Journey of Hope: School-Based Psychosocial Support

Program description

Journey of Hope is a wellbeing program that helps students identify, understand and normalise emotions. The program empowers students to cope and respond positively to their emotions.

The program is based in cognitive behavioural therapy and supports better student mental health and learning by developing prosocial behaviours. These include sharing, being helpful and other behaviours promoting positive relationships. These behaviours minimise risk factors for behavioural and emotional difficulties.

Trained facilitators work with students across eight modules that are tailored to the developmental needs of primary through to secondary school aged children. Modules are aligned to the Victorian school curriculum. The program is delivered face-to-face (online options are available) in one-hour sessions delivered over 8 weeks.

Intended outcomes

• Increased understanding of emotions
• Improved problem solving and teamwork
• Improved coping strategies
• Increased confidence in supporting peers
• Reduced difficulties including conduct problems, inattention, and poor peer relationships
• Increased engagement in learning

Program details

Implementation considerations

• Target population: Primary and secondary school students.
• Program adaptability: Journey of Hope can be delivered flexibly to meet the psychosocial needs of primary and secondary school aged students, with adaptations for specific contexts including in response to floods, bushfires, COVID-19 or other events of collective trauma. The program is adaptable for diverse cohorts including:
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
  • culturally and linguistically diverse students
  • students with a disability.
• Staffing: Teachers and school staff are welcome to participate in Journey of Hope as it can be beneficial for some student cohorts to have their teachers/education support go through the journey together, however it is not mandatory to have a teacher involvement. Schools should consider staff backfilling if they would like teachers to participate.
• Training requirements: Schools are only required to provide an appropriate space to facilitate 8 sessions. 54 reasons will provide all other resources including information collateral and activity resources. If there are any special needs resources required for specific students (i.e. Translation apps or disability access), 54 reasons will work with the school to ensure there are adequate resources to enable participation.
• Factors to consider: The commitment from a school is for a minimum of 15 and maximum of 30 students, in 3 groups of 5 to 10 students each. The time commitment is 60 minutes per week for each one of the 3 groups of students for 8 weeks, equating to 24 hours of program delivery time.
• Australian context: Journey of Hope was originally developed in the USA and first implemented after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. It has since been delivered to more than 85,000 children globally, including an adaptation in New Zealand following the Christchurch earthquake. In Australia, Journey of Hope has been delivered to close to 10,000 children and young people in communities experiencing collective trauma such as bushfires, floods, and COVID-related impacts. Its effectiveness in the Australian context has been proven.

Cost

Minimum cost

$5,000+

Detailed cost

The total program cost for Journey of Hope is $20,559 (including GST), and is based on the 15–30 students required for schools to purchase the program.

For the total program cost, schools receive delivery of Journey of Hope to 3 groups of 5–10 students, one day per week over 8 weeks (each student receives 8 sessions) by 2 facilitators, a report and resources for teachers. Schools in the same region can combine resources to meet the 15–30 student requirement.

Additional costs include facilitator travel costs which are on-charged to schools in regional areas at $1.06 per kilometre (including GST).