Our stories

Eleven-year-old Alicia* has come so far. When she started with the Rise mentoring program in Victoria, she struggled on several fronts: low confidence, trouble managing her emotions, and alarmingly low school attendance.

Happily, however, she’s ending the year in a very different situation.  

Alicia was referred to SHINE for Kids by another support organisation as she was disengaged with school and, when she was there, had issues regulating her emotions in the classroom, leading to angry outbursts.

She also struggled to make and keep friends and was becoming very isolated.

With a parent in custody and having moved into foster care at the beginning of the year, Alicia has experienced lots of disruption.

Her mentor identified that she would benefit from our program’s specialised emotional and well-being support during this difficult time in her life.

“She had a lot of resentment … and was fixated on ‘her story’ and would use it as a justification for her actions,” her mentor said.

Her self-perception was that she was a ‘bad kid’, and this discouraged her from attempting to regulate her emotions.

“She was so used to all the negatives she had never stopped to consider the positives,” said her mentor.

“We have worked on improving her self-identity and talked about what safe and positive relationships look like … helping her to understand what it means to be a good friend and how to interact with those she cares about positively.

“We have also focussed on celebrating all the things that are ‘good’ about her.”

Alicia and her mentor have also worked on helping her to understand her emotions and identify triggers

“We have developed coping strategies for feelings of anger, anxiety and sadness, and she now has a bank of resources that she uses to calm herself down when feeling heightened.

And the work has paid off!

As the year ends, Alicia is now in a very different space.

She has made lovely friends and sees school as a safe and supportive place. Her near-perfect attendance is a testament to this!

“When she is angry or upset, she uses her ‘Go-to Plan’ we’ve made during our sessions,” said her mentor.

“Alicia has made some wonderful growth this year, but by far, her most significant achievement has been her newly found confidence and how she sees herself.”

Recently Alicia began working with another service, and when given the chance to write an email to introduce herself, it was focused almost entirely on the positives!

“She wrote that she is trying hard to be kind, that she is funny, that she notices when people are upset, and that she is working hard to control her anger.”

“This is a very different perception of herself from the beginning of the year,” said her very proud mentor.

As Alicia heads into her last year of primary school, we know she’ll keep up the good work.

“She is feeling nervous about going into year 6, but she is also very excited to be the big kid at school.”

And her mentor will be by her side every step.

“Whenever a session needs to be missed, her first question is always ‘Can you come another day instead?’”

Thank you to Anglicare Victoria for supporting this program. 

*Names and images changed to protect participant’s privacy.