Melanie Schultz has relocated to the south-west to be the co-ordinator of A Big Life, a Warrnambool program introduced to improve young people’s health and wellbeing.

A Big Life focuses on building a resilient community through the strategic delivery of services which promote positive behaviors and teach young people how to manage life’s ups and downs. 

The program, delivered at Warrnambool and Brauer colleges is a partnership between the schools and the Warrnambool Wellbeing Association.

It teaches students about the importance of connectedness, character strengths and positive emotions, positive self esteem, stress management techniques, mindfulness and gratitude. 

She is excited about the role. “Being in the territory and seeing a lot of students with social and emotional issues and difficult backgrounds I found that I had to really focus on wellbeing and integrate it into every day. 

“Students couldn’t engage with the curriculum unless we had addressed those needs first and saw that it was a priority. When you did focus on wellbeing and teach kids the skills and reflect on how they were feeling and behaviour it made teaching and learning a lot easier.” 

Miss Schultz said some of the issues local students faced included anxiety and family and social issues. “Life’s changing,” she said. “The world’s changing. It’s different and it’s busier. You’ve got technology and social media.

“There’s a whole lot of decisions coming at kids about what they want to do at school and what they want to do with their lives added with your home and relationship pressures, it’s busy.

“You can’t choose one approach and say this is going to work forever. You have to be dynamic and respond to specific needs that come up in specific year levels. We look at what do kids need at different times and families need support as well,” Miss Schultz said.