Content warning – suicide. Each year in Australia more than 3,000 people die by suicide, and another 65,000 Australians make a suicide attempt. Researchers estimate that for every person who…
Dear Danni, I have two teens, a son aged 13 and a daughter aged 14. They are both “Mean Girls” to me. Apparently, everything I do and wear is embarrassing…
Kindness isn’t the cure for complex issues like bullying. If we’re serious about stamping out bullying, we need to stop thinking in trite slogans.
Learning to be content in your own company is a vital life skill.Let’s not deprive our kids from the opportunity to develop it.
Worried that your little girl is 10, going on 15? You’re not alone. When I first started working in schools with young women to give them the skills they need…
Mental health issues are taking a terrible toll on our teens. It’s time we also acknowledged the damaging ripple effect may be having on their peers too.
How committed are we really to acknowledge just how complex this issue is, and to implement multifaceted programs to tackle ongoing aggression?
We celebrate various types of courage on our screens, yet in real life we also need to acknowledge that bravery badges can be earned in a myriad of ways.
Whether the trolls realise it or not, their comments reveal far more about them than they ever do about those they are hoping to intimidate or discredit.
It’s the deceptively unhelpful piece of advice that every well-intentioned adult has at one point issued to a child: “You should be friends with everybody!” Admit it — who among…
I’m a proud feminist. And I’m the CEO of Australia’s largest provider of in-school workshops for teen girls that help develop self-worth and resilience. And I promote self-defence classes to…
It’s been wonderful to be back at Channel 7 this week on both The Daily Edition (discussing cyber bullying and the pressures placed on schools to address this), and The…
The following post is by my friend and colleague Nina Funnell. It originally appeared in the Term 3, 2014 NSW Parents Council Newsletter. Nina is a journalist, author (she co-wrote…
I often find myself frustrated by much of the dialogue that surrounds teen girls as it can in fact be very damaging. Sadly, those that use these assumptions and stereotypes…
This week I am sharing a guest post by my colleague and friend Nina Funnell which first appeared in The Age. In this Nina attempts to make sense of alarming…
The Illawarra Women’s Health Centre was the the charity recipient for this year’s Illawarra International Women’s Day committee event for their project “Empowering Young Women of the Illawarra.” The Project…
When I first co-founded Enlighten Education with my partner Francesca Kaoutal back in 2003, the vision was to create workshops for both girls and boys that would inform, inspire and…
“The best films of any kind, narrative or documentary, provoke questions.” Edward Norton This week I want to preempt the release of two extraordinary films with the hope that schools…
This week I am proud to have been given permission to publish an extract from one of the speeches given at yesterday’s Reclaim The Night rally in Sydney; this was…
This week’s guest post is by Lydia Jade Turner. Ms Turner is a psychotherapist and the Managing Director of BodyMatters Australasia. In this research article she explores the connections between…
Last week’s inspiring post by Jane Caro on overcoming an anxiety disorder struck a chord with many readers who have been through the same thing. Many of our girls are…
Trigger warning: This blog post contains references to suicide. If you or anyone you know has suicidal thoughts or behaviour, seek help immediately. These help lines are open 24 hours…
I am excited to be able to share with you an outstanding article on teens and body image, for which Australian journalist Susan Johnson extensively interviewed leading experts and kids…
In light of figures showing that there were almost 70 serious incidents in state schools in the NSW Hunter Central Coast region in the last half of 2011 – some…
