Skip to content
Be You home
Log in Register for free
  • Home
  • About

    What is Be You?

    Be You provides educators with professional development, tools and resources to support mental health and wellbeing in early learning services and schools.
    • Organisations involved
    • Evidence base
    • History of Be You
    • Education Voices
    • News and updates
    • Research and evaluation

    Be You Stories

    Discover how educators from early learning services and schools across Australia are implementing Be You.

    Be You became the missing piece in our wellbeing strategy

    Supporting authentic engagement with First Nations communities

    Immediate support Help

    If you are concerned about someone at risk of immediate harm, call 000 or go to your nearest hospital emergency department.
    • Support helplines
    • Be You suicide response

    Be You implementation support

    Explore how Be You can support you and registered Be You Learning Communities.
    • Be You Consultants
    • Frequently asked questions
    • Contact us
  • Get started

    How to get started

    Not sure where to start? Our tailored handbooks have essential information for starting your Be You journey.
    • Educators
    • Wellbeing teams and Action Teams
    • Leadership teams
    • Pre-service educators
    • Tertiary professionals

    Register yourself

    Access free accredited professional learning modules and other resources.

    Register your community

    Is your early learning service or school registered with Be You? Be You Learning Communities can access Be You Consultants, tools and resources to support a whole-setting approach to mental health and wellbeing.
  • Courses

    Track your Professional Learning

    • Access our free learning modules.
    • Track and log your professional learning hours.
    • Discover tools and resources to put your learning into action.
    Log in Register for free

    Professional Learning

    Explore our accredited learning modules to build your skills, knowledge and confidence in mental health and wellbeing.

    • Mentally Healthy Communities

      Learn about mental health and how to create thriving learning communities.

    • Family Partnerships

      Build relationships with families to support mental health and wellbeing.

    • Learning Resilience

      Explore social and emotional learning and how to embed it in your practice.

    • Early Support

      Notice early signs, have sensitive conversations and provide support.

    • Responding Together

      Plan for critical incidents, learn about trauma and support recovery.

    Evidence and accreditation

    Explore the evidence behind Be You Professional Learning and how it aligns with national education standards.
    • National standards
    • Accreditation
    • Supporting evidence

    Planning for Implementation

    Five short modules exploring the Be You Implementation Cycle and how it can support you to create a mentally healthy learning community.
    • Planning for Implementation modules
  • Resources

    Immediate support Help

    If you are concerned about someone at risk of immediate harm, call 000 or go to your nearest hospital emergency department.
    • Support helplines
    • Be You suicide response

    Wellbeing toolkits

    Wellbeing tools for children and young people

    Wellbeing tools for educators

    Wellbeing tools for leaders

    Resource topics

    • Educator wellbeing

    • Cultural responsiveness and First Nations perspectives

    • Suicide prevention and response

    • Disability inclusion

    • Natural disaster response

    Wellbeing toolkits

    Wellbeing tools for children and young people

    Wellbeing tools for educators

    Wellbeing tools for leaders

    Implementation tools

    • Tools for Action Teams
    • BETLS Observation Tool
    • Mental Health Continuum
    • Programs Directory

    Fact Sheets

    • Child and adolescent development
    • Grief, trauma and critical incidents
    • Mental health issues and conditions
    • Mental health support
    • Communication and relationships
    • Social and emotional learning
    • Wellbeing and stress management
  • Events

    Explore Be You events

    Join our online events to learn about mental health and wellbeing topics, enhance your practice and support your engagement with Be You.

    Upcoming events

    Hear from Be You Consultants and subject matter experts talking about a range of topics.
    • Early learning
    • Primary
    • Secondary

    Event recordings

    Have you missed an event? Would you like to learn more about a particular topic? Check out our recorded events.
    • Be You Virtual Conference
Log in Register for free Immediate support Help
  1. Learning community stories

Why the Be You Bushfire Response Program has been vital for Australian communities

Learn about the positive impact the Program has had in the Snowy Valleys region of southern NSW. 

Jul 19, 2021

Article tagged with:

  • community
  • educator
  • support
  • children
  • change
The Black Summer bushfires of late 2019 and early 2020 had a huge effect on communities all over Australia, including the Snowy Valleys region of NSW.
Snowy Valleys Landscape

Overlooking the town of Batlow in the Snowy Valleys.

The following article contains material about bushfires that some people may find distressing. If you find yourself in need of assistance, visit beyondblue.org.au or call our Support Service on 1300 22 4636.

Like other parts of Australia who were affected by bushfire, the children and young people of the Snowy Valleys had different experiences, responses and memories. 

It’s something the Be You Bushfire Response Program has helped them not only explore, but use as a springboard for healing – both for themselves and the broader community.

The Program provides targeted mental health and wellbeing support to learning communities affected by the Black Summer bushfires, and empowers communities to lead their own recovery, and to recognise their strengths, levels of resilience and ways of coping. 

For the Snowy Valleys, a key part of recovery was creating a community book which brought together hundreds of submissions from children and young people with lived experience of the fires, around four central themes: reflection, growth, nature and resilience. 

An adult smiling at the camera

Be You Bushfire Response Program Contact Liaison Officer Sally Hodges at the Snowy Valleys Community Book launch. 

“It’s entirely children’s and young people’s work, everything from poems and art to song lyrics, stories and photos,” says Sally Hodges, Be You Bushfire Response Program Contact Liaison Officer (CLO) for the Snowy Valleys. 

Sally explains that the book’s concept was raised at an initial meeting of the Snowy Valleys Council’s Be You Working Party, a group that was formed in direct response  to Black Summer.

“From the Black Saturday fires in 2009, we knew that children often feel powerless afterwards. Adults try to help by shouldering all of the burden, but that only leaves children feeling a bit helpless,” Sally says.  

“Adults can be concerned about re-traumatising children by bringing it up, but we also know that not talking about it leaves children to experience it by themselves.” 

Not only is there something very therapeutic about art, the book is a safe way for adults to talk about the Black Summer bushfires with children.  

Sally Hodges Be You Bushfire Response Program Contact Liaison Officer

A drawing of a burning tree, for the Bushfire Response Program

A child's artwork from the community book.

Snowy Valleys Council’s Children’s Services Manager, Kylie Wilesmith, who drove the formation of the council’s all-important Be You Working Party, agrees.  

“As well as giving children a voice, the book was also intended to remind early learning services, schools and families that just because the bushfires have been and gone, it doesn’t mean you won’t see trauma in children in years to come,” she explains.  

The book is great to have a platform to allow children to talk about it

Kylie Wilesmith Snowy Valleys Council's Children's Services Manager 

A listen and learn approach 

Renae Pettit is also a Be You Bushfire Response Program CLO working with primary and high schools in the Snowy Valleys. 

One of the schools Renae supported was Batlow Technology School.

There she delivered staff wellbeing and trauma guidance and support to educators, working alongside principal Michelle Wainwright. 

Two adults walking through a park

Be You Bushfire Response Program Contact Liaison Officer, Renae Pettit, chats with Batlow Technology School principal Michelle Wainwright.

“The wellbeing workshop gave practical ways to build intentional and incidental self-care into the day,” says Renae. 

“This enabled educators to recognise the importance of prioritising their wellbeing so they could, in turn, support students in their learning.” 

Her role started with listening, developing relationships and building trust. Both Renae and Sally note that part of that was helping communities identify which services could benefit them, particularly in the very early days.  

“It was different for every school,” says Renae.   

“But for some, the support was too much too soon – such as when they were still in the immediate crisis-response space and didn’t know what they wanted or needed. It was my role to help them navigate that and say, ‘Let’s see what we can do when it feels best for that to happen’.”

Children bringing trays of baked goods to a table of peers

Batlow Technology School primary school students after baking some cookies.

Sally agrees. “Sometimes the school simply needed us to be their filter, to say, ‘These are the support services you may find useful’," she said. 

"Whether that was connecting them to online mental health resources, local psychologists, therapists or even GPs – bearing in mind the remoteness of some of these communities – when they were ready.” 

For the other learning communities in the Snowy Valleys, the BRP opened doors that may have otherwise remained closed.  

“I wish we’d been overrun with offers of support in the early childhood space,” continues Kylie from the perspective of Children's Services Manager at the Snowy Valleys Council.

“But to be honest, we felt a bit isolated early on. Just having that connection to the Program, that we could tap into for information and resources so quickly, was incredible.” 

Thank goodness for Sally and Be You because otherwise we'd have been left rowing our own boat

Kylie Wilesmith Snowy Valleys Council Children's Services Manager

Two educators drinking tea, engaged in conversation

Educators at Batlow Technology School enjoy a cup of tea and chat.

Prioritising wellbeing 

Amid the various needs, one avenue of help the Be You Bushfire Response Program offered was consistently used by Snowy Valleys' learning communities.

“The staff wellbeing sessions that we offered as a priority became a bit of a go-to and the uptake was exceptional,” explains Renae.  

The Snowy Valleys communities made great use of the resources from Emerging Minds, a Be You Bushfire Response Program partner. Schools and early learning services also use the BETLS Observation Tool, a tool for observing behaviours, emotions, thoughts, learning and social relationships.

“The learning communities were really keen on supporting their staff first and foremost, which was admirable,” says Sally. 

“They were happy to invest time into educating staff about self-care, and simply by inviting us into their centres at a time when few people could visit due to the coronavirus pandemic, showed that they respect their staff and their staff’s mental health.” 

Kylie says the impact the Be You Bushfire Response Program has had on staff wellbeing sessions in her learning communities has been immense.  

“As educators, a lot of us lived through this traumatic event ourselves and the thing is, if we’re not right, how can we get anything done for the children and families in our communities?” she explained. 

That’s why we had a Be You wellbeing day for ourselves as educators to start with, and then another for the broader community on the anniversary of the fires in December 2020.  

We're not specifically trained in trauma, so while we have an understanding, and a lived experience, being able to access professional advice and support for both us and our communities has been incredible 

Kylie Wilesmith Snowy Valleys Council Children's Services Manager

An adult sitting with a group of adolescents

Batlow Technology School secondary school students chat with principal Michelle Wainwright and Renae Pettit.

When schools were ready, the educator wellbeing sessions were followed up by a session on supporting students through trauma-sensitive approaches. 

“This was also well received,” said Renae. 

“We found that many educators  in the Snowy Valleys community are intuitive in their care of students in challenging times. 

"They know the value of relational practice, creating safe and familiar classrooms and supporting students to regulate their thoughts and emotions.” 

Reflecting on why the Snowy Valleys community needed help from the Be You Bushfire Response Program team, Kylie adds: “I think the response we’ve had from children and young people wanting to contribute to the community book speaks for itself,” she says. 

“We had more than 300 submissions, so if that’s a reflection of need, it’s huge.” 

A group of children reading, with an educator looking on

Batlow Technology School educator reads with primary school students.

Find out more about how Be You can support your learning community to prepare for and recover from critical incidents and disasters, or access the Be You Bushfire Response Program webinars.

Resources

  • Be You Bushfire Response Program and Snowy Valleys story
  • Be You Bushfire Response Program Resource Pack
  • Be You Bushfire Response Program Transition Pack
  • BETLS Observation Tool

Last updated: November, 2024

    • What is Be You?
    • Be You Stories
    • Immediate support
    • Be You implementation support
    • How to get started
    • Register yourself
    • Register your community
    • Professional Learning
    • Track your Professional Learning
    • Evidence and accreditation
    • Planning for Implementation
    • Resource topics
    • Wellbeing toolkits
    • Implementation tools
    • Fact Sheets
    • Explore Be You events
    • Upcoming events
    • Event recordings
  • Delivered by
    • Beyond Blue home
  • In collaboration with
    • Early Childhood Australia home
    • Headspace home
  • Funded by
    • Logo - Department of Health and Aged Care
  • Follow us

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Youtube
    • Twitter
  • Contact us
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy
  • Privacy collection statement

Copyright © 2025 Australian Government

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags

Be You acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land on which we work. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend our respect to all Elders and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples across Australia.