By Jen Willis, Communications Consultant, Berry Street – Take Two
Lots of 7-years-olds wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a moth and a butterfly. But Jay can.
Jay is an Aboriginal child going to a local primary school in suburban Melbourne. But unlike the others in his class, he has only just started talking.
Continue reading “How culture helped a child find his voice”
Berry Street’s Take Two service has been internationally recognised for its contribution to academic literature about developmental trauma and our clinical use of the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT).
Continue reading ““Essential reading” – Berry Street’s Take Two makes it into CHOICE”
By Jen Willis, Communications Consultant, Berry Street – Take Two
Learning to talk, walk and play have been bigger achievements for Kassie than for most kids.
When Kassie entered foster care as a toddler, she was severely developmentally delayed and clearly malnourished. She couldn’t walk or talk. She couldn’t hold eye contact and didn’t know how to play. She vomited 40 to 50 times a day, every single day but for no obvious medical reason.
Interview by Jack Greig, Senior Trainer of the Berry Street Education Model
Located in South-East Melbourne, Doveton College is the first government school designed to meet the needs of children from birth to Year 9 and their families. The College offers adult education programs, as part of its focus on building a stronger community for the benefit of its students.
Thadd Rimer is an Assistant Principal (Years 5-9) and the Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) Leader at Doveton College.
In this interview, Thadd reflects on the way a common BSEM language and implementation approach has contributed to shifting school culture and lifting student expectations.
Building our understanding of the power we hold as teachers is a vital first step in helping students understand how they can develop a sense of control in their lives. This is especially true for young people who have limited opportunities to see or experience socially acceptable expressions of power and control. Without appropriate and considered modelling and explicit teaching, young people may use confrontation, aggression or other anti-social forms of expressing power.
Continue reading “Sharing Power: how to improve student motivation and teacher effectiveness”
By Dr Nicole Milburn, Infant Mental Health Consultant & Jen Willis, Communications Consultant, Berry Street – Take Two
As a community we often discuss the poor mental health of adults and young people, but rarely do we really look at the mental health of babies. This is unfortunate because it is the relationships and environment a baby experiences during infancy that often set the conditions for that baby’s mental health during later adolescence and adulthood.
What is mental health for a baby?
There are three key factors that define early mental health and wellbeing. Continue reading “Why a baby’s mental health really matters”
Interview by Jack Greig, Senior Trainer of the Berry Street Education Model
Located in the Latrobe Valley, Traralgon College is a multi-campus high school with approximately 960 students.
Keita Matsumoto is a teacher and the Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) Leader at Traralgon College. He is an alumnus of the Teach For Australia program and in 2018 was a finalist in the Australian Education Awards in recognition of his work across the Latrobe Valley.
In this interview, Keita reflects on the impact generated at Traralgon College through early BSEM implementation initiatives.
