Be Happy
Everyone thinks that they know what makes them happy. Especially teenagers. But what if everything we thought we knew about happiness was wrong?
In Being Happy, Dr Justin Coulson (who has a PhD in the psychology of happiness) talks about how we buy the lie that happiness comes from having “stuff” and being cool, and shares what really puts us on the highway to happiness.
In an interactive and (sometimes) hilarious way, students will discover four of the biggest myths about being happy, and four of the greatest secrets to happiness – to create more positivity in their lives starting NOW!
Who is it for?
This presentation is suitable for students in High School (Yr 10-12)
How to Make Year 12 the BEST Year Ever
Everybody knows Yr 12 is going to be the worst. There’s big exams. There’s big stress. There’s enormous pressure. There’s parent, teacher, and personal expectations. And there’s big goodbye’s.
But… Yr 12 can be the Best Year Ever!
In this unexpectedly energising presentation, Dr Justin Coulson will help Yr 12 students (and their parents) get pumped for an incredible
Senior Year at High School, set clear and focused goals, and work to move beyond those awful obstacles that can make achievement so challenging.
Students and their parents will explore the three biggest challenges to making Yr 12 great, and ask themselves crucial questions to set the stage for a year where real success can be found by focusing on what matters most.
At the end of this presentation, students will know what they want and how they’re going to get it. And parents will have the tools they need to encourage and support their children without being overbearing, coercive, or “getting in the way”.
This is what it takes to have the Best Year Ever.
Audience: Year 12 students and their parents
Teachers can be a central support for students in their final year of school. But at times, student motivation suffers and teacher stress multiplies. It can be hard to keep students on track and teachers calm and centred.
This facilitated discussion will lead teachers to an awareness of evidence-based “best practice” strategies for giving students hope, enhancing wellbeing, and strengthening relationships in this vital final year of school.
Audience: Year 12 Teachers
How to have a healthy relationship with your phone.
Teenagers and their phones can be a little bit like Gollum and The Ring.The phone becomes a teens’ ‘precious’, and anyone who interferes with that device risks death!
Smart phones are an incredible blessing and a devastating curse, and they are now ubiquitous. Every one (including teens) has one.
But do we need them? (Yes!)
And if we do (believe me, we DO!), how can we be the master of the phone, rather than the phone being the master of us?
In this presentation, students will find out how they can know if they really do have a dysfunctional relationship with their phone, discover what over-dependence on phones is doing to us psychologically, and brainstorm solutions to dealing with the ever-present mobile device and its impact on everything from academics to physical activity to relationships.
Audience: High School Students (Yr 10 – 12)
Pornography – What’s the Big Deal?
Pornography is everywhere. Technological advances have meant that everyone of us – and every one of our teens – is walking around with porn in our pockets.
Because pornography has become so mainstream, some argue that it’s no big deal. Teens, in particular, shrug it off. After all, they know it’s not real.
Yet teenagers are the biggest consumers of pornography in the world. Is it a big deal? Does it matter? After all, they’ll assure us that it doesn’t affect them.
Research tells us that it does matter. Pornography is affecting the beliefs and the behaviours of adolescents (and adults), and its effects are being felt at the heart of relationships. Not only does porn affect the heart, but addiction researchers are increasingly acknowledging that pornography is also affecting the mind in harmful ways.
How do we protect our children from harmful content? How do we help them to make safe, healthy decisions when it comes to explicit content online – whether it is in the form of pornography, or sexts that they produce themselves? Is it ever ok?
This presentation is designed for students aged 15+, giving them a chance to consider the decisions they make and the decisions their peers make, with the goal that they will be mindful of what is in the best interests of their future selves, and the futures of those they are friends with.
Audience: High School Students (Yr 10 – 12)
Respectful Relationships
Respect is thinking of the wishes, rights, and feelings of others. And often we look at the way our youth behave and worry that respect no longer exists.
Kids believe that disrespect – whether in the form of violence, sexual misconduct, or verbal aggression – is funny. They see it as cool. How do we help them make respectful decisions and create respectful relationships?
Respectful Relationships is a presentation that equips students with the skills and the desire (in most cases… we’re talking about teenagers after all) to behave respectfully in their relationships with peers, parents, teachers, and others. By putting themselves into others’ shoes (and learning more about empathy) in fun, entertaining, and direct ways, students will learn about why respect matters and how to show it, even when they don’t want to.
