skip to main content

Rock and Water Social Skills Training

Rock and Water Australia

The Rock and Water program promotes self-confidence, self-awareness and self-control, improving social functioning at all ages.

  • ACT
  • NSW
  • NT
  • SA
  • Tas
  • Vic
  • WA

Pricing: Paid

Origin: Developed elsewhere and adapted for Australian schools

Affiliations: Gadaku Institute Netherlands

Product type: Program; Posters; Activity sheets; Student activities; Professional learning; Presentation by an expert or speaker ; Whole school approach or initiative; Learning modules; Class lesson plans

Contact details

Rock and Water Australia
ABN: 40 065 913 544

https://www.rockandwater.com.au

info@rockandwater.com.au

Focus areas

  • Positive relationships

  • Belonging and inclusion

  • Bullying and cyber-bullying

  • Mental health literacy and life skills

  • Self-regulation and engagement

  • Resilience and optimism

  • Grief and loss

  • Self-esteem and body image

  • Respectful relationships and consent education

Curriculum alignment

  • Health and PE

Prospective users

Audience: Whole school universal (Tier 1), Whole class universal (Tier 1), Targeted small group early intervention (Tier 2), Intensive individualised approach (Tier 3)

Communities: Diverse cultures or language groups, Neurodiversity or disability

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

Main beneficiaries: Early learning, Foundation/Prep, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6, Year 7, Year 8, Year 9, Year 10, Year 11

Delivery style: Classroom teacher is trained; Delivered by program staff

Aims & approach

The Rock and Water program has been implemented in Australian schools since 1999.

It is an evidence-based program that teaches students to stand strong, negotiate using 'rock' or 'water' verbal approaches, walk away from trouble, consider alternatives to aggression, and to develop understandings about who they are, their intuitive feelings and their personal direction. Utilising a psychophysical approach, the program strongly appeals to students who enjoy the active nature of the numerous games and drills.

Aims: To promote the development of social and emotional competencies by preventing and/or reducing problems in the intra-personal domain (how children see themselves) and the interpersonal domain (how children and young people interact with each other).

Delivery: Flexible, with students generally experiencing a minimum of ten sessions, each lasting around 50 minutes, over a period of a school term.

Audience: Suitable for students from early primary school to senior high school.

Training courses: Teachers and support teachers, chaplains, integration and inclusion support staff and external providors such as counsellors, youth workers and psychologists can undertake 3-day training to deliver the program. Additional workshops focus on Primary, Focus on Girls, Autism and Trauma.

The Rock and Water website offers a list of accredited providers in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania who can be contacted to facilitate the program.

Implementation support

  • Access to professional facilitator, instructor or mentor
  • Ongoing helpdesk, email or phone support

Evidence

Rock and Water demonstrates a strong application of self-determination theory in that it focuses on the psychological need for social and emotional autonomy, social competence and interpersonal capacity as a key driver of wellbeing. The key threads of the program include the importance of understanding the interconnectedness of cognitive capacity, emotional capacity and physical awareness in a holistic understanding of self. Intrinsic motivation is key in determining the efficacy of the program in unlocking the possibilities of the individual.

The Rock and Water program is consistent with the five social and emotional competencies described in the CASEL theoretical framework. The foundation competencies of the Rock and Water program are self-control, self reflection and self confidence. On these core competencies it is possible to begin to build a sense of safety (self-management), assertiveness (relationship skills) and social competence. Rock and Water when implemented in schools, supports, enhances and in some cases underpins the SEL programs in place.

The positive impact of the program is supported by evaluation studies conducted across the world, further details of which can be found at https://www.rockandwater.com.au/research/.