About the program

Journey of Hope teaches children social and emotional skill building to promote self-efficacy, problem solving and positive coping so they may have the capacity to overcome current and future trauma. 

Program structure

Journey of Hope is delivered to small groups of up to 10 children either once a week over 8 weeks, or twice a week over 4 weeks. Program sessions are designed to help children: 

• understand and normalise emotions associated with traumatic stress
• develop positive coping strategies to deal with these emotions
• build on their innate strengths and those of their families, schools and communities to further develop positive coping mechanisms
• instill a sense of hope, empowering them to feel more in control over stressors.

There are 4 program variants:

1. Early years into lower primary – children aged 4 to 7 years old
2. Middle primary – children aged 8 to 11 years old
3. Late primary to early high school – young people aged 12 to 14 years old
4. Mid to late high school – young people aged 15 to 18 years old

Different engagement and learning techniques are used depending on the age of participants.

Evaluation and effectiveness

Several evaluations of the program have been conducted including 2 quasi-experimental studies (Powell & Bui, 2016; Powell & Thompson, 2016). 

Powell and Bui (2016) collected data from 116 program participants aged between 11 and 15 years old. Pre-post outcomes were measured using validated tools showing that children in the intervention (n=61) improved their prosocial skills, and communication and tension management compared to the control group (n=49).

In similar findings, Powell & Thompson’s evaluation (2016) examined the outcomes of 102 children aged between 8 and 12 years old and found that children in the intervention (n=48) improved more on teacher report prosocial scales and coping skill measures compared to the control group (n=54). 

References

Powell, T. M., & Bui, T. (2016). Supporting social and emotional skills after a disaster: Findings from a mixed methods study. School Mental Health: A Multidisciplinary Research and Practice Journal, 8(1), 106–119.

Powell, T. M., & Thompson, S.J. (2016). Enhancing Coping and Supporting Protective Factors After a Disaster: Findings From a Quasi-Experimental Study. Research on Social Work Practice, 28(5), 1-11.