Wonderful Me would like to thank Natalie MacDonald and her wonderful team at Erina Heights Public School, along with Dr John Irvine, for sharing their journey with the WorryWoo's DEIP so far. Their commitment to the program speaks for itself and it was an honour to hear their invaluable insights.

"I was happy to buy kits because I know how great they can be. I didn’t mandate anything, and I think that’s what helped it really grow, was that everyone wanted to be part of it..."

Natalie MacDonald, Principal, Erina Heights Public School

Wince - Worry / Anxiety

"I have a number of students who do suffer from anxiety, and we’ve had a few different activities in our classroom that have really been helpful for those students, and all of the students, being able to understand what those worried feelings feel like and what they can do to help to solve those worried feelings."

Emma, Teacher Erina Heights Public School

Twitch - Frustration & Anger

"Twitch is all about frustration and learning what frustration is and how to control that frustration and what happens if we let the frustration build up. I have seen a difference in the kids in how they are recognising when they are getting frustrated and when things are getting difficult, they are being more persistent, and they are not giving up. I have seen them start to develop more confidence.... "

Jess, Teacher Erina Heights Public School 

Fuddle - Confusion, Social Confidence & Assertion

"When we got down to the bottom of it, we realised that it was a confidence thing. So you need to have confidence to make the tough decisions. I did the Garden of Greatness from the WorryWoos book and the kids made their own flowers, then they made little slogans for each other, just to remind them to be confident to make those decisions..."

Chloe, Teacher Erina Heights Public School

Nola - Loneliness, Grief & Rejection

"My students really enjoyed Nola. We noticed that a few students are a little bit lonely in the playground so having this in the classroom has been really great in setting our kids up with some skills of how to combat loneliness..."

Mitch, Teacher Erina Heights Public School

Rue - Self-Esteem & Body Image

"I ran a unit of work focussing on perception and body image which is what Rue is all about. Over six lessons we looked at all different things that focussed around perception and body image and Rue’s insecurities and his journey that he went on..."

Lee, Teacher Erina Heights Public School

Squeek - Social Confidence & Shyness

"We looked at Squeeks dreams and what Squeek dreamed and wanted to do but he couldn’t because he was inside his bubble and one of the two things was being brave and being bold, so I used those two words in the class and the students had to write their own dreams..."

Lavern, Teacher Erina Heights Public School

Zelly - Jealousy, Envy & Bullying

" We discussed with the students what envy means, and a few of them had quite interesting responses. We talked about some different strategies they could do to overcome their jealousy. Strategies like breathing, or thinking about what they do have instead of what they don’t have..."

Andee, Prac Teacher Erina Heights Public School