In 2020/21, Professor Andrew Day and Dr Sharon Casey from the University of Melbourne evaluated the Seasons for Growth Children and Young Peoples and Stormbirds programs.
NSW Department of Education professionals were trained to deliver the Seasons for Growth and Stormbirds programs to support the wellbeing of children and young people who had experienced change and to promote the recovery of school communities impacted by the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-2020.
There evaluation found that the program was well-regarded by participants and that children and young people ended the program with greater knowledge and skills about change and loss than they had when they began. The level of satisfaction with both Seasons for Growth and Stormbirds was uniformly high.
The high level of parental and Companion satisfaction with the program suggests that meaningful change did occur - at least for some children and young people. It is also worth noting here that satisfaction with the training provided to Companions to deliver both programs was reported to be exceptionally high.
By Professor Andrew Day and Dr Sharon Casey