Bushfires, floods, cyclones, mouse plagues, and drought – natural disasters are diverse, unpredictable and frequently devastating. Rural and regional communities are no stranger to such events and often among the most impacted, with livelihoods tied to the land. It is frequently the strong community spirit and tenacity that helps get communities through. For many years MacKillop Seasons, a not-for-profit provider of training and programs, has been working with communities to buoy existing networks, offering education and resources to assist communities in their recovery efforts and bolster their capacity for ongoing resilience.
From 2021 to 2024, government funding allowed MacKillop Seasons to strengthen community capacity in disaster affected areas in northern, southern, and central NSW, and East Gippsland in Victoria. One aspect of this process was creating opportunities for individuals to access fully funded training in the Seasons for Growth suite of educational programs. First developed by Distinguished Professor Anne Graham AO (Centre for Children and Young People, Southern Cross University) almost 30 years ago, the programs offer education to support children, young people and adults to learn about and grow, through change, loss and grief. The suite includes Stormbirds, an educational program specifically designed to support children following natural disaster, alongside other loss programs for young people and adults, including First Nations adults. Each of the programs takes a small-group approach; creating a safe, strengths-based space to move forward by building relationships, emotional literacy, resilience and wellbeing.
The impact of these programs on community resilience has been recognised by numerous awards. In 2024, Lismore South Public School won the Resilient Australia National School Award for the way they prioritised student recovery, mental health and wellbeing, following the devastating floods in the Northern Rivers in February and March 2022. With three quarters of students having lost their homes and possessions, and the school building badly damaged, Assistant Principal, Gaye Titcume, described, “The children had lost almost everything that was normal to them…we needed to sit with the children after the flood and just ‘be’ with them.” At the time, fully funded training and mentoring in the Stormbirds program offered a framework for supporting the learning and wellbeing needs of students and staff. Staff delivered multiple groups per week, ensuring any student had the opportunity to take part and experience the supportive, healing benefits of being heard, valued and cared for. The Principal, Larissa Polak, shared, “Stormbirds builds resilience in our children, is a safe place to be and has brought them great joy…and it has brought us great joy” to accompany them through the program. One of the students explained they learnt, “how to work out a plan when I feel upset.”
In the South of NSW, similar work has benefited the Mogo Primary School community, who experienced the Black Summer bushfires of 2019 and 2020, as well as major flooding, along with pandemic restrictions. Given the passage of time since some of the disasters and the extent of the secondary losses and disruption stemming from the events, the school trained in the broader Seasons for Growth program, funded by a donation from Schools Plus to the NSW Department of Education. Attending the group sessions, some children reported that it was the first opportunity they had to speak about the effects on them, following the Black Summer bushfires many years previously.
As a result of such positive and sustainable impacts for communities, MacKillop Seasons has been granted further government funding to provide support in other disaster impacted communities in NSW, Victoria, and Queensland. The new initiative will support community learning, offer fully funded training in programs and help communities forge locally-relevant resilience pathways.
Email [email protected] for details about how to access supports from MacKillop Seasons.
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