Leadership

There are many great reasons to get on board with Be You

And the benefits extend to everyone in your learning community: educators and staff, children and young people and their families.

Benefits for the children and young people education leaders like yourself work with every day include:

• enhanced social and emotional wellbeing
• improved engagement and academic performance
• a positive and supportive learning environment
• improved support and earlier intervention if mental health issues emerge
• increased resilience and capacity to manage emotions and problems as they arise
• fostering of an environment where children and young people feel safe and supported to speak up when something is bothering them
• strategies to support children and young people at different developmental stages and create smoother transitions between stages of learning.

Benefits for educators include:

• access to comprehensive online Professional Learning, with reflective questions tailored to career stage
• a common language and shared understanding of mental health and what educators can do to promote a mentally healthy learning community
• deeper understanding of common mental health concerns across development stages and the supports and services available to assist with them.

Benefits for learning communities include:

• a flexible process that supports and complements existing continuous improvement cycles and addresses important education priorities, standards and requirements
• fostering of an environment where all staff feel empowered and supported to work towards better mental health, irrespective of their specific roles
• stronger, more collaborative relationships with families and the broader community
• strengthened links and networks with mental health service providers
• better student and staff retention
• support and guidance on how to respond to critical incidents from a whole learning community perspective.

For more information on the benefits of Be You for educators like yourself, download the Leaders Handbook – there are versions for both early learning service and primary and secondary school leaders. 

Register online

Individual educators can participate in Be You, with access to Professional Learning, Fact Sheets and supporting resources to enhance their approach to mental health and wellbeing in their everyday teaching practice.

You can register as an individual educator at any time.

Once you’ve signed up, your dashboard gives you full access to the Professional Learning and allows you to track your progress. 

Change starts with individuals, but it doesn’t end there

Be You has the most impact when whole learning communities implement Be You collectively.

We know that education leaders already do incredible work to support and nurture the children and young people in their care, and that your service or school will already have policies, processes and procedures in place around topics such as mental health and wellbeing.

The Be You framework is designed to complement, support and enhance the work that you and your staff are already doing, and to build capacity in identified areas of need. 

Be You recognises that services and schools don’t always have the same priorities and requirements because of where they are in their mental health journey.

The flexibility of Be You allows learning communities to develop or build on existing mental health improvement strategies and provides the tools and resources required to do this. Be You has been designed to support schools and services to tailor their approach to achieve their own specific goals. 

You won’t be on your own

Be You Learning Communities have access to a Be You Consultant, from Early Childhood Australia or headspace, to support them every step of the way. 

Your Be You Consultant will help to ensure the framework is implemented successfully and sustainably at your school or service, leading to positive change. Each Be You Consultant acts as a mentor and advocate, supporting the Action Team Leader to lead confidently and effectively.

Be You Consultants have extensive knowledge about mental health and wellbeing in schools and services. They can also give advice on mental health services and supports in your local community.

If you decide that taking a whole school or service approach to Be You is right for your learning community, be sure to sign up. 

Registration involves three steps:

1. Confirm your support as a leader for a whole learning community approach
2. Appoint an Action Team Leader
3. Register as a Be You learning community online.

Step three is usually completed by the Action Team Leader who’ll enter their contact details when they fill out the online registration form. Within a few days the Action Team Leader will be contacted by a Be You Consultant who’ll confirm that learning community leadership is on board and that everyone is ready to start the implementation process. 

These steps happen during Stage 1 of the Be You Implementation process: Laying the Foundations for Success. For more information on becoming a Be You Learning Community, refer to the Action Team Handbook (for Early Learning Services or Primary and Secondary Schools).

Professional learning is central to Be You, but there’s a lot more to explore – tools, resources and events that you can use to put what you’ve learnt into practice. 

To find out more about the tools and resources available, and how educators like yourself can use them in your everyday practice, download the Early Learning or Primary and Secondary Schools Educators Handbook.

• Always Be You brings Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives and ways of doing to Be You. 
• Be You Fact Sheets provide information about a range of topics and issues connected to the professional learning. Think of them as quick reference resources with factual information about a particular issue. 
• The Programs Directory provides a searchable database of external mental health programs, available across Australia. 
• The Organising Speakers Guide provides a detailed rundown on what you need to consider when engaging an external speaker to share their personal stories about mental health, including how to create a safe and meaningful environment for everyone involved. 
• Wellbeing Tools for You outlines a range of online tools, resources and general strategies designed to support educators’ mental health. 
• Wellbeing Tools for Students is your essential guide to the online tools and other resources that will best support children and young people in taking care of their own mental health.
• Suicide Prevention and Response gives secondary schools detailed, evidence-based information on issues related to suicide in learning communities. 
• If your school or service decides to take a whole learning community approach to Be You, our suite of Planning and Implementation Tools will help throughout the process. 
• There are a range of online events available to educators at registered Be You Learning Communities to enhance their experience. 

Be You is for educators, but the impact it has goes far beyond the individual

By getting involved, you’re making a powerful commitment to supporting and enhancing the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people, and creating a mentally healthy learning community.

Ready to get started? 

Register now as an individual or as a Be You Learning Community.

Still have questions?

No problem. Get in touch.