Child and Youth Programs
It is estimated that one in seven children of primary school age have a mental health difficulty, the most common difficulties being depression, anxiety, hyperactivity and aggression.
There is a solid body of evidence indicating that helping children develop social and emotional skills, including resilience, leads to better mental health. In addition, if children experiencing mental health difficulties are identified early and supported, they will be less likely to have poor mental health outcomes as adults.
The Fun friends,
FRIENDS for Life and Friends Youth program is a cognitive-behavioural therapy program designed to be used in the classroom or in a clinical setting that aims to increase the resilience and happiness of children.
The
FRIENDS program teaches children and families cognitive, emotional and behavioural skills for managing feelings and coping with life challenges with a positive and resilient attitude.
It promotes important personal development concepts such as identity, self-esteem, problem solving, self-expression and building positive relationships.
Target group:
FRIENDS developmentally targets children from pre-school through to primary school.
The FunFRIENDS program is tailored for children aged 4-7 years, and the FRIENDS for Children program targets children aged 7-11 years. There is also an adolescent version available 12- 15 and 15-17 Friends Youth.
Multiple studies document positive behavioural outcomes at post-test, with at least one study indicating positive behavioural impacts at follow-up at least one year after the intervention ended.
In fact FRIENDS is the only childhood anxiety prevention and treatment program acknowledged by the World Health Organization for its more than 12 years of comprehensive validation and assessment across several countries and languages using rigorous randomised control studies.
In simple terms, this research says that up to 80% of children showing signs of an anxiety disorder no longer display that disorder after completing the program. This effect has been confirmed at up to 6 years post treatment.
Recover Australia can offer this program on an individual basis within one of our Recovery Centre's or within a group setting. Groups can be ran from a Recovery Centre or within kindergartens, schools, maternal health centres, community houses or within other child facilities.
KidsMatter Australian Primary school mental health initiative has been developed in collaboration with the Commonwealth Government Department of Health and Ageing, beyondblue: the national depression initiative, the Australian Psychological Society and Principals Australia.
The Friends Program has been identified as relevant for 2 of the 4 components featured with the Kids Matter framework. It is highlighted as strong efficacy for all of the Social and Emotional learning components and all areas of the early interventions for students experiencing mental health difficulties.
Please contact us on 03 9078 5317 to discuss how your child could benefit from this exciting program.
All facilitators are fully accredited and have undertaken the appropriate training delivered by Pathways.
