Tracey Farrell

23/01/2025

Click the link to see documentary screenings in major cities - hopefully online and regional centres can jump on board! It sounds like it will be a wonderful watch.

A groundbreaking documentary exploring the transformative power of personal healing for parents and its impact on child brain development.

06/11/2024

This is a great opportunity for local parents and community to learn more about the impact of phones and social media on our children’s mental health. Well done St Patrick's Primary School Tongala 3621 and The Phone Pledge.

DON'T FORGET TO REGISTER FOR THIS UPCOMING EVENT:

We are excited to announce that we have teamed with the 'The Phone Pledge' to offer a parent session. All parents within the community are welcome to attend. If you are coming please complete this form: https://forms.gle/yLZVxpLxnaxnjZKT8

16/10/2024

Wow, can’t wait to see this documentary! I spy lots of favourite and familiar faces (Maggie Dent, Joe from The Enemy Within - Su***de Prevention Trauma Recovery & Wellbeing Education, and Dr Vanessa Lapointe). This is the content we need. Well done all and thank you Seen Documentary 🩷

Send a message to learn more

16/10/2024

The crying is the healing. That really resonated with me. 💗💗💗

07/10/2024

I’m currently watching this documentary about how childhood has become incredibly structured and how this has impacted children’s wellbeing.

I loved this question they posed and would love hear your thoughts. The question was “What did you love to do as a child that you don’t let your children do?” Or as a practitioner, what have you noticed that children are no longer allowed to do that was once a common experience?

19/09/2024

Ah, I was only just having a discussion today about the power of ‘yet’! Not only does it have positive impacts on the person hearing your message, it provides an anchor to more hopeful, strengths based approaches for you.

“You’re not good at this... YET!”
“You can’t do this... YET!”
“You don’t understand this... YET!”
“This doesn’t make sense... YET!”

As a teacher, one of the most powerful tools you can give your students is the understanding and use of the word ‘YET’. When a student says they can’t do something, remind them they can’t do it YET. This simple addition helps shift their mindset from one of fixed limitations to one of growth and possibility.

Teaching your students the power of ‘YET’ encourages them to see challenges as opportunities for learning and growth. It helps them build resilience and persistence, fostering a positive attitude towards overcoming obstacles. By consistently reinforcing this mindset, you can help your students develop the confidence to tackle difficult tasks and the perseverance to keep trying until they succeed.

Let’s talk about it!

▶ Share an achievement you’re proud of that seemed impossible at first.
▶ Share classroom examples where a student has achieved something extraordinary, despite adversity.

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"One-minute Wellbeing: Fifty Quick Tips for Educators" is a practical guide that provides concise, actionable strategies to enhance both staff and student wellbeing, fostering a supportive and dynamic classroom environment for all educators.

Get yours here: https://happyfamilies.com.au/one-minute-wellbeing

06/09/2024

Alex and Crystal are in conversation with mental health social worker Tracey Farrell.

Tracey is known for her passion in supporting infants, children, young people and their families to achieve a felt sense of safety when accessing therapeutic support. Over the past 12 years, Tracey has worked across various children mental health and family services with the common thread of bringing an attachment and trauma informed lens to the work.

Tracey taught at university for 7 years as a way of influencing practice at a more systemic level and is currently studying for a doctorate in social work where her research focuses on embedding relational practices in child and family services.

21/06/2024

Excellent advice here! They are called developmental stages for a reason - each one is needed, just as it is!

Someone recently told me, “Ugh, I know that the 3yos in my preschool class are supposed to be wiggly and playful and loud and silly. But I know that they’ll have higher expectations in the 4yos class next year. I’m always torn between letting them be themselves, and trying to prepare them for what will be expected of them next school year so it’s hopefully not so much of a shock to them.”

A lot of parents and caregivers feel this "but I have to prepare them for the future" pressure, and I always encourage them to ignore that voice as much as humanly possible for two reasons:

First, subjecting a kid to developmentally inappropriate expectations early does not actually make them better at meeting developmentally inappropriate expectations later on.

And second, because when you're a kid, even a small amount of time may have massive amounts of developmental changes in it.

Parents will be like, "I need to try to teach my kid to write before kindergarten, it's already May, they start in September and they don't know how to write." No, that's four months away! Four months is very nearly 1/10 of their entire lifespan! A massive amount of developmental change can happen in 1/10 of your lifespan!

They are three, four, five! Let them be who they are now. Let them work on what they’re working on now. Don’t preemptively try to crush them into a mold you’re worried the future has for them.

Let the problems of September be the problems of September -- you can't fix the problems of the future now. Give them what they need now.

[Image description: A picture of two speech bubbles, one labeled "Q" and one labeled "A" with question and answer on them that read, "Do I prepare them for the future even if it means they don't get what they need now?" "You can best prepare them for the future by giving them what they need now!" There are little sparkles and doodles on the image to make it cutesy, with a teal, pink, and yellow color palette. My handle, , is also on the image. End description.]