This year, SHINE for Kids’ long-time ambition to set up a unique program for children at Palm Island has become a reality with the launch of Rise mentoring at Bwgcolman Community School.
Every week, our local team member Moewaiya spends two full days at the school, supporting children with one-on-one mentoring sessions.
She says, “Every week, the kids are so excited for their sessions, and we are making progress. One little girl was having issues at the start of the year with her emotional regulation and would throw chairs in the classroom. She’s come a long way in a short time. Now, she’ll just say she needs some time out instead.
“We’ve only just started the program, but some of the kids have already identified that they feel they are changing how they deal with stressful situations, so I’m really happy to see our time together having a positive effect.”
Moewaiya is also on hand to help teachers when situations require our expertise and support, and she has already become an integral part of the school community.
To mark the successful completion of the first term, our team organised their inaugural Palm Island Rise Together Day during the Easter holidays!
The sun was shining as an excited group of children gathered at Fred Clay Freedom Park by the beach. They joined our team and staff from the school for a lovely day of creating arts and crafts and playing games.
It was a chance for the children to meet others in the program, be rewarded for their hard work and make new friends.
The day was also an excellent opportunity for our team to get to know their mentees better and meet other members of the local community who joined throughout the day.
The sausage sizzle, in particular, attracted interest, and passers-by came over and said hi! They asked about SHINE for Kids and our work on the island. Our team enjoyed sharing that our mentoring program was available at the school for children with an incarcerated family member.
“The kids are great and had so much fun! They love footy and fishing and are very curious kids; we got to chat about all their interests and have fun together, which was nice.”
Please support programs for children and donate today.
Thank you to the National Indigenous Australians Agency for funding this program on Palm Island.
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