So why is the course different? We designed it backwards!

As educators we recognise one of the hardest things when developing a course or workshop is deciding what to include in your curriculum. 15 years working across several vocational areas and now developing the next generation of educators through our own education and training programme I think I have got better with practice.

The content has been designed using a backward planning strategy. Traditionally workshops and courses tend to get developed based on a topic or theme? The issue with most topics is that there is so much that we can potentially include, this can cause a little confusion and result in a less than optimum program.

For example, let’s look at the very topic here, ‘Mental Health’, to improve our own mental health, and support others suffering from poor wellbeing or mental illness then it has to start with not only more awareness and education but an uncomplex call to action. No one would argue that we’re more concerned about mental health than ever before. But the more aware we become and the more we spend money on current programs, the more mental health illness increases. We call this the 'deficit approach'; we focus on what we do not have rather than what we do.

Knowing what you want the end to be and working backwards ensures we include only the key messages to achieve the aim. Our strategy has taken an 'asset approach', we looked at what we have, that is ‘YOU’ and developed a curriculum with an uncomplex action that gives you the knowledge and tool to support friends, family, work colleagues, team-mates, school friends by not ‘avoiding it’ and ‘refer’ concerns effectively.

To get the right things done in the right way, we cannot wait for someone else to notice, we need to be part of the team (community), the humble listeners, and ultimately become one of the doers.