will be a huge help in identifying those hopeful moments and building on them to create a new life. May they be, for all who use them, a place where new possibilities are found.’

 

by John Holton

Neurodiversity – do all great minds think alike?

When Camilla Pang was five, she was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Then later, as an adult, she was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as generalised anxiety (GAD).

In her book Explaining Humans, Pang describes how as a child:

‘I felt like a stranger within my own species; someone who understood the words, but couldn’t speak the language; who shared an appearance with fellow humans but none of the essential characteristics.’

As she got older, Pang became fascinated with what it meant to be human and was drawn to the sciences for answers, leading her to complete a PhD in biochemistry. She used that knowledge to try and understand what it means to be human on a biological and physical level, giving her a window into understanding what it means to be human more broadly.

As a result of her research, Pang realised that being neurodiverse could be an asset. She now believes that, while being neurodiverse in a world that has been designed for neurotypical people can be challenging, the things that make her ‘different’ are also the things that give her unique intellectual advantages.

‘Living like this is frustrating, but also completely liberating. Being out of place also means you are in your own world—one where you are free to make the rules. What’s more, over time I have come to realise that my curious cocktail of neurodiversity is also a blessing, one that has been my superpower in life—equipping me with the mental tools for fast, efficient and thorough analysis of problems. ASD means I see the world differently, and without preconceptions, while anxiety and ADHD allow me to process information at rapid speed … My neurodiversity created so many questions about what it means to be human, but it also gave me the capacity to answer them.’

What is neurodiversity?

We hear this term bandied around a lot, but what does it actually mean, and what forms of diversity fall under this banner?

According to the Mental Health Academy, neurodiverse brains differ from neurotypical brains in both structure and function.

For example, they describe how in brains impacted by ADHD, parts of the prefrontal cortex, which are used to ‘problem-solve, make decisions, control impulses, and utilise logic’, can be underdeveloped. People with ADHD can also have structural differences within their white matter (part of the limbic system) which can impact on ‘learning, memory, and regulating emotions’.

Neurotransmitters (the chemicals that help send messages), particularly dopamine and norepinephrine, can also work differently in neurodiverse brains.

This means that people with neurodiverse brains may process information differently and interpret the world in unique ways. They may also experience emotions differently to people with neurotypical brains.

For some people, being differently-abled can present challenges and they may need supports and adjustments. For others, being neurodivergent can lead to opportunities and insights that aren’t available to neurotypical people.

‘It is powerful to realise that neurodivergence has to do with how someone’s brain is structured and functions. It’s a part of the variability in humans and life, and it makes life on earth exciting and interesting and beautiful,’ says Annette Estes, director of the University of Washington (UW) Autism Center.

Common types of neurodiversity

Currently, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) recognises autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia as forms of neurodivergence, but the more widely accepted definition seems to be somewhat broader. Generally, the following are considered to be types of neurodiversity:

  • autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
  • attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
  • specific learning disabilities (SLD) including dyslexia, disgraphia and dyscalculia
  • dyspraxia
  • Tourette syndrome

Acquired brain injuries (ABIs) and mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), amongst others, are also sometimes considered to be forms of neurodiversity, because they can change the chemical composition of the brain.

Sometimes the following conditions are also included under the banner of neurodiversity:

  • Meares-Irlen Syndrome
  • intellectual disabilities
  • synesthesia.

Some people also consider ‘giftedness’, or people with extremely high intellectual/creative capacities, as neurodivergent.

Ideas and understanding about neurodiversity are developing and changing all the time, but broadly, neurodiversity is understood to include any condition that impacts on the structure or function of the brain.

Why it’s important for us to be thinking about neurodiversity

It’s estimated that approximately 15-20% of people are neurodiverse.

Not everyone who is neurodiverse will have a diagnosis or ‘label’. In every classroom, group or therapeutic setting, we are likely to be working with people who identify as neurodiverse. We will also work with clients, students or colleagues who think differently, or whose brains work differently to neurotypical brains, but who don’t identify with a particular form of neurodiversity.

It is also important to understand that the impacts of neurodiversity can be profound for some people.

For example, the Mental Health Academy says that people with ADHD have a life expectancy up to 21 years lower than people without it,  as ADHD can lead to increased risk-taking behaviours, reduced capacity for decision-making, increased risk of accidents and substance misuse.

The World Health Oganisation states that people with ASD,  ‘…are at greater risk of violence, injury and abuse’. They also note that, ‘…autistic people are often subject to stigma and discrimination, including unjust deprivation of health care, education and opportunities to engage and participate in their communities’.

In his article, ‘Neurodiversity can be a workplace strength, if we make room for it’, editor at The Conversation, Misha Ketchell, describes how, ‘Unemployment rates for people with some forms of neurodiversity are also significantly higher than for people who are neurotypical, or for people with physical disabilities.’

Additionally, people who are neurodivergent may be more prone to experiencing poor mental health. As McKenna Princing from UW Medicine notes, ‘Neurodivergent people can also be diagnosed with other mental health conditions. In fact, two of every three people with ADHD have another condition such as anxiety, depression or OCD, and autistic people are at higher risk for mental health conditions.’

However, people who are neurodiverse also bring many unique insights, skills, experiences and perspectives to the table. In a world that is desperately seeking solutions to a raft of challenges, it may well be people with unique perspectives that provide solutions that neurotypical people would never consider.

Some things to consider

It is important to remember that even if someone has a particular diagnosis, their experiences and needs may be unique compared to others with the same diagnosis. As such, asking good quality questions that enable the person to express their needs and preferences is a valuable way to ensure they feel included and supported.

How you ask the questions, and the types of questions you ask, may vary depending on the person and the type of neurodivergence. For example, some people on the autism spectrum may struggle to understand metaphors and abstract concepts, so it can be worth making sure that language is kept direct and concrete. Some forms of humour may also be challenging for people with ASD to understand, especially if it relies on word play or abstract ideas.

Of course, many neurodiverse people, including those with ASD, enjoy using metaphors and humour, which is why it’s important to ask the person what works for them and how they would like to communicate.

Here are a few things to think about when creating safe and inclusive environments for neurodiverse children and adults:

  • Ask about preferences for communicating. For example, some people may prefer to communicate using visual cues, others may prefer to use different forms of technology to aid communication.
  • Ask what spaces feel safe—what is it about those spaces? How can you replicate elements of those spaces during interactions, for example, offer low sensory input (or quiet) spaces; provide visual instructions and descriptors as well as written instructions; include different types of learning experiences and activities that appeal to different types of learners, e.g. action-oriented, tactile, mindful and reflective, conversation-based, visual, audio, etc.
  • Develop a support plan with the person and any support people they rely on, e.g. family members, friends, support workers or aids, social workers, psychologists, etc.
  • Wherever possible, invite the neurodiverse person to be at the centre of the process and give them as much agency in deciding the ‘when/where/who/why’ of any meeting and how it is to be conducted/recorded. Also, aim to include the person in any discussion that is about them and make decisions with them.
  • Do your own research. Like any area of diversity, it up to all of us who work in human service and educational spaces to educate ourselves about how others may experience the world and what inclusion might look like.
  • Support people to consider the different ways that their neurodiversity could be seen as a strength. Invite them to think about how their differences gives them insights, skills and awareness others may not have.
  • The more people understand themselves and their particular form of neurodiversity, the more they are likely to feel confident to advocate for themselves. Encourage them to develop a deeper understanding of their neurodiversity and the different ways it impacts their lives. They may do this by researching other people with similar forms of neurodiversity, connecting with individuals or groups (in person or online), engaging with media content created by neurodiverse people, etc.
  • Support people to advocate for themselves.

In every group, we are likely to have people from different cultural, social and gender groups, so too, we are likely to have a mix of neurotypical and neurodiverse people.

By considering how we can make spaces more welcoming, and conversations more inclusive for neurodiverse people, we are enabling them to feel more respected, valued, ‘seen’ and understood.

 

Sue King-Smith

Residential rehab support work supervisor, Paula, on how services can work together better

Innovative Resources’ managing editor, Sue King-Smith, recently sat down to chat with Paula, a support work supervisor at a residential rehab in Victoria. Paula talked about some of the challenges she experiences in the human services sector and also shared some great ideas and examples for using Innovative Resources cards to build rapport and connection in groups and teams.

Sue: Great to meet you, Paula. Thanks for agreeing to talk with us today. Could you start by telling us a bit about your program?

Paula: The program is a 12-week residential rehab for young people up to the age of 35. It’s a bit unusual to have an AOD (alcohol and other drugs) rehab program specifically for young people, but it works well.

Day to day, there are two sites, one for residential and one for day programs. At the units, we focus on life skills. People stay for up to 12 weeks. It used to be six weeks which meant we could really only stabilise people. This change has really increased our scope and what we can help people achieve.

Sue: You’ve worked in the sector for many years. What changes have you seen over that time?

Things have become really competitive. Services that used to work together are now battling for the same piece of funding, particularly with things becoming more technological … ‘oh we can just do that online now’. We’re losing our face-to-face presence with people and, because we worked face-to-face all through the pandemic, I’m really noticing it.

The sector is much more about ticking boxes, closing at the right time, opening at the right time and making sure you get your funding.

There also seems to be a really big push on outcomes and measuring outcomes in a bazillion different ways rather than just saying, ‘Well, this is where they were when they started and this is where they are at now’. We are measuring things constantly and we are always ‘at’ people to tell us more. It’s frustrating the participants and it’s frustrating staff.

If you talk to practitioners they’re saying, ‘Why do I have to do it that way?’ and we have to say, ‘Well, when we report, we need this piece of data’. They feel it’s getting in the way of them doing their jobs and building rapport with people. They’re sick of filling in forms and ticking boxes.

Now we constantly battle to keep people’s supports because as soon as they come into resi rehab, everyone closes—they have to because they want to get paid. And that’s big for the participants because they lose all their supports and you have to refer them back out into the community. There’s no continuity of care and that doesn’t seem fair.

Sue: If you had a magic wand, what would you change?

Paula: It would be nice if we could all cooperate with one another—collaborate and be resources for each other. It’s hard when we’re all battling for the same funding.

The service system needs to be changed from the inside out. I would put it back into the hands of the community—the people who could respond to what the needs are. I think when you empower people to build their own communities, they build them to work. To feed one another. To care for one another.

We forget to look at our clients sometimes. If I could change things, there would be a lot more focus on outcomes being created and driven by participants. Right now, we sit with these templates and say, ‘Well, these are the outcomes we are going to create’. It’s not always what people want.

Sue: It’s funny isn’t it, we talk a lot about ‘people-centred care’ or ‘client-centred practice’ but what you’re saying is that, in many ways, we’re actually moving further away from that?

Paula: Yeah, even though we’re saying the words, we’re not living the words. And we can’t live the words because we’ve still got boxes to tick. And yes, we need to regulate and make sure we’re doing good quality work and we’re not damaging people, but I don’t think building our towers higher and bigger and shinier is the way to do that.

Sue: You mentioned that you’ve used Innovative Resources cards before?

Paula: Yes. My two defaults are the Strength Cards and the Ups and Downs. They’re such a good way to get people to talk about things without necessarily talking about themselves.

I often take a pack of Ups and Downs into a community meeting [where a group of residential AOD participants come together], especially when the group seems to be feeling really flat.

You know that if you ask, ‘How are you travelling?’ you’re going to get, ‘Yep, good thanks.’ But if you spread the cards out and say, ‘Ok everyone, look at the cards and choose a picture that speaks to where you’re at in your recovery today’, they will be more open because they can talk about the little man on the card and it’s not necessarily about them anymore. They come out with the most awesome things and suddenly the room’s feeling better and everyone’s feeling more connected.

I use the Strength Cards a lot. Sometimes it will be, ‘Introduce yourself with a card’, or, ‘Pick a card that makes you think of someone else in the room’. They’re a good one to use when people are low, or if people aren’t feeling connected. You put the Strength Cards out and say, ‘Tell me something I didn’t know about you by picking a card and talking about it.’

We do what we call ‘warm fuzzies’, which is all about getting people to think positively. We encourage people by saying, ‘When you see something you like in someone else, write it down and put it in the warm fuzzies box’. When they get slack about doing that, we bring the Strength Cards out and say, ‘Ok, pick a card. Tell me about someone else in the room. Tell me what you see in them’.

It’s just so powerful because the ones who feel awkward—the ones that don’t want to talk about what’s inside them—can pick up a card and talk about that. It becomes easy for them to connect.

All my support staff use them. Twice a week we do a reflective focus group with the community and there are set questions to talk about. On a Tuesday night we talk about our personal journey and on a Friday night we talk about our educational journey. Because we do it week in, week out, participants get sick of the same old questions, so my staff will go and grab some cards. We use the Deep Speak cards a lot too.

I use them differently each time. I don’t think it’s ever fallen flat when I’ve introduced the cards. Even if it hasn’t had the desired impact, it’s had some impact that’s been positive.

Sue: Can you give an example of when you’ve used the cards with a group?

Paula: We had two people in the community who became a couple, then, after several things happened, they split and the community took sides. There was a real sense of resistance between the two sides. We came to a community meeting and I put the cards out and I said to the couple, ‘I want you to pick a card that makes you think of the other person’.

The things he said about her helped mend the divide. They built a whole new relationship based on much healthier things—there was respect and there were boundaries. It was really good for the rest of the community to see that too.

Sue: Have you got any advice for people who may be using the cards for the first time?

Paula: When there are new staff, I encourage them to watch me use the cards a few times, then I give them the cards and say, ‘I want you to have a look at those cards and think about what you might do with them today’.

If they come up blank, I say, ‘Think about what’s going on in the community and where the power sits at the moment. Think about who’s getting on and who’s not liking who. Think about all the stuff that’s going on—which cards do you think are going to be the most helpful and how do you think you might use them?’

They generally come up with something good. There’s no point in me saying, ‘I want you to do this’, because then it’s awkward and stilted. When the staff choose, they’re excited about what they’re doing and that makes a difference.

It’s good for us to have that kind of ‘shield’. In the same way the participants can use the cards to protect themselves, we can use them to protect ourselves as well.

For example, we do a session about personal hygiene or sexual health. That can be tricky to do. Using the cards allows people to be more open. They don’t feel like we’re talking about them, but they say, ‘Oh, I could use that’.

Sue: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Paula: The cards make my job easier. I’ve even used them in staff meetings: ‘Pick up a card that reminds you of someone else. Say something positive about the people you work with’.

It really makes a difference, giving people the opportunity to look for something positive in others. We can forget to ask, ‘Where’s the value here?’.

I find Strength Cards are a great way to talk about value and Ups and Downs are just great to talk about life.

Sue: Thanks so much Paula for sharing your thoughts, ideas and reflections with us. I’m sure so many of the things you’ve described will resonate with our readers.

A new year – a new look!

Seriously optimistic is the perfect way to sum up the vibe around Innovative Resources as we launch into a new year of unlocking strengths and sparking curiosity.

You might have already noticed our fresh new brand starting to appear across social media—and of course our new look SOON! As the year unfolds, we’ll roll out the new Innovative Resources logo, new-look design and fresh colour scheme on our website, products and all our communication platforms.

We love the quirky, conversation-based imagery and fun colours and hope you will too.

There’s also a bunch of friendly and curious ‘voice bubble’ characters we can’t wait to introduce you to. They’ll be popping up all over the place with their distinctive personalities prompting positive, strength-based conversations.

Marketing survey

A big thank you to everyone who took part in our 2023 marketing survey. The creativity you bring to your work and your support for what we do at Innovative Resources has helped shape the new brand and revitalise our path forward.

Digital toolbox

If you’ve bought any of our products recently, you might already be familiar with our new Digital Toolbox feature on the website. We think it’s going to be a great resource for everyone who buys an Innovative Resources product, whether it’s your first time, or you joined us somewhere along our 30-year journey.

Think of it as a one-stop digital library for everything you need to know about a resource. It includes a digital version of the cards plus a digital booklet full of valuable information about the cards, along with loads of activities and suggestions for how to use the cards in different settings.

You’ll also be able to access an Ideas Bank for each product, read how others have brought their own unique style of creativity to using the cards, and view Video Card Hacks presented by our trainer, Alison, offering hands-on expertise for introducing the cards in your work.

That’s a lot to get excited about!

Your feedback

And, of course, there’s nothing we love more than hearing from you—the experts at the coal face—about how you use the products and how you’re sparking conversations, unlocking strengths and changing lives in the process.

Drop us a line. We’d love to add your creative ideas to our Toolbox, interview you for an upcoming edition of SOON, or even arrange a video chat. Your stories continue to inspire and encourage us.

How to reduce ‘power-over’ in early year’s settings

We recently interviewed Kerri Watson, an early childhood development advisor and asked her to talk about how we can empower both children and teachers in the early years space.

Can you just tell me a bit about yourself, your role and what you do?

Currently I’m the early childhood development advisor for North Central Victoria. It’s a DFFH funded role, but I’m sort of employed by Anglicare Victoria. I also work alongside the North Central Victoria Family Service Alliance which covers six Local Government Areas. My roles have a strong capacity building focus, so I’m working with practitioners, whether it’s the Orange Door, Child Protection or Family Services.

My focus is children zero to five so I could be consulting in a range of ways. It could be team meeting discussions. It could be running trainings, all those sorts of things. So that’s my here and now. But I come from a kindergarten background, I’ve spent most of my life teaching in kindergartens in a lot of different places. I’m really passionate about vulnerable children and families, which is how I’ve ended up here.

I’ve worked mostly with services where there are a high percentage of children with vulnerabilities or who are at risk of involvement with services. I’ve had to do a whole lot of work around working with children in ways that I felt really empowered them and really met them where they were, as opposed to, you know, walking into a space and saying, well, these are the rules, you must do as I say.

You’ve spoken a lot about the difference between a power-over and a power-with approach. Can you describe how you would see this approach applying in relation to working with young children?

Yes, absolutely. So, a lot of that has come from the work I’m doing with practitioners around hearing the voice of children. When they’re working with families, yes, it’s great to have a family perspective, but what is this little 2-year-old saying to you without words? What’s the baby’s perspective? You know, how do we hear the child’s authentic voice?

I bang on about it. I talk a lot about the fact that we can’t just walk into a space with a child and not really reflect on what we take with us into that space. We automatically hold a sense of power just by being an adult.

Can you give us a practical example of hearing the child’s voice in a more ‘power-with’ way?

Sure. For example, when we started with the forum we ran recently, everyone was given the same bag with the same items in it and were asked to just sit with some beautiful music and create. There were no rules. I had them all in the same room. We were all sitting on the floor, adults and children. We all had the same items but they belonged to everybody.

What we noticed was that everybody’s creation was really different. And so, we then spent time walking around looking at what everybody else had created and you could see the different perspective of each person. Some lined them all up, some grouped them, some were creative and made a hen—it was just really interesting.

It’s just a valuable and powerful example of the idea that every child’s voice is going to be different, but to gain it authentically, we have to give them opportunities to feel safe and to feel they are in a place where they’re going to be valued.

Can you talk about how power plays out in terms of the different relationships in early year’s spaces?

Yes, I think we need to be aware of the power that we hold when we go into a space, e.g. – building. I call it relational practice, you know, you can’t be discovering anything or working with anyone, particularly families and children, if you don’t develop a relationship first.

Our focus is always about building relationships because that’s where everything starts. And that’s where everything ends. Everything happens within relationships. That’s a huge part of the work that we need to do.

And you can’t have a beautiful, two-way relationship if you’re holding power. If you’re constantly walking into a space and you’re standing above a child and you’re saying: I want to know how you’re feeling about that. It doesn’t work like that.

I worked at a kindergarten and out of nineteen enrolments we had seventeen children involved with services or therapists or multiple agencies. Lots of trauma, lots going on. It was really hard work.

We found that whenever people came to the kindergarten the children would get really anxious. Their behaviours would deteriorate. They were trying to tell us that something wasn’t right.

So, we just stopped and we did a lot of work with the children around how they were feeling: What’s happening for you now? What’s making you uncomfortable? Where would you feel better?

What we realised was that the children felt anxious whenever somebody came into the service wearing a lanyard. This triggered a real reaction and trauma behaviour started to kick in. Back then, anybody involved with a service, like child protection, had to wear an ID so people were pulling up in their car with a lanyard on and generally a clipboard.

And so, we actually had a no lanyard policy on the gates. They could come in and show me their ID from their pocket, but they couldn’t wear a lanyard because it was triggering a whole lot of trauma behaviours in the children.

That only happened because we were really trying listen to the children and hearing their voices. We wouldn’t have understood this if we hadn’t made a space for the children to genuinely share, if we hadn’t asked: What’s happening for you? Why is this triggering for you? So, you know, it’s really important that we create spaces for that to be able to happen.

Many of the little things that practitioners are doing automatically carry a sense of power-over a child, so that that voice of that child is not going to be authentic because they are already experiencing a displaced sense of power.

As we’ve just talked about, just wearing a lanyard or taking a clipboard into a meeting with a parent or child can feel like power-over to a nervous mum or child. We can’t change a lot of those sites of power, but we can acknowledge them and try and address them.

If you had three tips for people who wanted to work in a more ‘power-with’ way in early year’s settings what would they be?

There are lots of really easy little tips that I’ve come across over the years.

First, focus on creating reciprocal conversations. You have to be quite structured and deliberate about it at the start.

If a child comes up to you and says something to you, ask a question back, see if you can get five pieces of conversation happening in one go.

This activity encourages you to stop what you’re doing and helps you to focus on the child.

If you’re a teacher who is struggling to engage the children, focus on a particular child for that day.

To make this work, you have to do a few things. You’ve got to get down so you can hear them. You’ve, got to let them know you’re holding space for them. You need to ask open-ended questions because you need them to keep coming back. It can be really challenging at first, if you’re not used to it, but it’s a perfect starting point because it makes you stop and think: OK, how am I going to manage this?

It’s a really interesting way for people to change the way they interact with children. We’re not telling the child what to do. We’re suddenly really involved in that conversation. So yeah, a nice little exercise. Just sit down and have a conversation where you go backwards and forwards five times each.

Secondly, self-reflection. Look, I’m huge on self-reflection and I don’t know who you do it with in an early year’s space—it’s not always easy. I don’t know if there’s somebody you value or a supervisor, but reflect on everything you do. And if you ever tell yourself, ‘I do it that way just because I’ve always done it that way’, that’s what you need to change.

When you’re reflecting on your practice, you also need to ask yourself: ‘Who’s benefiting from this?’ If the answer is an adult, then it needs to change. The benefit should always be the child.

There are still things I do that I think, I need to reflect on that because why am I doing that? Is it because it’s easier for me or it makes my life easier or the outcome is for me?So how can I shift it so that it’s actually an outcome for the child? Self-reflection can be hard but it’s important if you want to empower the children you work with.

So, self-reflection is huge and you should continually do it.

Yes. So, what’s that? That’s two things. How many did I have to give you?

Maybe three—though you’ve already shared lots of great suggestions.

I’ll try for three.

I would also say, do your own research go and look at the studies around trauma-informed classrooms. Research how trauma impacts on the brain. Don’t wait for others to feed you the information. There’s so much available online. Just jump on and ask questions.

Another piece of advice is this.

So often when we’re working with children, particularly those that are really struggling with those big emotions or those big behaviours, it’s really challenging. I won’t let my staff say a child has challenging behaviour because the challenge isn’t the child–their behaviour is challenging us.

We need to own it, that challenge, and we need to ask ourselves, why is this? Why is that behaviour challenging me? What’s happening here?

Yeah, that’s a powerful shift in perspective, isn’t it?

Oh, it changed everything for me. A perfect example is children swearing. You know, when children get really frustrated and they start calling you names. I have staff members who believe swearing is very disrespectful. I suggest to them that it is challenging to them because there’s something in the way they were raised, which is fine, but the child is not swearing to be disrespectful in the moment. That’s just what’s coming out for them.

I ask: How can you shift that? You know, you’re an adult. Can you find a way to ignore the swearing and get to the really important part of what the child needs right now? So yeah, understanding that the challenge is actually lying with you and the onus is on you to change something in the paradigm of that relationship, is really important, I think.

Thanks so much, Kerri, for sharing your many years of experience and insights with us. We really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us about this important topic.

What we can learn from neuroesthetics – the study of how art changes the brain

Art therapy has been around for many years. Originally, art therapy emerged in the mid-twentieth century in Britain and America, and quickly began to be used in a range of health and mental health settings.

Practioners of art therapy and, more broadly, arts therapies, have long known that engaging with creative practices like painting, drawing, music, writing and drama, can have a positive impact on people’s mood.

However, it wasn’t until recently that scientists started to measure the impact that engaging in creative practices has on the brain. This area of study is called neuroesthetics (or neuroaesthetics).

But what is neuroesthetics?

In an article for The Conversation, professor and arts educator for over 20 years, Brittany Harker Martin describes it as follows:

Neuroesthetics uses brain imaging, brain wave technology and biofeedback to gather scientific evidence of how we respond to the arts. Through this, there is physical, scientific evidence that the arts engage the mind in novel ways, tap into our emotions in healthy ways and make us feel good.

And the evidence is quite comprehensive.

According to the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRH), arts therapy can lower stress and reduce cortisol levels, allow people to enter a state of mindfulness or flow, help people to process difficult emotions and trauma and raise serotonin levels. They note:

There is increasing evidence in rehabilitation medicine and the field of neuroscience that art enhances brain function by impacting brain wave patterns, emotions, and the nervous system. These benefits don’t just come from making art, they also occur by experiencing art. Observing art can stimulate the creation of new neural pathways and ways of thinking.

ACRH also note that there is also emerging evidence that engaging with the arts can increase brain plasticity.

Any type of creative expression allows you to imagine new ways to communicate and engage with the world, as well as engages the brain’s neuroplasticity, helping patients recover from things like traumatic brain injuries or stroke.

In an article on Professor Sharon Naismith from the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre who recently ran a research project in which she collaborated with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) to do a three-year research study called Artful to measure how art and creativity can be used to promote brain neuroplasticity in people with dementia, the author says:

Our understanding of how the brain works has progressed rapidly in the past decade. Academic literature used to depict brain activity as static, but thanks to imaging technology, we have the capacity see how the brain operates in real-time and visualise the intricate connections between different brain regions that inform how we think and behave.

Continued research in this area has indicated that, faced with different situations, our brains will continue to change and respond to environmental activity throughout our lives. This concept is called neuroplasticity – and when mixed with art engagement, can be incredibly beneficial for mental wellbeing.

ConnectAbility Australia, an organisation that supports people with significant disabilities, describe the ways in which arts therapies can increase neuroplasticity:

The feeling and activity generated through producing art inspires a profound inner change in our clients that is entirely their own work and choice, making it a very special and valuable experience for them. It also makes neuroplastic change far more likely, as it is driven by the clients’ own motivation and engagement.

The stronger the impression an activity makes on the brain, the more likely it will be to cement neuroplastic change. The inclusion of family, friends or support networks introduces an external factor, to lend support and confirmation to the growing internal changes.

In their recent book, Your brain on art: how the arts transform us, authors Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross summarise their research by providing a series of real-life examples of how art therapies are being used around the world:

At a home in upstate New York, a man with advanced Alzheimer’s disease recognizes his son for the first time in five years after he hears a curated playlist of songs from his past. In Finland, a young mother sings to her newborn to help recover from postpartum depression faster than with antidepressants alone. In Virginia, first responders paint to release the trauma of frontline care, and mask-making helps soldiers recover from PTSD, In Israel, a cancer hospital designed with sensory experiences in mind helps patients heal faster.

Around the world, healthcare workers are prescribing museum visits. Digital designers are working with cognitive neuroscientists to find new treatments for attention deficit disorder and to enhance brain health. There’s a virtual reality program that alleviates pain…All because of advances in neuroaesthetics. (pp.x-xi)

Many of us who work in human services and educational spaces use different art forms in our work with people, as we understand the power of the arts as therapeutic tools. We also see how enriching and hopeful it can be to engage people in sensory and tactile activities when they are working through challenging life experiences.

But now we increasingly have scientific evidence to support the use of these approaches in terms of improving mental health, potentially increasing brain plasticity, increasing rates of healing, reducing anxiety and building connection and hope.

How have you used arts or creative activities in your work with people? What results did you see? We would love to hear from you in the comments below.

Educator and coach, Leanne Grogan, on valuing teachers

Every day, we gather more evidence about the impact high-quality early years education has on outcomes for children. Educator and coach, Leanne Grogan, agreed to have a chat to us about how recognising and supporting teachers is a fundamental part of this.

She also talks about her work, her ideas about education and her long-standing relationship with Innovative Resources, including when she used to visit us in our shop in Bendigo, Victoria!

We asked Leanne to share a bit about who she is and what she does.

If you are reading this, we have a lot in common, I have been using resources from Innovative Resources since 1998. Whenever I felt the need for inspiration, I would wander across the road from my work and browse the many wonderful provocations in their shop!

I am an educator and have been teaching for the past 40 years, I am always learning and always striving to engage people in the extraordinary opportunity that teaching in early childhood education is. I am now a coach to educators across the state and often use the cards to provoke conversation and encourage people to think differently.

What trends or changes have you noticed in the early years sector over the years?

We are striving to fully equip our profession with the number of teachers we need to fulfil the extraordinary expansion the Victorian government is making in this important area of work.

We know fundamentally that the earlier children engage with excellent quality teaching, the greater their learning capacities throughout life will be. We therefore need to continue to strengthen our existing teachers and attract more teachers to our profession.

I have never before seen the commitment to early childhood that I am seeing now, our challenge is to be able to meet this growth with inspired and inspiring teachers!

You mentioned that you are working as a coach and mentor for early years educators – what are the biggest challenges facing early years educators at the moment?

Coaching is a way of meeting teachers’ professional development needs at an individual level, it provides teachers with agency in their own growth as educators. The coach facilitates learning conversations with existing teachers to build future growth based on past experiences and future goals.

As with many professions we need to attract more teachers and we need to ensure their professional conditions can sustain them throughout their careers in order to build a sustainable workforce.

If you had a magic wand, what would you change in this sector?

If I could change anything in our sector it would be recognition – recognition of the extraordinary importance of having excellent, high-quality teachers working with children from birth to 5 years. This recognition would help ensure that teachers can provide and enhance children’s learning capacities and help them begin a life long love of learning.

Recognition also helps ensure that we are providing good quality courses and that students are well prepared to teach in diverse settings. It is also more likely to lead to greater financial benefits, support for early career teachers in their initial stages of teaching, more time to plan for learning and more time to engage with families and communities.

How did you learn about Innovative Resources’ cards and what do you like about them? Are there particular sets you use/have used in your work?

I went to a professional development event decades ago where Innovative Resources’ cards were used so I sought them out. Innovative Resources’ cards provide incredibly flexible provocations to engage students to talk, ponder, wonder, explore and expand. I have found they allow students to articulate their thinking more readily and in more inclusive ways than any attempt at brainstorming on a whiteboard will do!  I have also found that the statements, colours and relatable content on the different cards allow individuals to focus more readily and feel more inspired.

What tips could you give people about when, and how, to introduce the cards into a conversation?

I would recommend that you provide many options for students when using the cards. Adult learners need to understand the benefits for them and the intention for the cards as provocations for thinking and learning.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

As educators we need to bravely try new ways of engaging and supporting students to help them articulate their thinking, their growth, their curiosities and their learnings.

Pictures speak a thousand words. When pictures are combined with key words, they can support people to explore their thoughts and help build well-structured conversations, which can lead to even deeper conversations!

Why low expectations are so damaging in human services and education

One of my first jobs, several years ago, was working as a tutor in an after-school program for Aboriginal children. They were a bright, lively, engaged group of young people and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them find their way in the world.

I do, however, distinctly remember a conversation I had with an eleven-year-old girl about her future – it’s a conversation that has stayed with me ever since and is one that I reflect on often.

We were talking about what the group were interested in and what they thought they might like to do after they finished school. This young person said that she wanted to be a doctor.

While I remember saying all the right things—that’s an exciting and rewarding path, you would be great in that role—it’s what I was thinking that I remember most.

Part of me was thinking about what a huge task it would be for her to get there. She lived in a regional area and went to a school that wasn’t strong on academics. While her family were incredibly supporting and encouraging, they had low literacy and she wasn’t yet able to read. She was smart and motivated but I worried that this might not be enough.

I’d also recently run two workshops in very different schools – the young person’s local school and an elite private girl’s school in the city.  The difference in resources was enormous. At the young person’s school, the teachers told me they had to fight to get adequate supplies of pens and paper for my workshop. At the other school (in the mid-1990s) all the girls came equipped with the latest top-of-the-range laptops loaded with the most up-to-date software.

In my mind, when she said she wanted to be a doctor, all I could see was the enormous barrier of privilege she was up against – she would be competing with people with huge resources, vast social connections and networks, and that was just to get to the starting line. Then she had to find a way to achieve the high scores she would need to get into university and get access to the resources she would need to move to the city to study, pay her fees and cover her living expenses.

I now wonder, even though I said the right things, did I put her off in some way, based on my own limiting beliefs about what was achievable?

What is the impact of having low expectations?

The reality is, if we are supporting people who are already facing a range of challenges and barriers in their lives, and we have low expectations of what is possible, they will probably also have low expectations of themselves too. And it isn’t just about what we say, it’s also about what we believe, as we are likely to communicate our beliefs to people in small and subtle ways, undermining their belief in themselves.

Parliamentarian, disability advocate and leader of the Dignity Party, Kelly Vincent, describes how the ‘soft bigotry of low expectations’ is a significant contributing factor in the chronic under-employment of people with disabilities. Talking about barriers to employment, she notes that:

Some…are physical – ramps, adjustable desks, screen readers and accessible toilets – everyday, practical kind of things…However, the bigger issue, and the one that can’t be seen, is the attitudinal barriers that people with disabilities face from potential employers and workmates.

She describes these barriers, saying, ‘When it comes to employment it seems that there exists this culture of low expectation’.

Teacher and education administrator, Paul Wilson, describes how low expectations sometimes play out in schools:

…when teachers have low expectations for some students, especially those who had a history of academic struggle, behavior issues, living in poverty or are transient, those students are often ostracized and separated into small groups based on perceived ability…The students in groups of perceived lower ability are often exposed to a less rigorous curriculum or intervention support. These low expectations can continue to plague classrooms and students for years, especially if the classroom is populated with students that may have performed poorly on standardized testing.

Often we don’t consciously try to impose our low expectations and limiting beliefs on people—in fact, most people would hate the idea they are doing this. However, it happens every day, especially to people from marginalised groups or from groups that, as a society, we tend to underestimate. These low expectations can be built into our culture, social structures, processes and institutions.

It is not just our limiting beliefs about others that can be an issue

As human service practitioners and educators, we can be limited by our own experiences and beliefs about what people are capable of achieving, but we can also be limited by what we imagine is possible for ourselves.

If we don’t believe we are capable of achieving a particular goal, we are less likely to believe that a client or student is able to achieve a similar, or more ambitious, goal. We can then project those beliefs and limitations onto the people we work alongside.

Conversely, having high expectations, for ourselves and others, can positively impact on our sense of wellbeing

As Misha Ketchell from The Conversation notes, research has shown that having low expectations can ‘limit our capacity to develop and grow’ and ‘lead to feelings of helplessness and despair’.

Equally, having high expectations of ourselves can, ‘help us adapt to changing circumstances and keep going. It’s a sign of resilience, adaptability and wellbeing’.

Additionally, Misha describes how we tend to perform better when people have high expectations of us – this is called the Pygmalion Effect:

Our belief that others see us as capable and believe that we can accomplish more than we think we can pushes us to perform better. Likewise, when others have low expectations of us, we generally perform worse. The Pygmalion effect has been tested extensively in the workplace and education, showing similar results.

So how do we challenge our own limiting beliefs about what’s possible?

One of the best ways to challenge limiting beliefs is to take the time, as individuals or teams, to reflect on what we believe about people’s capabilities and future possibilities, and how we enact these beliefs in the work we do with others.

Here are a few questions to get you started:

  • Examine your own beliefs about what you believe is possible, and not possible, for yourself. How might you be projecting those beliefs, consciously or unconsciously, onto the children or adults you work with in terms of your language, body language or other communications?
  • Do you have different expectations of people from different racial, economic, gender, religious or ethnic groups? Do you have different expectations of people who are differently abled or who are neurodiverse? Where do these beliefs or expectations come from? How do they manifest in the way you work with different individuals or groups?
  • How often do you ask clients or students about their hopes for the future? (When we’re working with people experiencing life challenges, it can be easy to forget to ask these questions. However, the right question at the right time about people’s future goals can be highly motivating and sometimes life changing.)
  • How do you ask? We may unknowingly build limiting inherent assumptions into our questions eg. consider the difference between these questions:
    • If you finish school, what jobs do you think you could get?
    • When you finish school, what university courses are you interested in exploring?
    • Imagine you are old, looking back on your life and you feel really proud of what you’ve done. What does your life look like?
  • When clients or students share their big dreams with you, how do you respond? Do you immediately jump to seeing all the possible barriers or do you get excited for them and invite them to explore the steps needed to achieve those dreams?
  • What language do you use to describe the people you work with? Do you talk about their limitations and challenges or their strengths and skills? (How we talk about people can impact on what we believe they are capable of achieving.)
  • When you think about your systems and processes, how do you think cultural, or structural, low expectations might be ‘baked’ in? How could you change these systems to make them more empowering and hopeful?

Having high expectations for people doesn’t mean pushing them into places where they feel uncomfortable or overwhelmed. It is about inviting them to think big, challenge themselves, learn, grow, be ambitious and hopeful, and it is about supporting them to explore the practical steps needed to make their dreams and goals a reality.

It is also about believing that every person is capable of great things, no matter what their current circumstances are.

 

Have you ever had the experience of people not believing in you? How did you respond? We would love to hear from you in the comments below.

I’m bored! How boredom can help children develop creativity, critical thinking and emotional intelligence.

How often have we heard the words, ‘I’m bored!’ coming from the back seat of the car, in the classroom or at the end of school holidays? Often it is accompanied by an accusatory tone, slumped shoulders and an implicit, or explicit, demand to be entertained.

For many of us, it can be quite hard to resist the impulse to ‘fix’ a child’s boredom by suggesting activities or creating opportunities for connection or distraction. It’s as if their boredom triggers something in us, a childhood memory perhaps, of long hours left in our own company where we felt adrift or aimless.

Boredom is an uncomfortable emotion. It often comes with irritation, listlessness and a sense of pointlessness. It is a kind of waiting, a pause, before life resumes.

But what if it is more than this?

We may remember moments of boredom when we were children but we often forget what followed those moments of boredom.  Did we make up a game with our toys? Build a cubby house? Create an imaginary world? Make a cake? Play with the dog? Connect with a friend or sibling? Go for a walk? Climb a tree? Draw a dragon?

I often think of the proverb, ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ but I also wonder if boredom is also the mother of invention? How much art, music, writing, philosophy, scientific development, innovation, has been generated in moments of boredom? Creatives and scientists regular talk about how ideas or solutions came to them while they were completing mundane tasks.

Equally, how many things haven’t come into existence because experiences of boredom have become rarer. When we fill our lives and the lives of our children with distractions and endless activities, what is being lost?

There is increasing research that the dopamine hit we get from new and novel content, especially electronic content, can be addictive, making us less adept and willing to let ourselves exist in a state of boredom, even for short periods of time.

Research shows that many potential benefits can arise from experiencing periods of boredom. Boredom creates opportunities for children (and adults) to:

  • be creative, innovative, curious and imaginative
  • learn to problem solve and build critical thinking skills
  • develop patience, resilience and self-motivation
  • learn to delay gratification
  • rest, recharge and reflect
  • increase independence and self-reliance
  • recognise and explore emotions
  • develop a tolerance for uncertainty
  • explore the world in new and interesting ways.

Of course, just as boredom can be used for good, it can also be a source of destructive and risk-taking behaviors. So how can we keep boredom on the ‘straight and narrow’, and encourage children to use feelings of boredom in constructive ways? Here are a few ideas:

  • Try reframing: next time a child says, ‘I’m bored!’, maybe say, ‘Are you bored or are you full of trapped energy– if you could let that energy out, what would you do with it?’ or ‘Wow, you’re lucky – not many people get to feel bored. It’s a sign you’re ready to try something new. What would you like to try or learn?’
  • As Dorothy Parker famously said, ‘The cure for boredom is curiosity.’ Encourage children to get curious about the world. What makes them happy or angry or fascinated– how could they learn more about those things? Who inspires them? Could they go exploring? Could they make up a treasure hunt or game or imaginary world? What could they build with just the stuff from the kitchen cupboard/back yard/craft box/junk drawer?
  • Invite children to externalise their boredom – What does it look like? How does it speak? What does it want? What makes it happy? Can you draw a picture of it? What is it telling you?
  • Encourage children to just ‘be’. In his article on boredom, researcher Bryan Robinson suggests we need to embrace what the Italian’s call, ‘il dolce far niente’ which he says roughly translates as ’the sweetness of doing nothing’ or being able to ‘intentionally let go and prioritize being alongside of doing’. What happens when we invite boredom in instead of pushing it away – how does it change? How do we change? What if we see it as a gift?
  • Suggest children do some slow breathing or simple mindfulness activities. This will help them learn to regulate emotions, manage anxiety and find calm.
  • Or, you could simply smile, acknowledge what the child is feeling and step away—let them find their own way through the experience of boredom. You might be surprised by the innovative things they find to occupy themselves.

In our contemporary world, we have endless quick fixes for boredom.

But maybe, sometimes, it is worth allowing ourselves, and the children in our lives, to spend some time in a state of boredom, just to see what happens next…

 

Author: Sue King-Smith

Lifeline Tasmania manager, James Ryan, talks about current trends in mental health, building resilience and mindful mountain biking.

James Ryan is the Program Manager at Lifeline Tasmania, managing the Training and Support Program. His team delivers mental health and suicide prevention workshops to community and workplaces all over the state.

We asked him to tell us a bit about what his role entails and why services like Lifeline are so important.

We deliver a range of workshops including Suicide Conversation Skills, Mental Health First Aid, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, Psychological Safety for Executives, Workplace Life Skills Toolbox, Domestic Violence Prevention and more. We’ve done a lot of tailored workshops as well.

Working for Lifeline is incredibly meaningful, knowing we save lives. A waitress at a work function confessed that she calls Lifeline twice a year and that she was honoured to be our waitress. When I wear my Lifeline shirt into the city, heaps of people give me a knowing nod of approval. Guys in pubs secretly confess that they’ve struggled in the past and appreciate the work we do, or that their brother died by suicide, but Lifeline kept them going for a decade. Experiences like these bring tears to my eyes. I feel extremely grateful to be a part of this organisation.

 

Working for lifeline, what trends or changes have you noticed in the kinds of issues people are seeking support around?

We are hearing a common story in Tasmania and from around Australia – that the quantity of people reaching out for help is increasing and the quantity of their challenges is also increasing – if that makes sense. They are reaching out for assistance in a greater number of areas of their life. Stressors are coming from many directions, not just one or two.

We are receiving a lot of workshop inquiries from call centres. Their staff are receiving calls from customers threatening self-harm or suicide if their problems can’t be resolved. This is causing staff on the phones a great deal of stress.  Another request we now regularly receive is to deliver some type of workshop that can bridge the divide between older workers and new, younger workers. There seems to be quite a wide divide between the values of previous generations and the generation just entering the workforce, and it is causing loads of friction in work environments.

 

When we spoke, you talked about being a ‘mindful mountain biking coach’ – can you talk about what this is and how it works?

As anyone who has ever ridden a mountain bike knows, mountain biking is an endless learning opportunity. However, there is a fundamental problem when humans learn physical skills and that is the over-involvement of language-based instructions. Language uses words – which are symbolic and need interpretation into muscular movement patterns. Much better to see and feel what to do.

Mindful MTB is all about noticing what the body is doing and what result occurs (without judging outcomes as good or bad). As a coach, I use words to help someone direct their attention to a part of their body that is relevant to the skill being performed. Notice where you are looking as you enter the corner. Where in the corner did you let your brakes off? Out of ten, how light were your hands as you left the drop? Were you breathing in or out as you approached the jump? Which works best for relaxed jumping?

Keeping attention on the elements of the body teaches the body how to do the skill in a way that works for that body. Our bodies are incredibly smart. There is lots more to say about this way of coaching, but you will have to wait for my book to come out.

 

In your experience, how important is spending time in nature, and exercise, for mental health?

One of my favourite ways to spend time in nature is to go snorkelling – I spend a lot of the time just floating and I think that is the key to recharging in nature – just stop moving. Plonk yourself down or move slowly. Close your eyes and let everything go. Go by yourself if you feel safe. Check out Sharing Nature with Children by Joseph Cornell and take your own inner child forest bathing.

And exercise is essential for wellbeing, especially for generating those good feelings within us, but also for processing emotions. You never run so far as when you’re angry, and you usually get home feeling better. Emotions and ruminative thinking get processed by the act of moving our bodies vigorously. Don’t carry extra mental emotional baggage if you don’t have to – it’s not good for you, your children, your relationship, or anyone. Staying a bit more peaceful and centred is one small thing we can all do to help the world.

 

You mentioned worked in lots of schools talking about how to build resilience. What would be your key tips for people wanting to support children to increase resilience?

Describe your internal narrative to children so they get to understand that we all have an internal world that is full of words and stories. For example, you might tell them, ‘I got angry because I had a story running in my mind saying they should behave the way I want them too. But, they actually had a good reason for behaving the way they did. Now that I understand more, I feel calmer and not angry at them. I need to apologise.’ Describe the internal processes for making responsible choices, so they can be ‘seen’ by children. Doing this also makes us adults more self-aware and that can’t hurt!

Don’t expect children to be little adults, they’re clearly not. Let children be who they are meant to be. I believe in the Genius idea – that we are all born with special gifts and talents that we are meant to bring to the world. Imagine the world if we all focused on supporting (especially economically) everyone to live their Genius – whether poet, surgeon, manager, teacher, botanist, or inventor. In terms of resilience, people come alive when they are deep in their gifts, and they whither when they removed and blocked from expressing those gifts. Aren’t you?

Lastly, I think that human life is very deep and that our dominant lifestyle is not. Most children I’ve worked with are passionate for discussions on the universe, ghosts, God, dreams, quantum foam, aliens, death, reincarnation and other mysteries. Human life is truly mysterious, so adults that shut these discussions out, shut down a large part of what makes us human, and I think that creates an impediment to wellbeing and resilience.

 

You also mentioned you recommended the use of The Bears cards to talk about resilience. Can you describe how you used The Bears (or why you recommended them) in this context?

I used The Bears cards to assist children to recognise and name emotions. However, I enjoyed using the cards differently too. Look at the card, cover it, now draw the emotion. Pick a card that represented how you felt as you imagined that big, hairy, angry spider crawled up your leg. Which card shows how you think your mum feels most days? Put three cards together that tell the story of what happened after school yesterday.

There are infinite possibilities, limited only by the time we have to think creatively. Now that I’ve started thinking about how I can use these cards with my current training and support team… I feel creative.

 

If you could give three pieces of advice to people who are supporting someone using the cards, what would they be?

  • Be patient. There is no rush. Let the river flow naturally.
  • Practice generating and remembering good questions. Just a few really good ones.
  • Trust your instincts. We all have quite a good internal radar. If you have a good intent, trust yourself.

 

Is there anything else you would like to share?

I sometimes just browse your catalogue to kick-start my creativity.

And thank you to all who are involved, and have ever been involved, in the creation, development and bringing into reality of all the products you produce, you’ve made an enormous contribution to the world.

Navigating Depression – a tool for the journey

Our latest card set, Navigating Depression, has just hit the shelves so we invited the author of this beautiful and engaging resource to tell us a bit about herself. We also asked her to share a bit about her experience in creating the cards.

We started by asking Kate to tell us a bit about the work she does.

I am a registered psychologist and I’ve been working in private practice for nearly 20 years. I work with people seeking psychologically focussed psychotherapy and I collaborate with a broad range of services systems, including in government and non-government agencies, allied health, community and health services, and in particular within the education sector.

As part of my practice, I offer professional supervision to psychologists, social workers, youth workers and clinical mental health practitioners. I also provide support to teachers, welfare workers and other professionals providing direct services to their client bases.

I’m also a training consultant and love working and collaborating with organisations to help develop and facilitate training and workshops designed to share best practice knowledge to strengthen and enhance clinical practice and direct service delivery.

Another field I’ve been studying and practicing in for over 33 years is that of meditation and mindfulness-based interventions.

I have engaged extensively in mindfulness-based interventions such as ACT, DBT, MBCT and have full accreditation through the Mindfulness Training Institute of Australasia. For the past 8 years, I’ve been teaching the world renowned 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program, and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression Program.

I’m also deeply committed to my own process of living an adventurous and meaningful life. I’m dedicated to sharing what I learn from ancient wisdom traditions, as well as modern neuroscience and contemporary evidence based psychological interventions, with the many people I work with.

 

As a psychologist and the author of the Navigating Depression cards, can you tell us why you wanted to create a resource to support people to talk about depression?

There are countless struggles and sources of pain in our lives. It can be tough. Some of these things are outside of our control. Some things we simply cannot change, like the event of a global pandemic, for example. However, there are things we can do that helps us navigate through challenging times, and not only survive but learn to thrive and grow stronger through adversity.

Through the practice wisdom of many therapeutic modalities, ancient and contemporary, we know a lot about how to attend skilfully when working with difficult states, such as depression and other forms of emotional distress.

The Navigating Depression cards are a means to bring these interventions into a form that is engaging, accessible, inspiring and applicable to people’s everyday life. The intention of the card set is to give people the opportunity to engage in a journey of reflecting on their experience of depression in order to build effective tools to help them navigate skilfully through and beyond the sometimes very challenging territory of chronic sadness.

We created Navigating Depression as a therapeutic resource that brings together the best of evidence-based practice from a broad range of modalities. It is designed to meet the diverse learning styles and needs of a broad range of people, young and old. Navigating Depression is primarily about building resilience and mental health and wellbeing.

 

The cards use the metaphor of travel or a journey – why is this a useful metaphor when talking about depression?

Navigating Depression uses the metaphor of living life as a ‘journey’, which provides a fertile metaphoric framework for people to share their stories, learn, and find meaning, as they ‘chart their course’ through life. This metaphor is reflected in the symbolism within the artistic design, as well as in the language and metaphors used to describe the therapeutic explorations and applications.

The travel metaphor also extends to descriptions of mood—weather can be gloomy, freezing, stormy, dark, bright or warm, for example, just like mood. It also extends to terrain and territory—landscapes can be barren, dense with foliage, remote, isolated, mountainous, full of valleys and peaks, riddled with quick sand but they can also contain look-outs, clear views, big sky, pathways, tracks and sign-posts.

 

There are four suits in the cards. How do they work?

Each suit, and each card, has been created and informed by evidence-based research and practice, and have strong therapeutic underpinnings. The cards may be used in a variety of ways, from travelling consecutively through each suit, to drawing and reflecting on the concepts held within a single card.

A full description of the cards and how they can be used is outlined in the comprehensive booklet that companions the card set. This includes the theoretical rational for the suits and cards, as well as references to the evidence-based interventions that are featured on the cards.

 

The Navigating Depression cards include five characters. Can you tell us a bit about them? Why did you want to include characters? 

The Navigating Depression cards have been designed to be inclusive of people from a range of different backgrounds. They include characters of various ages, genders and cultural backgrounds.

The five characters were developed to portray the common and lived experience of depression, highlighting the fact that people experience it across the lifespan. We are targeting this resource to young people through to older adults. We also want to honour and celebrate the diversity of people within our society and in doing so hope that the characters are inclusive, accessible and relatable.

As life is not a solo journey—we are social beings—we hoped that the group of characters may be able to denote a sense of having fellow travellers on this journey of navigating life with all its challenges and wonders.

Everyone experiences suffering at some point so we wanted the resource to speak to our common humanity and highlight our shared experiences. We also hope the characters can be used to inspire and enrich a sense of empathy and compassion for ourselves and others.

Some of the cards may depict more than one character, which is meant to highlight the importance of nurturing relationships, seeking help, and giving support and encouragement to ourselves and others, when you are travelling through depression. In terms of the metaphor of the journey, the relationships and dynamics between characters can also symbolise the benefit of creating a back-up and support crew.

 

There are lots of resources to support people experiencing depression. How are the Navigating Depression cards different? What do they bring to the conversation?

Navigating Depression is unique as it is a tool that can support safe, reflective conversations which help people explore and navigate important themes related to depression. They have a particular focus on thoughts, feelings, struggles, strengths, resources, hopes, values, dreams and aspirations.

Navigating Depression can be used in a number of different ways. You can use them on your own as a tool to support self-reflection, for journaling or to prompt other creative responses to depression. They can also be used with a ‘supportive other’ who can help you explore, navigate and map a journey towards a preferred destination.

This conversation-starting tool was designed to support people as they explore their personal experience of depression and reflect on what has led them to becoming depressed. They can also be used to help people explore their experience of distress and low mood, build a repertoire of adaptive coping strategies to help them move through and learn from the experience, look towards a preferred future, and make powerful choices that help them recover and live with purpose.

 

How do you see the cards being used in different settings?

Anyone can use these cards. Here are a few ways people could use them.

  • Private and personal reflection. As prompts for journaling or other creative arts. People could put individual cards on a fridge or window ledge as reminders.
  • Around a kitchen tables with families. This resource is a strong psychoeducation tool. It is designed to help facilitate safe, consensual conversations that are relevant and salient, open and explorative. They are conversation starters designed to encourage self-reflection and skill building, which makes them great to use with families.
  • Schools. Great for teachers, wellbeing officers and mental health practitioners. As the cards include words and images, they can also be fantastic prompts for use in for Art, English, Biology, PE, Health, Psychology and Drama classes.
  • Primary prevention tool. The cards can be used to talk about mental health more broadly within a prevention context. Can be used to talk about resilience building, risk factors, protective factors and how to develop a toolkit of strategies and skills to help people stay well.
  • Workplaces. Great for use in teams, for peer support and in supervision. Use with organisations to build a positive culture that values self-care, looking after ourselves and each other, helps employees build resilience, and enhance their personal and professional mental health and wellbeing. It is a tool that could be used to counter or prevent employee burn-out, vicarious trauma and build effective stress management practices.
  • Social workers, youth workers, counsellors, psychologists. The cards can be used to help engage clients in a reflective or therapeutic journey. Can be used for early intervention or with targeted groups, at-risk young people, for relapse prevention or as an intervention tool.
  • Workshops. Use in training environments to talk about mental health and self-care.

 

Do you have any tips for how and when to introduce the cards into a conversation?

  • Be familiar with the cards—if possible, read the booklet before you use the cards, play with the cards, ask yourself the questions and practice the experiential exercises.
  • Human suffering is a universal experience. Depression is common – it is important to acknowledge our common humanity.
  • Be sensitive to the fact that exploring the causes and impact of depression is likely to give rise to painful material which may be challenging for the client. Be sensitive to people’s vulnerability and provide a safe, consensual and invitational space.
  • Make sure to introduce the cards at an appropriate time and that there is going to be ample space to explore, contain and consolidate the learnings with enough time.
  • Be curious, open, compassionate and kind.
  • Be interested, focused and listen for understanding.
  • Let the person lead the conversation.

For more information and to order the cards, visit our website

AI and mental health – am I about to be replaced by a chatbot?

It’s a question many of us are asking – how are the new forms of AI going to impact on the work we do? While we won’t be able to adequately cover this very large question in this very short blog, I thought we’d start by exploring how generative AI chatbots could impact on future mental health services.

Mental health chatbots have been around for a while (Wysa, Heyy, Woebot etc.) so why are we so worried about this now? The truth is, AIs like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s newly released, Bard, are different to the older AIs as they are generative. What this means is that the mental health chatbots we are familiar with are generally pre-programmed with specific questions and responses, while chatbots like ChatGPT respond with generative text, which is original and unique, based on data and information they compile from across the web, books, scientific papers and other sources.

If you’ve used ChatGPT for any length of time, you will have realised that you can have quite in-depth, complex and nuanced conversations with it. It will also personalise its responses to your responses. Strangely, this can feel like it is building rapport with you and the conversation can feel quite genuine.

Additionally, it can use specific therapeutic approaches, respond in many different languages and draw on huge numbers of sources to articulate the most effective advice and treatment options available for a particular issue or challenge.

It generates responses in less than 30 seconds and can talk with millions of people at once at any time of the day or night without breaking a sweat.

I recently asked ChatGPT4 how it would structure a therapeutic conversation with a human, and this was its response:

‘As an AI language model, I am not a qualified counselor and cannot replace a human counselor. However, if we assume that AI counseling services have been developed to a sufficient degree and that a person has voluntarily opted for a counseling session with an AI chatbot, here are some ways a session involving ChatGPT4 could unfold:

  1. Introduction: The chatbot would introduce itself and establish rapport with the human by asking their name and some general questions about their current state of mind.
  2. Assessment: The chatbot would then ask some targeted questions to gain a better understanding of the person’s mental health concerns, such as their symptoms, their triggers, their support system, etc.
  3. Active Listening: The chatbot would demonstrate active listening skills by reflecting back on the person’s feelings and thoughts, acknowledging their concerns, and expressing empathy.
  4. Goal-setting: Based on the information gathered during the assessment, the chatbot would help the person set goals for the session and determine what they would like to achieve from the counseling session.
  5. Guided conversation: The chatbot would engage the person in a guided conversation to explore their feelings and help them gain insights into their challenges. This could involve using open-ended questions, reflecting on their emotions, and offering insights or perspectives.
  6. Skill-building: The chatbot could also offer skills and techniques for managing stress, anxiety, or other issues. This could include cognitive-behavioral techniques, mindfulness exercises, or breathing exercises.
  7. Conclusion: The chatbot would conclude the session by summarizing what was discussed, asking if the person has any further questions or concerns, and offering resources or referrals for additional support if needed.

It is important to note that while AI counseling services may be a useful tool for some, they cannot replace the benefits of human connection and support from a qualified therapist or counselor.’

Sounds like it has a reasonable grip on the whole counselling process, in theory at least.

In fact, people are already using generative chatbots for counselling, with mixed results. Some people have reported finding them really helpful for things like relationship advice, while others have suggested they can be harmful (one man in Belgium reportedly committed suicide after using a chatbot for several weeks). Most experts seem to agree that for moderate to severe mental health issues, these tools could be potentially harmful if not used under the supervision of a mental health professional.

As we’ve already seen, there are many potential risks and challenges we need to think through before we start to rely on these new AIs as they are really in their infancy when it comes to mental health support.

The pros and cons

Let’s start with the cons.

Instead of asking human experts about what they believe the risks and limitations of chatbot mental health tools are (there are a number of great articles out there on this topic), I thought I’d ask ChatGPT4. Here’s a list of the top 10 issues and limitations ChatGPT4 believes exist with current chatbot mental health tools:

  1. Limited empathy: Chatbots lack the emotional intelligence and empathy of human therapists, which can be important in supporting people with mental health issues.
  2. Limited scope: Chatbots may not be able to provide the same level of support as human therapists, particularly for complex mental health issues.
  3. Misdiagnosis: Chatbots may not be able to accurately diagnose mental health conditions, potentially leading to misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment.
  4. Overreliance: Users may become overly reliant on chatbots for mental health support, potentially neglecting other support options.
  5. Privacy concerns: Chatbots collect user data, raising concerns about privacy and data security.
  6. Limited feedback: Chatbots may not be able to provide the same level of feedback and guidance as human therapists, potentially limiting their effectiveness.
  7. Technical issues: Chatbots can be prone to technical issues, which can interrupt or interfere with mental health support.
  8. Lack of regulation: Chatbots are not currently regulated in the same way as human therapists, raising concerns about quality and safety.
  9. Lack of personal connection: Chatbots lack the personal connection and rapport that can be important in supporting people with mental health issues.
  10. Ethical concerns: The use of chatbots in mental health support raises ethical concerns around the use of technology in healthcare and the potential for harm to users.

While we can’t say that AIs like ChatGPT4 are in any way self-aware, this list is eerily self-reflective and provides a useful summary of some of the concerns we have regarding chatbot mental health tools.

I would add a few more to this list of potential risks. As these AIs are programmed by humans, they will inevitably have inherent, unconscious biases built into them (but then, so do humans).

We are social animals and evidence consistently suggests that human connection is a protective factor in terms of mental health, so over-reliance on technology for emotional support is a risk. In a world focussed on cost-cutting and the bottom line, the availability of mental health chatbots could also undercut the value of human forms of support.

Also, chatbots can sometimes be a bit glitchy (there are reports of them creating references that don’t exist and giving false or outdated information at times) which is a problem. On their website, the creators acknowledge this problem, stating:

‘While we’ve made efforts to make the model refuse inappropriate requests, it will sometimes respond to harmful instructions or exhibit biased behavior. We’re using the Moderation API to warn or block certain types of unsafe content, but we expect it to have some false negatives and positives for now. We’re eager to collect user feedback to aid our ongoing work to improve this system.’

But there are also many potential benefits.

Many mental health services and supports are currently over-subscribed and often expensive and difficult to access – these tools could offer interim support to people. The sessions can be in many different languages, in any time zone at any time, be offered at low cost, increase accessibility and there is potentially no limit to the number of sessions available – people could have multiple sessions a day and they could be any length.

These chatbot apps could also be used to collect, and analyse, an enormous amount of non-identified data to help us improve services.

Additionally, you can ask ChatGPT to take on a ‘personality’, so people could request a counselling ‘avatar’ with traits they feel comfortable with, which could assist with rapport building, e.g. their counselling avatar could be/have a specific gender, age, cultural background, accent, religious values, etc. (Wysa already uses a simulated human voice that is almost indistinguishable from a real voice, helping people to feel connected.)

ChatGPT can also adopt any therapeutic modality, so people could request a particular approach, or a human expert could pre-program a counselling conversation using a particular therapeutic model.

Currently, counselling services are incredibly stretched and burnout levels are high. If these services and supports are developed with appropriate ethical and safety parameters in place, they could reduce the pressure on the system and alleviate high levels of stress on human service workers.

So, what does this mean for social workers, counsellors and psychologists?

In some ways, things are changing so quickly in this space that it is hard to know the extent and reach of the changes (which is why Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and thousands of others have requested a 6 month pause on the development of generative AIs so that the risks and impact can be better assessed). However, we can at least start to explore some of the questions being raised by the development of these new AIs.

Experts believe that the vocations that will be most impacted by these new AIs are knowledge or information workers. While social workers, counsellors and psychologists are often very ‘hands on’ in their work, and therefore may be less impacted than other information-based industries, it is clear that AIs will be used to either supplement or in some cases, replace some therapeutic services.

Where to from here?

The reality is that AIs seem to be here to stay.

As professionals in human services, we need to make sure we are using safe and ethical AI powered tools. If we can find ways to ensure that these tools are effective and safe, there are many potential benefits for us, and the people we work with. To summarise:

  • We may be able to offer more timely, effective, affordable support for people while they are waiting to access our services or to enhance services.
  • These chatbots and apps may be able to educate people about their mental health and help them develop tools and skills for monitoring and managing their mental health long term.
  • They may also provide us with vital data that we can incorporate into our practice and inform best practice more broadly.
  • And crucially, they are scalable, so they could help take pressure off counselling and mental health systems that are collapsing under unprecedented levels of demand.

Chatbots are a tool—if used properly, and appropriately regulated, they could be an incredibly useful addition to our toolkits. If you’re thinking about how to incorporate AI-based mental health tools into your work, here are a few questions you might ask yourself:

  • How could these tools enhance, or undermine, the services we currently offer people?
  • How could we use these tools to take pressure off our service and teams?
  • What checks and parameters do we need to have in place to ensure these tools are safe and ethical?
  • What do we need to know to feel confident we can advise people on how to use therapeutic AIs in ways that are beneficial and safe?

What are your thoughts about the use of AIs in supporting people to manage their mental health? Whether you’ve had positive or negative experiences, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Interview with Greek academic and author, Μαrία Χατζηγιάννη, on how to talk to children about war, conflict and other challenging topics

A few weeks ago, we spoke to Μαrία Χατζηγιάννη, Assistant Professor in the Department of Early Childhood and Care at the University of West Attica in Athens, Greece and an honorary lecturer at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

During her time in Melbourne, Maria used the original Strengths Cards for Kids in her work with children. She now wants to use the cards in her work in Greece to talk about challenging topics and help children build resilience, social skills and emotional awareness. She agreed to tell us a bit about her incredible research on using technology with young children to explore big issues like war.

 

We started by asking Maria to tell us a bit about herself:

I was a lecturer for more than 7 years in Australia in different universities. I completed my PhD with full scholarship at the University of Melbourne in 2008 and before that I completed a Masters degree (ICT in Education) and a Bachelors degree (Early Childhood Education) from the National Kapodistrian University of Athens.

I have also worked as an early childhood teacher and director for more than 13 years, 5 of which were in Australia (in Australian-Greek early childhood settings, seconded by the Greek Ministry of Education).

Most of my research and academic teaching concentrates on the use of new technologies in early childhood education (for children, teachers, parents). I have a specific interest in the associations of the use of technology with social-emotional development. I am also interested in STEM/STEAM approaches in early childhood.

 

You recently contributed to a book called ‘Embedding STEAM in early childhood education and care’ in which you talked about innovative ways to talk to children about big topics like war and conflict. What key messages do you have for educators or other people supporting children about how to have these difficult conversations?

Based on both my academic and pedagogical knowledge, young children can understand a lot more than we think they can. Building on a strengths approach and not on a deficit approach (what young children cannot do) and using innovative, creative strategies (e.g., design thinking, STEM etc) we can explore with young children ‘difficult’, ‘abstract’ concepts such as ‘war’, ‘peace’, ‘enemy’, ‘borders’, ‘conflict’ etc.

This project took place at a historical time for Greece. Young children, as Greek citizens, were experiencing the whole frustration and turbulence which was happening around them. Early childhood teachers know very well that they need to plan and organise authentic experiences and activities from children’s everyday life and support, anyway they can, children’s active participation.

Parents should also be honest and explain to children what is happening around them. Conversations and explanations should be clear of any biases and stereotypes. During the project it was evident, for example, that young children at the start did not know what a ‘hero’ was, they only knew ‘super heroes’. Children’s understandings were transformed at the end of the project and they could explain who can be a real hero and that heroes can also be women.

 

You’ve worked in education in both Australia and Greece. What similarities and differences have you noticed in terms of approaches to education? What could we learn from Greek approaches to education?

I have learned a lot in Australia as an early childhood teacher. I now value more children’s free play, outdoor activities, programme planning, pedagogical documentation and also how the early childhood settings are assessed.

The Greek early childhood system is split. Children as young as 6 months old can go to a childcare centre until they turn 4. After 4, it is compulsory to go to kindergarten for 2 years (4-6). At 6 years of age they start primary school. It is great we have a compulsory kindergarten for 2 years and a public/states system – parents do not pay! Unfortunately, in Australia the cost for early childhood education is quite high. Of course, a public system also has its disadvantages (e.g., lack of resources, one teacher with 25 children) but at least it is fair and accessible to all children.

Prep (age 5-6) is the first year of primary school in Australia in most states, and they mostly follow an academic programme, learning to read and write. In Greece, the same year is still considered early childhood and not primary education. Play, projects, inquiry-based learning are still very eminent in Greek kindergarten – which I think is an advantage.

Finally, Greek early childhood teachers have a 4 year university degree, even the ones who work with children under 4 years of age. Teachers who do not have a university degree can only work in private centres – not in public centres.

 

Can you give an example or two of how you have used Innovative Resources’ cards with children, families or groups?

As an early childhood teacher and a researcher, I was looking for resources for social-emotional development and I found them on the internet. I have used the old version of Strength Cards For Kids.

I used the strength cards with children when I was working as a kindergarten teacher, both with 4 and 5 years old. When working around their social and emotional development, I was showing the children some of the cards (I was choosing maybe 10-15 of the whole set) and we would discuss which ones were closer to each child (e.g., this is a lot like me; not a lot like me).

Young children cannot read, but the graphics of the cards were very intuitive and with my help they could understand what the card was about. I also had the card stickers and children were getting one sticker each time (the card which best described them) – they loved that positive reinforcement.

I also asked questions like: Which card do you think fits with your best friend…(name of the child)?; Which card do you think is very important and you would like to be more like that in the future? Unfortunately, I did not use the cards with parents.

In the current project/software we are preparing for the Ministry of Education, children will be able to see, with the help of technology, the cards on the screen and on the paper. I will also be able to record my voice explaining each card in Greek and the children will be able to listen to the description of the card as many times as they need to.

Combining two mediums (digital and hardcopy) will enhance children’s understanding and engagement with the cards. From a researcher’s perspective, it will also be very interesting to observe and systematically investigate children’s reactions, and hear parents’ and teachers’ feedback about using these cards.

 

If you could give three pieces of advice to people who are supporting someone using the cards, what would they be?

  • Explore all the cards the first time and choose 10 which are suitable for specific children/context
  • Prepare a system of how young children can understand/reply to the cards (e.g. ask children to choose two cards that best describe them; or create a scale of answers – mostly like me; a little like me, etc)
  • Document children’s answers and compare them in future times and inform parents when you have meetings about their children.

My other tips would be to use a small number of cards each time (5-10) with young children who cannot read, so that teachers/parents can help them understand. Depending on the context and needs of each setting, teachers could choose which cards are most suitable.

They could also use different cards in different times of the year (e.g, at the start, middle and end of the year). Teachers could also be encouraged to monitor children’s answers and compare them at different times to see whether children’s self-evaluations change.

The introduction to the cards would be better when it is part of a project around social-emotional development, emotions, learning about myself and my identity, my well-being etc – associated with the early years learning framework of Australia.

 

Do you have any other thoughts or suggestions?

One last point to consider would be to organise professional development for early childhood educators around the different sets of cards and to promote their wider use.

 

We would like to thank Maria for sharing her extensive knowledge, experience and insights with us.

Questions can empower or disempower – but how do we know which ones are which?

Have you ever been asked a question that changed your life?

I was. When I was 19 and about to flunk out of uni, I was completely at sea and had no idea what I was going to do. I was miserable and felt completely trapped. I kept asking myself: What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I just stick this out?

And the answers I gave myself? You are useless and ungrateful, suck it up and get on with it.  

Needless to say, these answers didn’t help.

Then someone asked me 2 simple questions. What are you naturally drawn to doing in your spare time? Where do you find meaning? In answering these questions honestly, I realised that the things that gave me meaning and energy were all to do with the arts and the study of different cultures, completely unrelated to what I was then studying. So, I swapped courses and I felt much happier.

Looking back, I can see that the kinds of questions I was asking myself were never going to help me move forward. In fact, they just pulled me further into inaction and misery.

Since then, I’ve learned to question the questions I ask myself – are they helpful or do they pull me down?

 

What types of questions can lead to positive change?

To paraphrase author and speaker, Tony Robbins, the quality of our lives is defined by the number of good quality questions we ask ourselves.

As I discovered, there are good quality questions and poor quality questions.

When we ask ourselves good quality questions, we feel motivated to change. Poor quality questions, however, tend to sap energy and leave us feeling stuck and hopeless.

But how can we tell the difference between the two?

 

Poor quality questions

As author and resilience trainer, Pinky Jangra, says, ‘Questions lead to answers. Answers generate emotions and drive behaviour. Behaviour determines results.’

When we ask ourselves poor quality questions, we are likely to get unhelpful answers, which will lead to unhelpful behaviours and outcomes.

Poor quality questions tend to be ‘closed’, include negative inherent assumptions and leave us feeling unmotivated to change.

Here are a few examples of poor quality questions:

  • Why can’t I just get over this? (Think about how you might answer this question about a life challenge. It is unlikely to generate new options or possibilities for moving forward.)
  • Why do bad things always happen to me? (This question includes the negative inherent assumption that there has never been a time when good things have happened to you, or when bad things have happened to others. It’s a cognitive error known as catastrophising.)
  • How could they do that to me?
  • What’s wrong with me?
  • Why is everything so unfair?
  • Why am I so unlucky?
  • Who is to blame?

Good quality questions

Good quality questions often have the following characteristics:

  • They are ‘open’ rather than ‘closed’ questions.
  • They lead to answers that are motivating and empowering.
  • They include inherent assumptions about the person’s strengths, skills, capacities, resources and past successes e.g. What strengths did you use to overcome challenges in the past? (This question includes 2 inherent assumptions: 1. They have overcome challenges in the past, and 2. the person has strengths).

Good quality questions should lead to reflection, hopeful options, a clear list of potential actions and a positive pathway forward. They may also lead to more questions – this can be a great outcome too, since poor quality questions tend to close down further exploration.

There are many different types of good quality questions – here are just a few:

  • If I woke up tomorrow and this issue had magically resolved itself overnight, what would be different? What would others notice about me?
  • What have I learned from this experience?
  • How could I see this as an opportunity?
  • What would my family or friends say are my best qualities or strengths?
  • Who can help?
  • What’s one thing I could do today?
  • Who else has done what I want to do? What could I learn from them?
  • How have I dealt with hard things in the past? What worked?
  • What is important to me? What do I value?
  • What am I really good at? How could these skills or qualities help me now?

Empowering people to ask themselves good quality questions

Often when we are feeling disempowered, we ask ourselves poor quality questions.

Asking ourselves these types of questions generates poor quality and unhelpful answers, which ultimately lead us into a negative spiral where we can’t see a way forward.

Equally, the people we work with often ask themselves unhelpful questions. When working with people, it can be helpful to think about the types of questions we are asking them. We need to support them to ask themselves better quality questions.

Supporting and encouraging people—adults and children alike—to ask themselves good quality questions is a great way of enabling them to build a skill they can use in many areas of their lives.

Even better, it is a sustainable and empowering skill that can have profound implications for people as they work through challenges and overcome the inevitable difficulties that come with being human.

You can support people to ask themselves good quality questions by:

  • Modelling – when working alongside people, gently challenge or reframe questions so that they are more useful and helpful. Support them to think about how they feel when they ask themselves different kinds of questions.
  • Teaching – if you work with groups or in classrooms (or with individuals), have a discussion about different types of questions. Get participants to ask each other a mixture of poor and good quality questions (prepare these before the session) and get them to rate how they feel afterwards. Which questions left them feeling hopeful and energised? Which questions left them feeling powerless and stuck?
  • Self-reflection – think about the quality of the questions you ask yourself. Are they good quality questions? By learning to ask yourself better quality questions, it becomes much easier to support others to do the same (and you might be pleasantly surprised by the changes that result in your own life).

Working in this way supports people to become their own experts, make their own decisions and feel more empowered to work through challenges in a proactive and hopeful way.

What’s the best question you have ever been asked? How did it change your life? We would love to hear from you in the comments below!

Sue King-Smith

 

Our Deep Speak cards are full of engaging, powerful questions for young people and adults. The new edition (coming soon!) includes 120 simple, reflective questions, with over 30 new questions, and is perfect for having conversations about things like identity, relationships, emotions, values and beliefs.

Clinical psychologist, Bronwyn Raykos, on finding gentle ways to talk about eating disorders

Eating disorders are one of the most life-threatening mental illnesses. Yet supports and services for people experiencing an eating disorder, and their families and carers, remain scarce.

During the pandemic, the number of people with eating disorders increased significantly. The most worrying trend was that this increase was largely due to a dramatic rise in the numbers of young teenagers and children presenting with eating disorders. According to a recent ABC Four Corners report:

‘Eating disorders were already on the rise before the pandemic hit. Now numbers have exploded, especially for young people.

‘Some public hospitals have recorded between an 80 per cent to 104 per cent increase in children with anorexia in the past three years.’

For every person who seeks support, there are many others who suffer in silence. This is partly because secrecy and shame are common features of eating disorders.

Given that more than 1 million Australian’s are living with an eating disorder at any given time, we need to find better ways to have conversations about these debilitating illnesses.

In this interview, clinical psychologist, Bronwyn Raykos, talks about some different ways she has used the Eating Disorders and Other Shadowy Companions cards to have gentle conversations with people about their experience of living with an eating disorder, including their fears, challenges and hopes for the future.

We start by asking Bronwyn to tell us a bit about herself and the work she does

I am a clinical psychologist specialising in the treatment of eating disorders.  I work across child, adolescent, and adult sectors.  I am also a clinical researcher, which means I conduct research aimed at improving treatment for individuals with eating disorders

You mentioned that you worked with people experiencing eating disorders. What are some of the things you wish the broader community understood about eating disorders?

There are a lot of myths about eating disorders. It is very important to understand that eating disorders are not a choice but serious, biologically influenced illnesses. They are not just ‘phases’ that people grow out of and can affect people of all genders, ages, socioeconomic status, and body sizes.

How did you learn about Eating disorders & other shadowy companions cards and what do you like about them?

I have previously been using The Bears cards and was made aware of the new set of eating disorder cards from a colleague so I ordered a set.

I really like the simplicity of the visual images, and how they accurately capture some of the complex physical, psychological, and emotional aspects of having an eating disorder. These include ambivalence about change, the role of perfectionism, social expectations, and hope and optimism for recovery.

Sometimes when our patients are very malnourished, they may struggle with words or conversation so having a visual image may be a more effective way of conveying key topics in session.

At other times, patients find it difficult to express how they are feeling but they might be able to select an image that conveys an internal experience, and this can prompt a helpful conversation.

Can you give an example or two of how you’ve used the cards?

One of my favourite cards is the picture of Ed the Eating Disorder monster with the script, ‘What are you most afraid of?’ Facing fears related to eating, weight, and shape is at the core of treating eating disorders.

Clinicians are also often fearful of components of treatment so facing fears is also something that clinicians needs to do in order to effectively treat eating disorders.

What tips could you give people about when, and how, to introduce the cards into a conversation?

My tips are to just select a few cards (rather than the whole pack) that relate to a core component of the intervention you are delivering.

Use the cards to enhance the core components of evidence-based treatment or provide a visual image that can enhance the client’s learning or memory of your session content.

The cards can be a non-threatening way of discussing difficult topics for patients who find verbal discussion difficult. Younger clients tend to really like them.

If you could give three pieces of advice to people who are supporting someone with an eating disorder, what would they be?

Firstly, it can be very difficult to be in the position of being a support person for someone with an eating disorder, so it is very important that you are looking after yourself and finding opportunities for self-care.

Secondly, find out as much as you can about eating disorders. Websites such as the Butterfly Foundation and the National Eating Disorders Collaboration are good places to start.

Thirdly, attending support groups for family and loved ones of a person with an eating disorder has been shown to reduce distress and improve self-confidence in family and others supports, and is also beneficial for the individual with the eating disorder.

If you are concerned about a loved one, you can start a conversation by letting them know you are concerned.  Encourage them to see their GP as a starting point.

How ‘awe’ can improve our health and wellbeing

When our jaw drops, our eyes widen and we are filled with a sense of wonder, we are probably experiencing awe. Awe is often defined as a feeling of amazement in response to something vast, inspiring, overwhelming or beyond our understanding.

In those moments, we may also feel joy, gratitude and compassion, and we may notice a reduction of anxiety, sadness or negative self-talk.

So how do feelings of awe change the way we think and feel about ourselves?

Looking up at the night sky, listening to an amazing piece of music, witnessing the birth of a child or contemplating the incredible power of a bushfire or raging river can make us consider our smallness, our finiteness, our transience and our vulnerability, all of which draws our attention away from ourselves.

In other words, awe can give us a sense of perspective and help us appreciate the bigger picture. It also helps us see that we are part of a bigger whole. Sharon Salzberg, a leading mindfulness teacher and author, describes awe as ‘the absence of self-preoccupation’.

But awe doesn’t just impact on our mental wellbeing—research has shown that experiencing awe can have significant physical impacts. Dr. Keltner, a psychologist

at the University of California, Berkeley and author of Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, found that

‘…awe activates the vagal nerves, clusters of neurons in the spinal cord that regulate various bodily functions, and slows our heart rate, relieves digestion‌ and deepens breathing.’

A 2019 study published in Emotion magazine found that feelings of awe, especially those resulting from experiences associated with art, nature or creativity, were linked to lower levels of inflammation-producing cytokines.

Experiences of awe have also been found to increase levels of oxytocin, which can contribute to feelings of wellbeing, connection to others, gratitude and reduced stress.

Incredibly, a simple feeling like awe can have a range of positive impacts on a person’s physiology, all of which can lead to improved well-being and general health.

So how can we cultivate a sense of awe in our everyday lives? And how can we support others to do the same? Here are a few ideas:

  • Think about the things that you find pleasure in and contemplate how they came to be. Spend time appreciating their infinite complexity and beauty – a sunset, a flower, a child, the grace of a soccer player, science, art, the universe.
  • Notice and meditate on acts of kindness by others. Being inspired by the generosity of others can be a great way to increase feelings of hope.
  • Learn about the people who inspire you.
  • Visit new places—often when we are in new environments, we are more receptive and open to feelings of wonder. Being out of our comfort zone also heightens our senses, so we are more likely to see things with fresh eyes.
  • Spend time in the natural world. Take time to notice both the immensity and beauty of nature and the small, intricate details of the natural world.
  • Practice mindfulness – being able to find awe and wonder in small things and small moments can be key to increasing everyday feelings of awe, as you train yourself to notice the wonder in the world around you.

What experiences of awe have you had? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Interview with counsellor, Louise Elliott, on building emotional literacy using cards

Recently, Louise Elliott from Off The Couch therapy in South Australia, shared a story about how she used the Body Signals cards to support a young person to understand the feelings and body signals he was experiencing in relation to going to school.

We invited her to share some ideas and tips about how to introduce different card sets into a conversation with children and young people. She also has some great suggestions on how to use different sets to support children build social and emotional literacy and navigate transitions.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and the work you do?

My name is Louise and I’m a ‘walk and talk’ counsellor in Adelaide with Off the Couch Therapy.

I see adults and children in my practice and together with my dog, Hiro, we support clients with issues such as anxiety, depression, stress, social interactions and friendships, transitions and emotional regulation.

Which Innovative Resources’ cards do you use in your work?

Before qualifying as a counsellor, I was a pastoral care worker in a primary school for many years and used the Strength Cards® and The Bears cards a lot in small groups as well as with individuals.

The Strength Cards® are still a firm favourite as well as Shadows and deeper shadows which I use with some of my older children.

You shared a story with us about using the Body Signals cards with a young person to help them understand how they were feeling at school. How did the young person respond?

My 7-year-old client told me he was feeling a bit nervous about starting school, so we took a look at the cards and together we chose a few to act out. We found several that he connected with such as feeling open when he saw his friends and biting his nails when he looked into his classroom.

All together he found around 10 cards that he could use to describe the various emotions and body sensations he felt on a typical school morning.

Have used the cards in other settings?

One client was unsure what several of the body signals meant (such as hypervigilant) so I was able to create a story when the character was feeling this way and what might be going on in his body, as well as brain storming ways in which we can soothe our bodies and nervous system when we might feel hypervigilant. The client gained new understanding and helped come up with strategies that could help him in the future.

What tips could you give people about when, and how, to introduce the cards into a conversation?

I call them games. I keep it very light and if the client doesn’t resonate with the set I put them away for another day.

Some children like to use the same sets every session and we use them in different ways, such as role play, charades, how others may be feeling, or how we perceive others e.g., my sister was angry because her face/body was like this.

If you could give three pieces of advice to people who are supporting someone using the cards, what would they be?

Keep it light, be flexible, and let the child lead and use their imagination and words as much as possible.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

Write your name on these sets if you work in a school setting, as they often get borrowed! They’re too valuable to misplace..hehe

Thanks Louise for sharing your insights and wisdom with us.

 

If you have a story to share about how you use card sets with the people you walk alongside, we would love to hear from you!

Helping children negotiate play spaces

As we all know, transitions can be hard. Starting a new job, leaving a relationship, going to university or moving to a new place can all create feelings of uncertainty and anxiety.

Funnily, it isn’t always the steep learning curve that inevitably comes with a new job or situation that leaves us feeling stressed, although this can certainly feel challenging. Navigating unstructured periods of time–in lunchrooms or breakrooms, informal conversations before things get started or at the end of meetings, the getting-to-know-you conversations, etc.—can be equally unsettling.

It can be the same for children going to school. The classroom usually has structure and rules, and someone to ask if they are unsure. While there can still be stresses that come with this, often there is comfort in having defined expectations.

However, it is those unstructured times in the playground or other periods of ‘free play’ or ‘free time’ that can feel the most overwhelming for many children. Luckily, there are a range of skills children and young people can develop to help them navigate these times.

If you are supporting children, young people or families experiencing new educational settings (or familiar ones) here are a few ideas of things you might explore with them:

  • Visit the space before school starts or in a quiet time to familiarise the child or young person with the environment
  • New places often have ‘hidden’ rules and expectations, particularly in relation to things like how you dress or speak, what games or activities happen where, what you eat or how you behave in different situations. It is almost inevitable that we will break some of these rules when we enter a new environment. When children or young people have unknowingly ‘broken’ these hidden rules, they might instinctively know they have done something ‘wrong’ but they may not know what it is. By talking about the idea of hidden rules, you can help them find strategies to uncover and navigate these expectations.
  • When you are asking children and young people to talk about their experiences at school, don’t just focus on the classroom but also ask about the playground or lunch breaks. What do they like doing? How do they invite others in? Is there anything they find challenging about these times?
  • Discuss the concept of personal space and boundaries. We often talk about these as ideas in generalist or abstract ways without exploring how you know when you have overstepped a boundary or have left someone feeling uncomfortable. By describing these concepts in concrete terms using activities to demonstrate the idea of personal space or boundaries, we can help make them concrete. How does your body let you know someone is in your space? How do you know when you are in someone else’s space? What might you notice about someone’s expression or body posture if they are feeling uncomfortable or upset? What can you do if this happens?
  • Encourage children to notice and celebrate their strengths, as well as the strengths of others. We can also encourage children to see their differences, and the differences of others, as something to celebrate. How can you include someone who is different to you? Can you describe one strengths of each person you spent time with today?
  • Discuss strategies for resolving conflict. Unstructured places are great places for children and young people to learn how to communicate what they need, and feel, in respectful ways, while also learning to respect what other people need. When you are in the middle of an argument, how can you stop and listen to what other people are feeling?
  • For younger children, talking and practicing sharing and taking turns can help them learn to navigate play spaces in respectful ways.
  • Support children to be creative and imaginative. While playgrounds and free play time can feel daunting for some children and young people, they are also places of exploration, innovation, creativity and growth. Encourage children to have fun, make mistakes, do the unexpected and connect with others.

If you’re interested in exploring more ideas for supporting children to navigate the playground, check out our upcoming workshop Navigating the Playground and Other Transitions.

Do you have any suggestions or tips for supporting children and young people to successfully navigate the playground and other ‘free’ time? We’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below!

Explore our wide range of 2023 training opportunities

In 2023 we will  be running a series of free 30 minute online workshops where our highly skilled trainer, Alison Krusec, will share a range of tips and tricks for using our most popular card sets, starting with Strengths Cards® Unlimited.

Strengths Cards® Unlimited—the first in a series of FREE 30-minute online sessions

Strengths are more than personal qualities. Strength Cards® Unlimited expands the notion of what a strength is, enabling us to talk about strengths in different ways. It is perfect for enabling conversations about different types of strengths, including a person’s resources, skills, relationships and experiences.

In this 30 minute FREE online session, we will explore:

  • how the images on the cards can prompt conversations
  • how to choose cards to talk about specific issues or topics
  • why talking about strengths is a powerful place to start therapeutic conversations
  • why encouraging curiosity can empower people to explore their stories
  • how the cards can be used to help create respectful and safe spaces
  • some great activities and ideas other practitioners have shared with us.

This session is perfect for social workers, health professionals, school counsellors, teachers, wellbeing staff, parents and carers.

Training

We have an exciting range of training coming your way. Here is a taster of what’s on offer:

The training is available in a range of modes – in-person, online workshops, eLearning and blended. For more info, check out our Training Calendar.

 

Have a wonderful holiday break and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year!

Exciting new resources for 2023!

We have lots of new offerings coming in 2023 – here’s a sneak peak at just a few.

Navigating Depression cards

Our long awaited Navigating Depression cards will be available later this year. As the author of Navigating Depression, psychologist Kate Skilbeck, says:

‘There are countless struggles and sources of pain in our lives. It can be tough. However, there are things we can do to help us navigate through challenging times, and not only survive but thrive and grow stronger through adversity.’

Drawing on the metaphor of the journey, these 40 beautifully-illustrated cards include five characters exploring the challenging terrain of depression.

Featuring a word and image on the front and a range of questions, sentence starters and evidence-based exercises on the back, the Navigating Depression cards have been designed to help people work with low mood or emotional distress.

You can use the cards to help people:

  • share their stories and experiences
  • build social and emotional literacy
  • proactively notice and address early warning signs
  • create healthy, protective habits
  • recognise when to seek support.

Great for teachers, counsellors, social workers, psychologists, parents or anyone supporting people experiencing depression, and perfect for use with adults and young people in one-on-one therapeutic conversations, groups or classrooms.

The set also includes an in-depth booklet with lots of ideas for activities.

 

Cards for talking about respectful relationships with children

We are also updating a much-loved card set, giving it a contemporary vibe and some new content. Illustrated with a bunch of quirky characters, you can use the cards to think about the elements of healthy relationships and friendships.

Being able to identify the dimensions of healthy relationships is perhaps the first step in knowing how to make good choices in our relationships with others.

These cards create an opportunity to have conversations about the fundamentals of relationships—respect, kindness, inclusion, celebration of differences as well as similarities, listening, connectedness—fundamentals that have the potential to be life-changing.

Use this resource to help build small microcosms of respectful relationships, in the school ground, in neighbourhoods, in sports clubs and in families.

Watch this space – coming in late 2023!