Three 8-week Warriors of Wellbeing (WOW) psychosocial group programs were delivered at two schools with 30 primary school children under 11 years old in 2023-2024. A family fun day was also facilitated to assist us in evaluating the program. Comparison of Pre and Post program evaluations across all three groups found on average that the children experienced improvements in the following areas:
- I am good at things
- I like to try new things
- I know how to make new friendships
- I feel proud of where I come from
- I can make good choices at home
- I can make good choices at school
- I like spending time with my family
Feedback from parents included:
- The WOW program was significant in helping her child have an open mind and become more confident and comfortable in different cultures.
- That learning a new language was significant for their child and this kind of program helps to break the barriers if it can continue in the future.
- The time of program and length of time helped as well as the type and diversity of programs as it kept their child engaged and interested.
- That their children had become more respectful over the course of the program and there were some changes to their behaviour.
- A parent spoke about the confidence her son had developed, and that he was then able to use this confidence to build more friendships in school. As he is changing schools next year, his parent is happy that he can not only be caring, but also feel confident to show this and build relationships.
- Another parent commented that she noticed her son is a lot calmer. He would previously struggle to sit still, especially when she tried to teach him something, but over the course of the program, she noticed he was able to sit for longer time periods and engage in the learning more.
- Another mum mentioned that her son can better identify boundaries and know right from wrong. While she believes a big part of this is age, she also believes that the work in this program has helped him to develop these skills.
