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BRiTA Futures Resilience Building

Queensland Transcultural Mental Health (QTMHC)

BRiTA Futures builds resilience, empowerment and social competencies in the multicultural classroom by helping young people draw upon their cultural strengths and develop adaptive coping strategies.

  • QLD

Pricing: Free

Origin: Developed in Australia for Australian schooling contexts

Affiliations: Queensland Health, QUT; Approved elsewhere: Be You

Product type: Program; Posters; Fact sheets; Activity sheets; Student activities; Reference book; Professional learning; Presentation by an expert or speaker ; Whole school approach or initiative; External support services; Incursion, excursion or immersive experience; Learning modules; Class lesson plans

Contact details

Queensland Transcultural Mental Health (QTMHC)

https://www.qld.gov.au/health/services/specialists/queensland-transcultural-mental-health-centre/brita-futures-resilience-building-training

QTMHC@health.qld.gov.au

Focus areas

  • Positive relationships

  • Belonging and inclusion

  • Mental health literacy and life skills

  • Self-regulation and engagement

  • Resilience and optimism

  • Self-esteem and body image

  • Respectful relationships and consent education

Curriculum alignment

  • Health and PE

  • English

  • Language

  • Humanities and Social Science

  • The Arts

Prospective users

Audience: Whole school universal (Tier 1), Whole class universal (Tier 1)

Communities: Diverse cultures or language groups, Faith-based, Rainbow and LGBTQIA+

Context: School or centre-based, Outside School Hours Care (OSHC), Home-schooling, E-schools

Main beneficiaries: Year 4, Year 5, Year 6, Year 7, Year 8, Year 9, Year 10, Year 11, Year 12

Delivery style: Classroom teacher is trained

Aims & approach

The program focuses on cultural identity and acculturation stress, supporting children as they navigate the balance between their culture of origin and the dominant culture. Building resilience through resilience training in a group setting helps young people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds to cope and balance their culture of origin with Australian culture.

There are three different BRiTA Futures programs, which can be delivered as a weekly series, in a 2-3 day 'camp' format, or 4-hour blocks:

  • BRiTA Futures Primary School is for children in grades 5-7 or aged between 9-12. The program consists of 8 x 2-hour sessions.
  • BRiTA Futures Adolescents is a program for young people aged 12-18 years. The program consists of 10 x 2-hour sessions.
  • BRiTA Futures for Adults and Parents is a program for people over 18 years of age. The program consists of 8 x 2-hour sessions.

Implementation support

  • Implementation training webinars or modules
  • Ongoing helpdesk, email or phone support
  • Regular webinars or access to community of professional practice

Evidence

The BRiTA Futures program is based on Resilience Theory, Berry Nodel of acculturation, and CBT.

The program collaborates with academic institutions to publish research on the program's development, evaluation tools, and the impact of its implementation. Publications include:

  • Mitchelson, MR, Erskine, HE, Ramirez, E, Suleman, F, Prasad-Ildes, R, Siskind, D and Harris, M. (2010). BRiTA Futures: A resilience-building program for children and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds – Program description and preliminary findings. Advances in Mental Health. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.5172/jamh.9.3.243
  • Khawaja, NG, Ramirez, E, Prasad-Ildes, R. (2013). Building resilience in transcultural adults (BRiTA): Developing a novel preventative intervention. Advances in Mental Health. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/68119/
  • Khawaja, NG, Moisuc, O, Ramirez, E. (2014). Developing and Acculturation and Resilience Scale for Use with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations. Australian Psychologist. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ap.2014.49.issue-3/issuetoc
  • Khawaja, NG, Ramirez, E. (2019). Building resilience in transcultural adolescents: an evaluation of a group program. Journal of Child and Family Studies. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/130749/
  • BRiTA Futures Program report. health.qld.gov.au