Wed 01 AprI first met Di Wilcox and her team whilst working at Meekatharra District High School, in 2016. Our staff were keen to look at innovative ways to engage with the students to improve social relationships and change the ‘tone’ of the community to a more positive one. We had tried the conventional programs but nothing seemed to grab the student’s attention!
One of the local Mental Health professionals suggested we contact Di Wilcox, after reading about the Seedlings and Flourish programs she had run in Perth. After some initial conversations between the school and Di’s team, we mapped out a plan for a series of workshops focusing on respectful friendships and building resilience in children and adolescents.
Di was able to tailor interactive workshops based on her book; The Magic Coat, also drawing on concepts from the Seedlings and Flourish programs. Her story-telling approach to dealing with often ‘sensitive’ concepts, empowered the students and they were able to engage in rich discussions about the day to day problems they were facing.
Taking up the principalship at Kojonup District High School gave me a second opportunity to work with Di but in a very different context! After surveying our students in 2019, we discovered there were a significant number of children who were highly anxious and lacked self-resiliency skills, the recent Coronavirus outbreak had impacted significantly on those students and families who were already struggling.
Di made herself available, on her way to Albany, and offered to present sessions for the students and parents based on her books, The Magic Coat and Be the Girl. Again; her animated, story-telling approach, relating her own experiences to theirs, kept the groups focused and many students were happily chatting about the strategies back in class.
As a flow on, we have co-ordinated some ‘girls only’ sessions based on ‘Be the Girl’. We introduce one concept at a time and hope to develop calm, confident and strong women, who believe in themselves and always look for the good in others.
We are looking forward to Di writing a ‘Be the Boy’ version!
Thank you Di, you are a truly passionate, caring and entertaining person!
Clare Roser
Principal
Kojonup District High School
WA
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