What is Be You?
Be You is the national mental health in education initiative that equips educators with knowledge, tools and resources to support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people from birth to 18 years.
Delivered by Beyond Blue, in collaboration with Early Childhood Australia and headspace, Be You empowers every learning community in Australia to be their most mentally healthy, positive and inclusive in ways that work for them, at a time that works for them, and all free of charge.
Be You’s vision is for all learning communities to be positive, inclusive and responsive – where every child, young person, educator and family is empowered to achieve their best possible mental health and wellbeing.
Who is Be You for?
Be You is for all Australian educators across early learning, primary and secondary school settings (including pre-service educators). By ‘educators’, Be You refers to anyone who works with children and young people in early learning settings, primary and secondary schools.
If you’re committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people from the early years to 18, then you’re in the right place!
What does Be You offer?
Be You offers a range of online, evidence-based tools, resources and professional learning aimed at improving the skills and knowledge of educators to support mental health and wellbeing in children and young people.
Find out more about Be You, including the background, the organisations leading the initiative, and the evidence base that supports it.
Ready to get started?
To get started and register, tell us who you are:
- I’m an educator
- I’m a leader at an early learning service or school
- I’m an Action Team Leader
- I’m a pre-service educator
- I’m a VET trainer or learner
If you want to register your learning community, you first need to register as an individual.
You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Be You resources
Reflect, Respect, Respond: Protocols for culturally respectful engagement with First Nations communities was developed by Be You with a panel of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators from across Australia.
It explores practical information for educators and reflections about:
- connecting with First Nations communities
- developing family partnerships
- including culturally responsive curriculum
- discussing culturally sensitive topics in your early learning service or school
- writing policies for inclusive learning communities.
The guide also provides case studies, reflective questions and suggested actions to support educators in creating welcoming, culturally responsive learning communities.
Beyond Self-Care: An Educator Wellbeing Guide
Your wellbeing at work matters. Beyond Self-Care: An Educator Wellbeing Guide moves away from the traditional focus on self-care and supports learning communities to make educator wellbeing a shared responsibility.
Previous Be You In Focus webinars
- Wellbeing in the Approve Learning Frameworks presented by Asssociate Professor Fay Hadley, Associate Professor Jennifer Cartmel and Sara Richardson
- Australian research on educators’ wellbeing presented by Dr Tamara Cumming.
- Therapeutic Storytelling: Using stories to support children through challenging times presented by Dr Andrea Baldwin and Sharleen Keleher.
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- Reflect, Respect, and Respond when engaging with First Nations communities’ presented by Sara Richardson, Juanita Wilson, Jessica Staines, and Brian Morgan.
Planning for wellbeing: mine, yours, ours
Be You has developed a resource for early learning services, school age care services, and schools to guide ways of planning, learning, and acting together for wellbeing. It provides information, strategies to reflect on with your team, and demonstrates how wellbeing planning links to the National Quality Standard.
Planning for Empowerment: Growing a mentally healthy generation
Be You has developed a resource for early learning services, school age care services and schools to reflect on the concepts, ideas and strategies for creating empowering environments and relationships for children and young people. It provides information, strategies to consider with your team, and demonstrates how creating empowering environments links to the National Quality Standard.
Mental health starts with early childhood
Development and life experiences during this time contribute strongly to a person’s mental health and wellbeing during childhood and later in life.
Early Childhood Australia, as a Be You delivery partner will continue our commitment to the importance of early childhood and ensuring our youngest children, and those who are dedicated to their learning, development and wellbeing have a voice.
Building on the work of KidsMatter, the Be You initiative is growing a mentally healthy generation.
