Fostering resilience in our children today for a brighter tomorrow
The Dusty and Friends Resilience Program is designed to create a cohesive, resilient community that empowers the child, the parent, the mentor or significant other to navigate challenges as they arise and not only cope with these challenges, but to thrive.
Why Resilience Matters Now More Than Ever
The world is more connected than ever before, yet our children are facing unprecedented levels of stress and anxiety. By equipping children with resilience-based attributes, we’re not only helping them cope but also preparing them to thrive.
This is your opportunity to make a lasting impact
Empower children
Being connected via the media can be a positive, however, more often than not children are being exposed to messages and influences that will erode their ability to feel confident in their own skin. Empowering our children to approach challenges with confidence. Confidence is a superpower and when children can harness this, they can feel more and more sure with each step they take that they are headed in the right direction. This all comes down to modelling this ourselves, and supporting them via their education and communities.
Support parents and educators
It’s not enough for our children to learn how to thrive in our society if they go home or to their school and these attributes are not being reinforced. This is why School For Living gives parents, mentors, significant others, and educators tools that will foster emotional intelligence. For this to work, especially during this latency period of a child’s development, it is crucial that they are being enveloped in this education.
Strengthen communities
Not only will society and communities become stronger when resilience behaviour is modelled, but School For Living works with communities such as sports clubs, community centres, libraries to educate them like we do with parents so that at every point of contact, children are seeing reinforced positive behaviour. It’s not enough to leave it up to the schools. We need to band together as a community to ensure that this education sticks.
The change starts now because the need was urgent yesterday.
Meet Dusty and Friends
The Dusty and Friends Resilience Program is not just a curriculum—it’s a movement toward creating cohesive, empowered communities. Grounded in over 20 years of research and aligned with resilience theory, it offers:
- Weekly interactive sessions for children in their Early Learning Years and Kindergarten to Year 2.
- Training and seminars for parents and educators to reinforce lessons.
- A unique blend of storytelling, sports challenges, and reflection exercises.
This program doesn’t stop with children. It brings parents, teachers, and community leaders together on the same page, creating a ripple effect of resilience and positive change.
Why Choose Dusty and Friends?
There are many resilience programs out there, but we can assure our customers that the program we offer, Dusty and Friends, is aligned to resilience theory and through its application, we have the proof of resilience based behavior change.
We specialise in the Kindergarten to Year 2 cohort and the pedagogy (design of our program) targets this area specifically with high levels of engagement and education. This age group is highly influential and considered the best age group to target for early intervention and prevention. This age group provides the foundations of learning that form into lifelong habits.
We know that when we get in early with children, and their adult role models, we can create early, positive resilience based habits that support the child as they navigate life.
Our unique approach
Backed by expertise
PhD-tested and independently evaluated for real, lasting results.
Grounded in research
Aligns with resilience theory and Australian education standards.
Proven results
Evidence shows measurable behavior change and improved emotional intelligence.
Early intervention
Focused on children aged 4-8, the critical window for building lifelong habits.
“We know what we do is important, and we know exactly when and where it will take root and be the most impactful.”
What You’ll Get
For Schools
- 1 hour sessions a week: The program contains a 1-hour resilience session, exploring the resilience topic of the week. The program uses the Dusty and Friends resources to facilitate resilience learning.
- The 1 hour will take the same format each week with another drop-in session for staff to ask questions. Each week the session will explore the different resilience pillars, the adaptation model followed by the sports piece.
- The breakdown of a session
- 15 mins of storytelling (resilience focused)
- 20 mins sports resilience challenge
- 15 mins of reflection
For Organisations
- Dot Point One. Dot Point One. Dot Point One. Dot Point One. Dot Point One. Dot Point One. Dot Point One. Dot Point One. Dot Point One. Dot Point One.
- Dot Point Two. Dot Point Two. Dot Point Two. Dot Point Two. Dot Point Two. Dot Point Two. Dot Point Two. Dot Point Two. Dot Point Two. Dot Point Two.
- Dot Point Three. Dot Point Three. Dot Point Three. Dot Point Three. Dot Point Three. Dot Point Three. Dot Point Three. Dot Point Three. Dot Point Three. Dot Point Three.
For Parents and Teachers
- Parent and Teacher Seminars: This program is accompanied by intensive teacher training and parent seminars.
- The breakdown of a seminar
- The purpose of the lesson
- The Brain science underpinning the lesson
- The links to resilience building rationale and practical tips for trainers
- The lesson plan and links to Dusty and Friends
- A summary and Reflection
Our modules
Backed by expertise
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Grounded in research
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Proven results
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Early intervention
#####NOTE: Sarah to add general modules/learnings#####
Meet your facilitator
I have a completed tertiary level studies at various Universities in Health and Education. I have over 15 years of university teaching in both Health and Education and completed a PhD looking at building resilience in children.
Resilience is an important skill that can maintain life-long benefits which positively influences physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.
I am extremely passionate about building up our children to thrive as they grow up. This is why I focus on ages 4-8. Instilling resilience at this impressionable age, means they can cope and approach all that life throws at them in years to come.
My approach is different to others, I believe wholeheartedly that if we want to positively influence our children and make this training stick, their parents, their teachers and their communities need to model the same behaviour. Their duty is to reaffirm what we teach. That is our responsibility as the adult.
Why now?
When we bring up conscientious and confident children, we are paving the way for adults who are empowered and ready to make a difference. These adults will model the same behaviour with their children, and become the start of the ripple effect. These are the people of our future, they will grow forging positive relationships and paths in society. They will be the change we seek and in turn, the world will be a better, more stable, and functional place.
Your community has the power to start this ripple effect.
Meet the characters that will empower our children
Dusty
Alex
Bella
Reina
Wagner
Wagner
Macca
Dusty
Testimonials
The School For Living program has been a game-changer for our students. The engaging activities and storytelling approach have helped build resilience and emotional intelligence in a way that truly resonates with young learners.
The School For Living program has been a game-changer for our students. The engaging activities and storytelling approach have helped build resilience and emotional intelligence in a way that truly resonates with young learners.
The School For Living program has been a game-changer for our students. The engaging activities and storytelling approach have helped build resilience and emotional intelligence in a way that truly resonates with young learners.
Emma Davidson, Greenvale Primary School
Mark Thompson, YouthWell Community Services
Sarah Nguyen, Future Minds Early Learning
Ready to Build a Resilient Future?
Book a discovery call with Sarah Tillott, CEO and Lead Facilitator of School for Living.
During this call, we’ll explore:
- The unique needs of your school, club, or community.
- How Dusty and Friends can be tailored to meet your goals.
- The simple steps to implement a program that changes lives.
- What are you aiming to achieve?
- The scale of your project – how many staff will be involved with training?
- The location of your project – What locations are you aiming to target?
- What age groups are you specifically focusing on?
Take Action Today
The resilience of your community begins with a single step. Click below to book a discovery call with Sarah Tillot and start creating a brighter, more resilient future for the children who need it most.
- How does the program work?
Each week includes a one-hour session for children, supported by parent and teacher seminars to reinforce lessons at home and in the classroom. - Who is it for?
The program is designed for Kindergarten to Year 2 students, their parents, and educators. - How can it be funded?
We offer various funding models, including private enterprise, government grants, and philanthropic partnerships.
- Private enterprise – fully paid model by the organisation
- Government funding – dependent upon available grants
- Philanthropic – We have connections to philanthropic funding if you are keen to explore this area to help support you organisation.
- Indigenous focus – If your organisation will be working with a Indigenous community, please let us know. We are linked to some wonderful organisations that are very supportive.
- Corporate sponsorship mode – Cobrand options available for the sponsor if the sponsors values and mission aligns with the SFL