Theatre Partnership with Mind Blank

Bridges has been actively delivering on its Arts-Let Wellbeing Program Strategy introduced in 2023. There has been a strong focus on building strategic partnerships with like-minded organisations that deliver wellbeing outcomes for communities through the arts.

Through investment from the Department of Social Services and the Foundation for Regional and Rural Renewal’s Heywire Fund supported by the John Villiers Trust, we were able to engage the services of Mind Blank to host workshops for high school students about cyberbullying as part of a suicide prevention strategy.

One full day of workshops was delivered at each of two schools - Monto State High School (December 2023) and Burnett State College in Gayndah (March 2024). The workshops were developed and delivered by Mind Blank who utilised forum theatre to engage students in storytelling about mental health and wellbeing. The schools requested a workshop program focused on the theme of cyberbullying.

The workshops were delivered in the schools by three trained actors, who performed a storyline of a student who had been the victim of cyberbullying. The storyline looked at how the student reacted, how they related to teachers, friends and family and how those people also reacted. Feedback was sought from the students as to how they would do things differently to create a more positive outcome. Students were invited to join the actors on stage act out the scenario.

228 students experienced the workshops in both participating schools. Students were asked to complete a pre and post workshop survey to gauge the impact of participating in the workshop program. Some of the comments submitted by students included:

Thank you this was insightful and fun.
Thank you very much, this was amazing
Very cool 10/10 would be an alien again [a character played by a student on stage]
Thank you for today, I really enjoyed it! :)
This was very helpful. My parents are separate so i am nervous certain parents won't like certain things.
It was good and it helped me realise that I can talk to people.
Thank you for giving us this opportunity.

The Bridges support staff in the room and the school staff all indicated that the workshops were a great success, citing that the model was highly engaging for students and was on target for some of the key issues facing the students.

Thank you to Mind Blank, FRRR and John Villiers Trust for making this possible and to the staff an students at Monto State High School and Burnett State College for embracing the model. A special shout out to our amazing FMHSS team working in the Burnett to support young people in their mental health journey.