Get positive

Janelle Everitt, left, and Lisa Taggart are forming a group called Western Region Positive Education Group and they encourage all parents and teachers to join. 97183 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI

By YASEMIN TALAT

TWO Hobsons Bay mothers are taking things into their own hands and working towards positive change for the future.
Lisa Taggart and Janelle Everitt are putting forward a positive learning initiative to all Western Suburbs schools.
Ms Taggart said positive education needed to be part of every school’s curriculum.
“We think that well-being is just as important if not more important than the academic side because if you don’t know who you are, you don’t know where you’re going or what decisions to make when you get there.”
Positive education is a part of positive psychology.
The program aims to help prevent mental health issues in teenagers by pro-actively increasing mental resilience and well-being.
“It’s not about a cure, it’s about prevention,” Ms Taggart said.
Ms Taggart said the program was essential for getting youth ready for life.
“It is about equipping our children with life skills because at school they focus on getting them ready for work but they don’t focus on life,” she said.
Ms Taggart said that schools were not evolving with the advance in technology and social media.
“They need to be taught how to cope with relations and how to cope with social media today – it’s very different these days it is evolving, why aren’t schools changing?,” Ms Taggart said.
“The stats are there, that’s why we see the connection, so let’s prevent it – we can’t cure depression, we can’t cure bullying, it’s going to happen but let’s equip our kids, let’s give them some armour,” she said.
Ms Taggart said several private schools had already paid to implement the program and she aimed to help public schools follow.
“Our ultimate objective is to see this as part of every school in the Western Suburbs by the time our children reach high school,” she said.
Ms Taggart is promoting SenseAbility, a free program for all schools developed by beyondblue Australia.
“It’s been around for two years and when it first came out 57 per cent of schools took it up as a program and now it’s grown to 60 per cent but it hasn’t grown any more,” Ms Taggart said.
“Why this hasn’t gone viral and isn’t part of the policy is beyond me.”
The passionate pair of mothers have created the Western Region Positive Education Group and are inviting all parents, guardians and teachers to join.
“The idea of the group is to get key people around it, we want people that care and really want to see a change occur in the community that will impact their children not just now but in the future.”
The first meeting will be held at the Prince Albert Hotel, Williamstown on Thursday 2 May at 7.30pm. For more information contact Lisa 0418 197 200 or Janelle 0422 203 734.

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