Thrive

Thrive is a wellbeing program that empowers young people aged 15 to 18 to develop the skills they need to experience wellbeing, resilience and happiness throughout their lives.

Thrive has been developed to address needs identified in the City of Salisbury Strategic Youth Action Plan, the South Australian Youth Action Plan and from ongoing consultation with young people living in the City of Salisbury.

Thrive is a 5-week evidence-based program, delivered across local high schools and supporting 90 young people living in the City of Salisbury; to increase their life skills and resilience so they can not only recover but thrive post the COVID-19 pandemic. The anticipated outcomes include:

To improve social and emotional wellbeing, and resilience, at the individual and community level; and
Reduce social isolation and increase the community participation of the program participants.
The Thrive program was delivered during term 1 and 2 in 2021 by the City of Salisbury’s Twelve25 Salisbury Youth Enterprise.

Project achievements

The Thrive wellbeing program offered was offered to young people in the City of Salisbury. The program was built on PERMA an evidence-based model created by positive psychologist Martin Seligman, who believes that there are five important building blocks of wellbeing and happiness; Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Achievement.

The program participants were offered the flexibility to mould the concepts to their own interests, strengths and developmental priorities in order to learn vital life-long skills to develop and maintain wellbeing throughout their lives.

A range of program achievements was noted including;

participants applied newly acquired theory into practice
participants were connected with their communities and other young people, some of who have developed long-lasting friendships post-program
participants reported improvements in their wellbeing and resilience during each session
participants were empowered to develop the skills they need to experience wellbeing, resilience and happiness throughout their lives
participants were given the opportunity to connect with like-minded young people in a safe space to learn about mental health, wellbeing, relationships and positive emotions
young people were empowered to identify something in their lives that they are passionate about and ways to achieve their goals
the participants retained a range of coping skills and strategies which they will be able to use in the future.

Young people were involved from the outset of this project via the current Youth Strategic Action Plan (YAP) and the State’s Strong Futures Youth Action Plan, which have both been significant influences in identifying the need for a program such as this.

Building on this, the Youth Reference Group (YRG) was created to enable ongoing youth guidance and empowerment.

The YRG consisted of 8 young people who are current Twelve25 volunteers. This allowed the program to be youth-led involving young people in aspects such as planning, decision making, delivery and evaluation. An example of the benefits of this group is that thanks to initial consultations, the YRG ensured the promotional language was youth-friendly.

As a result of these valuable insights, program messaging reflected youth-friendly and inclusive language which was easy to understand. In regards to program evaluation, the YRG identified priority outcomes, including ‘young people feeling more connected with their community’ ‘youth from diverse backgrounds feel welcome and safe to access the program’ ‘young people experiencing disadvantage are engaged in the community round’ and ‘young people are able to identify something in their life that gives them passion and meaning.’ In addition, program evaluations were designed by young people to ensure the language was appropriate and effective.

A specific program outcome was to ensure young people experiencing disadvantage were engaged in the community around them. The YRG suggested expanding the age range from 15-18 years to 14-25, in order to better achieve this outcome. As a result, it was identified that young people from a wider age bracket would be involved in the program. Approximately 40 young people were involved throughout this project.

Project outcomes

Individual feedback received from participants demonstrated the program achieved a range of outcomes.

Outcome 1:  Improve individual and/or community social and emotional wellbeing and resilience
Resilience was shown by a young person who has epilepsy when he suffered multiple seizures over consecutive days. Despite this he returned to complete the program, stating he wanted to complete the program for his own personal growth and future employment opportunities.

Resilience was demonstrated by participants who attended the program and returned each time to complete all sessions. It is evident that the young people felt connected and safe, which also achieves Outcome 3.

Outcome 3:  Reduce social isolation and increase the participation of priority groups in the local community
A young person (living with a disability) who runs their own small business was engaged to assist with the promotion of the program. This young person was meaningfully engaged in the program, further connecting her with her local community.

The Youth Reference Group was pivotal in interacting with the community to promote Thrive, requiring participants to connect with their local community.

Participants reported that they had made friends, which they did not have before the program - either within their schools or via the community round. This achieves both Outcomes 1 & 3, and also the participant's personal goals to build new friendships and relationships. In addition, this achieved a program goal 'young people are able to identify what positive friendship looks like.

A range of additional feedback was received from post-program evaluation.

90% of participants stated that they enjoyed the course program overall and that they learnt new things about positive psychology.
90% of participants stated they learnt about positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and achievement.
70% of participants stated that they would recommend this program to a friend.

Ongoing learnings and collaborations

Pre and post evaluations were completed to demonstrate program outcomes. It was evident that the responses reflected a range of base knowledge, especially in regards to topics such as healthy relationships. We have not promoted this data publicly. However, the City of Salisbury will use this information to inform future program development.

Throughout this project, the council has built stronger relationships have been developed with local high schools, case managers and job service providers.

This project has received funding from the Department of Human Services Youth-led COVID-19 Recovery Grants and administered by the Local Government Association of South Australia.