By Eleanor Wilson
According to Beyond Blue, one in seven young people aged 4 to 17 experience a mental health condition in any given year.
Yet young people are less likely than any other age group to seek professional help for their mental health.
Now, a show aimed at tackling anxiety and depression in primary school aged children is coming to Narre Warren in the Term 3 school holidays.
This September, The Resilience Project hosted by Martin Heppell will provide a high-energy kids show tour across Victoria, sowing the seeds for kids to develop a good relationship with their wellbeing.
Through music, storytelling and plenty of laughs, Heppell will teach students and their families ‘three happy tricks’ to manage and improve their wellbeing.
Specifically, the show teaches kids about gratitude, empathy and kindness (know as GEM), to help them through troubling times.
“It’s about giving them hope, letting them know they’re not alone, and knowing that, while going through adversity isn’t fun, if they have strategies to implement to help them out, they can get through it,” Mr Heppell said.
He said kids often struggle to seek help when they’re going through tough times, often for fear of judgement.
“Kids often struggle with making mistakes because we fuel them with views or opinions of a world that they have to strive to be perfect in,” he said.
“It’s important for kids to know they can be comfortable in their own skin; they are worthy of love, they are awesome just the way they are, they’re not perfect and they do have flaws, but they can still celebrate who they are.”
The Resilience Project’s founder Hugh van Cuylenburg said the kids show could not come at a more important time.
“After two years of really tough lockdowns, social isolation and navigating the challenges of online learning, it’s no wonder we are seeing such confronting statistics about our children’s mental health,” he said.
Research by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute found over the pandemic, young people who had participated in The Resilience Project maintained their emotional wellbeing and life satisfaction.
Comparably, young people who had not participated in the project saw a decrease, on average, in their emotional wellbeing and life satisfaction.
The Resilience Project Kids Show is coming to Bunjil Place in Narre Warren on Thursday 22 September.
To purchase tickets, go to bunjilplace.com.au/events/resilience-project-martin-heppell
