Today, I really want to share a few of my thoughts and experiences around the Confident Me programme which has now been delivered through the business I created called Maia Dreams back in 2018. The Confident Me programme is something I developed nearly 13 years ago to help build self esteem, self belief and confidence in my students. It has been both a challenging and rewarding journey with highs and lows. However, it is the kind of work I feel passionately drawn to. In New Zealand, there are 15,000 children between the ages 5 to 18 years old prescribed anti-depressants. Those statistics are from 2017 and it is now estimated that over 30,000 tamariki and rangatahi have joined the ranks of those taking anti-depressants. Sadly, New Zealand also has one of the highest rates of suicides in the world amongst the Youth.
After the pandemic, experts have estimated that those numbers have potentially doubled. They have described the country’s mental health woes as “a silent pandemic of psychological distress”, and are calling for urgent action amongst our tamariki and rangatahi. The National Mental Health Commission's recent review of mental health programmes and services identified a critical gap in prevention and early intervention resources, supports and services for children from birth to 12 years. Investing in this area will go a long way to prevent mental health issues later in life.’
The aim of Confident Me is to be a preventative and early intervention programme that works to equip students with life strategies and coping tools. That has been our main aim over these last 8 years in Hawkes Bay. The need and demand for wellness, confidence building, hauora and self worth programmes are increasing every year as the state of our mental health grows. I want to spend the rest of my life being even just a small part of helping one child to struggle less than I did. So in this week's Blog, I will be talking a little bit about the Confident Me Programme, along with a few things I have learnt along the way and some things I wish people knew.
What is the Confident Me Programme?
The Confident Me programme was developed as a way to expose and equip my students with as many tools as possible to build confidence in themselves. To be able to learn as many skills as possible that will help them navigate their lives with practical and easy to implement tools. This work is explored through tools like: creating habits, grounding, mindfulness, body language, self awareness, emotional awareness, focus, physical awareness, self management, ensemble work, public speaking, creating a positive attitude, self regulating, body posture, self reflection, ownership, personal challenges, energy, team work, group participation, dance, voice, singing, drama, online safety, healthy friendships and more.
This programme uses 3 areas to explore the work. The core value used as the foundation for this programme is Tikanga Maori - a concept like whakawhanaungatanga - Helping everyone to feel connected. Rangatiratanga - helping students to learn self governance and more. Performing Arts and Personal Development are the vehicles used to teach our children and youth principles, tools and skills to build confidence. Each programme is adapted and individualised to delve deeper into the work depending on the age, dynamic and needs of each student and each group.
Confident Me is very interactive as we understand that there are many ways to teach different skills and different ways that all students learn. Our objective is to teach students so that they are able to build their own self confidence through the work we explore. We are moving, singing, writing, running, dancing, moving, creating, discussing themes, microphone work, group work and more.
What are some of the biggest things I have learnt doing this Programme?
1. Building Confidence in Children & Youth is not an overnight process, it is an ongoing one. We wish 10 sessions could work and transform lives but creating new habits and new patterns of thinking takes time.
2. Repetition when working with children is key when helping implement new habits.
3. To improve what we do, we have compiled and kept all the information and reports about what we have accomplished. We have over 9 years worth of documentation. This has allowed us to constantly review and improve what we do.
4. Consistently research and keep up to date with the latest research in child development.
5. It is habits that transform lives, not motivation.
6. If people, parents, schools or funders have no expectation of the outcomes they want for individuals, then how can we meet them?
7. It has been an extremely difficult journey to show the importance of the work we do. There has been a lot of misunderstanding and a lot of judgment. People assumed that we were a performing arts programme and did not understand that performing arts was only used as a platform to explore what we do. For example, they perform Rap about being the Boss of their Emotions. However this would then create a discussion to breakdown what they were rapping about which highlighted a number of key tools to use. Or, they would do a movement piece which would be teaching them about teamwork, focus, the importance of repetition, memory and uniformity.
8. I always felt like I wasn’t doing enough to help our students. It wasn’t until I had close family and friends tell me you may never see the benefits of the work you do with these children and youth. However, I was assured that there will be children whom you'll leave an impact on. That one day, there maybe one tool that you taught a child when they are older that will help them work through some of the challenges they will face. I have been privileged to receive a lot of positive feedback similar to that many years later and that has strengthened me to keep going even if I may never see all the outcome of the many students I've worked with.
What I wish people understood about Confident Me.
1. There are 168 hours in a week and we only have students for 1.5 hours of that. The more a parent/s or family member can help implement the tools they are learning in Confident Me, the better the outcomes for your child/ren will be.
2. Not all students will like & enjoy the programme but we can assure you that they will definitely learn a few tools and strategies to help them use in their day to day lives.
3. Building new habits is not an overnight process. So again, helping them implement the new tools will help them build new neural pathways and create new habits around areas that they are working on. Consistency is key.
4. If we want our child to work on certain areas to gain confidence like monitoring our emotions, being happier, listening better, working hard, staying focused, being brave - we need to teach by example. Our children learn from watching us.
5. Failure should be taught as a natural part of our lives. Help your child to be willing to fail along the way. And most importantly, teach them to never give up. This helps build their resilience and ability to face challenges more confidentially.
6. Confident Me has many tools and strategies that it explores. We individualize and cater to the needs of every different group and their dynamics, respectively.
7. We are not a miracle programme, we only have a short amount of access time with our students. We would love to work more with parents and schools to help teach them the tools these students/children are learning so they can carry on the implementation of these tools.
8. Funding is very important and we appreciate all the support we can garner. These funds allow us to be able to secure and develop the work we do to help more children and youth to grow. If you would like to know more then follow us on the Maia Dreams Facebook page to see more of what we do.
This work has been 12 years of dedication to learn, grow, improve and develop what we do. We are grateful to have evidence through support letters, testimonials from parents, principals, teachers and the community to show that the Confident Me programme is having a direct impact on enhancing children and youth's interpersonal relationships, problem solving, cognitive competences, relations with adults and peers, and a reduction in problem behaviours. It has been an amazing privilege to have more staff and facilitators to help grow and support confidence in more future leaders. Remember: Building Confidence is not an overnight process but an ongoing one.
Photography Credit: Charlotte Anderson
Comentários