Toolbox Education

Prospective users

Aims & approach

Every Toolbox Education workshop has different aims, but the overarching goal is to provide psychoeducation and equip students with simple, practical, evidence-informed psychological tools. Each workshop has 6-10 weeks worth of resources to help students consolidate their learning.

Workshops run for 60-minutes and are tailored to Primary school (Years 1-6), Middle school (Years 7-9), and Senior school (Years 10-12). Parent and staff workshops are also available.

• Thinking Traps and Mind Games: Identification of cognitive distortions using CBT-based tools that encourage meta-cognition that involve actively challenging and reframing thoughts.
• Mental Movies: Changing one's relationship with their thoughts, feelings and memories to reduce the impact using ACT-based tools that include cognitive defusion and mindfulness.
• Emotion Regulation and Managing Meltdowns: Teaching students how to regulate their emotions using DBT-based tools that relate to distress tolerance skills, in particular TIPP skills and mindfulness.
• Emotion Literacy: Recognising that feelings are important and communicate information to us using emotion-focused based tools that encourage students to identify their thoughts, notice the physical experience of their emotions and how to express their emotions in healthy ways.
• Forming Friendships: Teaching students how to be a good friend using social skills-based tools that encourage trust, curiosity, empathy and fun in a friendship.
• Overcoming Procrastination: Understanding that procrastination is not about being lazy but rather a way to avoid uncomfortable emotions using CBT-based tools that help students challenge the reasons or excuses their mind comes up with to procrastinate, and behavioural strategies that help with achieiving tasks.
• Dealing with Conflict: Understanding different communication styles (Passive, Aggressive and Assertive) using assertiveness training-based tools around how to deal with conflict in a healthy way.
• Inner Critic: While being harsh to oneself might be motivating, it is also highly punitive and uncomfortable. This workshop introduces the concept of self-compassion as an alternative using self-compassion focused tools that encourage students to identify and respond to when they are being self-critical, and how to treat themselves with more self-compassion.

Facilitators are typically University Psychology students and hold a current Working With Children Check. Cost is per classroom sized workshop.

Implementation support

• Access to professional facilitator, instructor or mentor
• Ongoing helpdesk, email or phone support
• Regular webinars or access to community of professional practice

Evidence

Each workshop is based on recognised therapies, including CBT, DBT, ACT, self-compassion focused therapy, assertiveness training, behavioural strategies, Emotion-Focused Therapy, and social skills training.