Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Optional Preparation – Ground Rules For Classroom Discussion
10 minutes – Part A: Barriers And Enablers
25 minutes – Part B: Where Can I Find Help?
10 minutes – Part C: The Oasis Youth Support Network
35 minutes – Part D: Research Task – Finding Support Services
15 minutes – Part E: Help Seeking Conversations
5 minutes – Reflection

Part A: Barriers And Enablers

Step 1.

Begin this lesson by explaining to students that knowing when and how to ask for help is important; however, it is also important to know where to go, or who to go to for help. There are often enablers and barriers that impact the decisions in seeking help. Ensure students understand that an enabler is something that helps and a barrier is something that stops or makes things more difficult.

Step 2.

Distribute one copy of the Student Worksheet to each student. Invite students to form small groups and identify the barriers and enablers that people face when seeking help. Encourage students to list the group’s ideas on the table in the Student Worksheet – the barriers listed in the first column and the enablers in the second.

Allow students a few minutes to complete this task, and invite them to share their ideas with the class.

Collate the barriers and enablers on the board or on a poster to be visual reminder to students as they complete the other activities in the lesson.

Part B: Where Can I Find Help?

Step 1.

Provide each group with a piece of A3 paper and markers, and ask them to divide the paper into four. Ask each group to label the four sections with the following headings: home, school, community and online.

Using the four categories as a guide, invite students to brainstorm as many different people and/or organisations that could be called upon when they need help. Give students two minutes to write down as many ideas that they can think of, and then ask them to pass their piece of paper to the next group on their left.

Use an online classroom timer to keep track of how long students spend on each rotation.

Give students time to read over the original ideas in each category and then a further two minutes to add their group's ideas. Once the time has ended, ask students to pass the piece of paper to the next group on their left.

Continue the process until all groups have had an opportunity to add their ideas to each piece of paper or when students have run out of ideas.

Some examples of people and organisations that students may include:

HOME	SCHOOL	COMMUNITY	ONLINE
Mum/dad/carer Siblings Grandparents Family friend Aunt/uncle Cousins	Older students Peers Home room teacher Favourite teacher School welfare officer Coordinator Principal	Psychologist GP/Doctor Telephone helpline Community group leader Youth Worker Social Worker Religious leader Neighbour/work colleague/boss	ReachOut Headspace Youth Beyondblue Kids Helpline Mind Gym

Step 2.

Ensure that group receives their original piece of paper back and allow a few minutes for the group to discuss the ideas listed. Invite students to individually evaluate the people and organisations on the Student Worksheet using the following prompts:

Which person or organisation would you be most confident in seeking help from?
Which person or organisation would you be least confident in seeking help from?
Which person or organisation did you not think of, or surprised you the most?

Extend: Invite students to discuss in their groups, what information they look for in a website to know if it is a trusted and reliable source, and why this is important. Remind students that using credible and reliable sources of information is important when accessing health information, as anyone can simply create a website which may or may not be filled with reliable information. You could also provide students with the Evaluating Websites Factsheet to help highlight characteristics of credible and reliable websites containing information.

Allow students a few minutes to discuss, then encourage them to report their ideas back to the class.

Part C: The Geelong Project

Step 1.

Inform students that in the next part of the lesson they will be conducting research into an organisation that supports the health and wellbeing of young Australians. One organisation that provides support services for at-risk and vulnerable youth is The Geelong Project in Victoria, which aims to prevent young people from becoming homeless. This early intervention program has resulted in a 40% reduction in youth homelessness in 3 years.

Read the following to students:

The Geelong Project is a ground-breaking early intervention program, which, through community and cross sector collaboration, works to identify high-risk individuals and provide a range of early intervention services to prevent young people becoming homeless. The project aims to support young people AND their families by providing dedicated case workers who work with young people at risk, integrating support from schools and agencies. (Source)

Step 2.

Next, explain to students that in 2008, the documentary film The Oasis was made to provide an insight into the challenges and struggles that young people experiencing homelessness were facing. This was also at a time when the federal government released a strategy report, “The Road Home,” designed to halve youth homelessness by 50% by 2020. In 2018, a follow-up documentary Life After The Oasis was created to explore the issues, interventions and mindsets associated with lived youth homelessness in Australia through the original character stories. The organisation featured in both documentaries - The Oasis Youth Support Network - supports young people who are experiencing homelessness.

Step 3.

Show the introductory clip for Life After The Oasis to provide students with an introduction to the type of work The Geelong Project does, and the people it supports. Before you begin watching, remind students that the clip they are about to see features real people courageously sharing their stories.

Life After The Oasis (https://vimeo.com/347231056/5d854a4aba)

After watching the clip, invite students to form questions based on what they would like further investigate about The Geelong Project. Encourage students to share their questions in small groups or as a class.

Consider recording student questions to guide further discussion or inquiry.

Part D: Research Task – Finding Support Services

Step 1.

Explain to students that there are a range of services that are available to support the health and wellbeing of young people. These services can generally be organised into three categories, using the descriptions provided to clarify the differences between these three types of services:

crisis services
early intervention services
prevention services.

Step 2.

Break the class into a number of groups divisible by three and number each group with a 1, 2 or 3.

Explain to students that:

Number 1 groups will be looking at a crisis service.
Number 2 groups will be looking at an early intervention service.
Number 3 groups will be looking at a prevention service.

Students now need to work in their groups to find out:

Organisation name, phone number and email address.
Aim or mission of the organisation.
What kind of health and social issues does this organisation address?
Who might find this site useful?
List and briefly explain the services currently provided.
Identify a service that is not currently available through this organisation, and explain why you think this service should or should not be added.
Think about what you find interesting or important about this service.

Allow students approximately 15 minutes to find their information and another 5-10 minutes to collate their ideas as a group. Student should work in their groups to discuss the answers to these questions; however, each student needs to record their own answers in their own words.

Step 3.

Now invite students to form new groups made up of students from the same group number (i.e. number 1 groups should team up with other number 1 groups - this could be done by forming one large group for all number 1's or by forming new small groups solely made up of number 1's).

Each student should briefly share the results of their research with their new group.

Step 4.

Now invite students to form new groups of three students, with each group being made up of someone from a number 1 group, someone from a number 2 group, and someone from a number 3 group.

In their new groups, invite students to share what they found out about the service they investigated, and to answer the following questions:

How are these services similar?
How are they different?

Step 5.

Now invite students to return to their original groups to share what they found out about other services.

Direct students to the PMI questions on the Student Worksheet, using the questions provided (also below) to think:

PLUS – What does this organisation and/or website do well compared?
MINUS – What does this organisation and/or website miss or need replacing compared to the organisation that you originally researched?
INTERESTING – Identify three things about this website and/or organisation that your group found interesting.

Encourage students to explore the organisation’s websites and share their ideas openly, ensuring all group members are actively participating.

Step 6.

Bring the class back together, and ask a representative from each group, to share their findings from the PMI organisation analysis. Encourage students to share their insights, and ask questions about each organisation.

Part E: Help Seeking Conversations

Step 1.

Explain to students that knowing where to go to for help is one thing, but knowing how to ask for help is more important. People often feel reluctant to ask for help for themselves or others, because they are embarrassed or scared. We sometimes think that people will just notice our needs, or be mind readers. Sometimes we give hints and think it is the same as asking for help, but it’s not. People sometimes don’t offer help because they think they might be intruding. Explain that when we are seeking help for ourselves or others, it is important to be assertive. Having a simple three-step formula can make asking for help easier and take the over-thinking out of the situation.

Step 2.

Introduce students to the three steps as listed below. It may be beneficial to roleplay it with a student, for your class to see how it works.

Explain how you feel.
Identify the problem.
Make a request for help.

Step 3.

Invite students to form a pair and select an Asking For Help Scenario from the Student Worksheet. Encourage students to write down how they may feel in this scenario, the problem that is causing stress and how they may ask for help in the space provided.

SCENARIO 1:	You have been sick for a whole week and have fallen behind in your school work. Your teacher can be quite strict and you feel nervous about asking for help. What can you say to your teacher?
SCENARIO 2:	Over the last two weekends, two of your friends from school have been doing things together, then sharing it on their Instagram feed. At school, they talk about how amazing their weekend was. It makes you feel unwanted and sad. What can you say to your friends?
SCENARIO 3:	Your friend at school hasn’t been her usual self for a little while now. Yesterday at school, she started crying because she’s worried that her parents are going to break up. You want to speak to your parents, but aren’t sure what to say.
SCENARIO 4:	You went to a party on the weekend and a boy you liked was also there. Your friends know that you like him, and had been teasing you all night before he arrived. At one point in the night, you briefly spoke to him. At the time you didn’t realise that your friends took a photo of you both and uploaded it to Instagram, tagging you both with #lovers. You wake up the next day to 120 notifications. What will you say to your friends?
SCENARIO 5:	Martin has started skipping school and hanging out with older people at the skatepark. The people he hangs around with often smoke dope and are out all night. You and your friends are worried about Martin, and want some advice from a teacher, but you are not sure how to ask without getting him into trouble.

Step 4.

After students have worked through their help-seeking scenarios, invite them to join up with another pair to share their scenario and discuss how they felt about using the three-step formula. Use the prompts below to guide their discussions:

How did you feel while asking for help?
How did you feel while being asked for help?
What might someone be afraid of in your scenario?
What might the person asking for help be hoping for?

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to complete the Reflection Pyramid in the Student Worksheet. They are asked to complete the following reflection by listing:

Four things that they learned
Three things that they already knew
Two things they want to know more about
One important thing to remember

Differentiated Learning

Extension – Invite students to dig deeper into The Road Home Report by identifying the most at-risk groups in Australia. This can be done by identifying some of the key strategies that were recommended in the report to reduce homelessness, OR by making recommendations to improve homelessness by 2025, applying the socio-ecological model (individual determinants, social environment, built environment, natural environment). Students could use the following to help their analysis:

Youth Development Australia’s National Report Card on Youth Homelessness
Launch Housing’s Australian Homelessness Monitor

Provisions for Learning Support – After watching the opening clip from Life After The Oasis documentary, students could research The Oasis Youth Support Network as a class, and then in pairs or small groups conduct a PMI of their services.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Life After The Oasis - Finding Support

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