Secondary Catalogue

What do ‘gender identity’, ‘gender expression’ and ‘sexual orientation’ mean? How can we make more inclusive language choices? Does it matter if you don’t get it exactly right? This video answers these questions and more, diving deep into the rapidly evolving language people use to describe their experience of gender and sexuality. An informative resource for students learning about inclusivity in Health and Relationships classrooms. Show Less

What can schools do to support gender diversity? Does the law prevent gender stereotyping and discrimination? How can we create a culture of equality, inclusivity and fairness in the school community? This video answers these questions and more, exploring strategies to make school a safe and supportive place for teaching and learning. An informative resource for students learning about inclusivity in Health and Relationships classrooms. Show Less

What’s the difference between sex and gender? How do children learn gender stereotypes? Why can gender norms have harmful effects on people’s health and wellbeing? This video answers these questions and more, exploring the influence that gender has on how we live our lives. An informative resource for students learning about inclusivity in Health and Relationships classrooms. Show Less

The actions we take can influence the very function of our brain cells, and ground-breaking research has proven just how much control we have over our mind-body connection. This video explores how ‘hacking’ our ‘feel-good’ neurotransmitters – those responsible for chemicals including serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphins – tricks the body into resilience, helping it to bounce back from disruption quicker and better than before. Featuring expert interviews, this video is ideal for students of Health, Personal Development and Science. Show Less

Our world is currently in a state of disruption not before seen in our lifetimes. The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the social, economic and political structures that humans once took for granted, understandably impacting the mental health of many. This program explores how long-term stress manifests in disruptive times and how resilience is built by coming out the other side. Featuring expert interviews, this video is ideal for students of Health, Personal Development and Science. Show Less

Encountering a wild animal predator may be a stress we long left behind in history, but the survival mechanisms humans developed then still serve us in today’s stressful situations, from exams to online bullying. This video explores the chemical and physical changes our bodies experience when our fight-or-flight response is triggered by the sympathetic nervous system. Featuring expert interviews, this video is ideal for students of Health, Personal Development and Science. Show Less

While the sympathetic nervous system triggers the fight-or-flight response to danger, the parasympathetic nervous system allows the body to relax and repair. This video looks at ways we can help our bodies to engage the parasympathetic nervous system, including quality sleep, deep breathing and mindfulness techniques, in order to counter feelings of stress and anxiety. Featuring expert interviews, this video is ideal for students of Health, Personal Development and Science. Show Less

Warning: This series is based on the death of a family member. Please use at your own discretion. Students should get permission from a guardian before viewing. In order for Grace to get the best marks for her science assessment she needs to build water bottle rockets. When her first attempt fails, Grace is not only disappointed but frustrated as she feels she did everything right. Grace's dad shares his experiences of his own rocket building and the trial and error that goes along with experiments. Something Dad says "have you checked everything?" helps Grace realise why her experiment failed and leads to a successful rocket launch. Show Less

Warning: This series is based on the death of a family member. Please use at your own discretion. Students should get permission from a guardian before viewing. Grace struggles to feel good about herself when she doesn't like what she sees in the mirror. According to Grace her teeth are yellow, she is too short, her feet are too big, she has eczema and when she exercises she gets red-faced and sweaty. Grace gets stuck when getting ready to go out and after numerous outfit changes becomes disheartened. Just the right time for Dad to remind her that often the problems you have with your body are not an issue for anyone else. Following her Dad's advice, Grace smiles when she looks in the mirror and sees a friendly face looking back at her. Show Less

Warning: This series is based on the death of a family member. Please use at your own discretion. Students should get permission from a guardian before viewing. When Grace finds out she has a group project her heart sinks. Grace hates group projects as the last one was a disaster. Grace becomes more and more worried each time she meets with her group as they are full of excuses about why they haven't completed their part of the project. With a little help from her Dad, Grace learns to be a 'yes and' person, rather than a 'no but' person. She realises that she cannot control everything and needs to go with the flow. With this in mind, Grace manages to get her group to present successfully on the day. Show Less

Warning: This series is based on the death of a family member. Please use at your own discretion. Students should get permission from a guardian before viewing. Grace's days consist of not just school but swimming, soccer, choir, piano lessons, Jiu Jitsu classes and completing homework and assignments. She is exhausted. When she falls asleep working on an assignment, panic sets in. Dad steps in and gives Grace some advice which she doesn't want to hear. Grace realises she cannot give all her extra-curricular activities 100% and has to choose before she burns out. Grace is not the only one in this episode who has overcommitted. Show Less

Warning: This series is based on the death of a family member. Please use at your own discretion. Students should get permission from a guardian before viewing. In this episode, Grace faces her fear of the ocean. While on holiday with her Mum, she does everything she can to avoid going for a swim. For Grace, the ocean looms as a dangerous and fearful place, because she recalls her last experience at the beach, when she was dumped by a wave and stung by a blue bottle. After some good advice from her Dad and placing trust in her Mum, Grace finds the courage to jump into the ocean and confronts her fear. Show Less

Warning: This series is based on the death of a family member. Please use at your own discretion. Students should get permission from a guardian before viewing. When Grace returns to school after the holidays, things have changed with her friends. Grace is mocked about her new haircut, excluded and abandoned on the group chat. At first Grace attempts to fit in with them, wanting things to go back to the way they were. After speaking with her Dad, she realises that friends shouldn't treat each other like that and Grace is forced to accept the change. Show Less

Going through puberty is challenging. But overcoming challenges brings new skills and strengths. At the end of puberty, not only do we have a bigger (and hairier and smellier!) body, but also newfound independence, resilience and courage to take into adulthood. Show Less

The major physical changes of puberty can often overshadow the less visible but equally important changes going on below the surface, including the many social and emotional changes that girls and boys both experience. This video covers methods of managing mood swings, the onset of sexual feelings and the natural curiosity to explore one’s changing body. Show Less

Getting her first period is one of the most significant changes a girl will experience during puberty. This video considers the options available for managing this often confronting change, and looks at other features of female puberty including breast growth and female ‘wet dreams’. Show Less

Having his first ‘wet dream’ or unwanted erection can be an embarrassing and confronting experience for a boy entering puberty. This video goes through all the things a penis might do that it hasn’t done before as well as other changes that occur during male puberty, such as the deepening of a boy’s voice. Show Less

Change often equals uncertainty and this is never truer than for children approaching puberty. Leaving no awkward stone unturned – from hair to periods and erections – this video takes viewers through the physical, social and emotional hallmarks of puberty, ingraining the fact that there’s no shame in any of it. Show Less

Hannah is young woman full of life, enthusiasm and a smile that is infectious. If you met her on the street you would never guess the challenges she has faced in her young life. During this episode, Hannah shares some of her journey with us: the frightening realisation that she had an eating disorder, the courage with which she immediately faced it and the years that followed until she hit rock bottom. ​ After moving in with her dad when home with her mum became unsafe, Hannah developed multiple eating disorders all while training and completing the Kokoda Trail as a teenager, completing high school and fashion college. Surrounded by supportive friends and her father, Hannah still struggled and eventually left home. With financial help from her mum, Hannah found a retreat which was the beginning of her recovery. ​ Hannah shares her story with courage and honesty. She works for an organisation called endED, which helps people living with eating disorders. Show Less

After losing his parents at a young age and being separated from his brothers, Keenan was moved from his home in Redfern to the suburbs of southern Sydney. At the age of 13 and against the wishes of his carers, he went to find his brother who had returned to Redfern. Unfortunately, his brother was already addicted to drugs. From then on Keenan lived on the streets learning how to survive from his cousins, trying desperately to find a sense of belonging. Keenan started committing crimes, became addicted to drugs and eventually went into juvenile detention followed by jail at the age of 18 due to a lack of community support and understanding of his cultural background and needs. Meeting Carly, his now-wife and completing an intense therapeutic programme, made all the difference. Keenan shares his story with such generosity and uses his experiences to help others. Keenan and his wife Carly are co-founders of Deadly Connections, an organisation helping indigenous and non-indigenous people struggling to overcome the challenges of their lives. Indigenous viewers are advised that this programme contains voices and images of people who have died. Show Less

Emma was adopted at six weeks old and always knew she was adopted. When Emma was three, her family adopted another baby girl. As kids they were inseparable but as they grew older they started to see the world differently. Emma lacked a sense of self and developed disordered eating as a way of coping with that and the world around her. Emma shares how she navigated the emptiness she felt, her depression, abusive relationships and trauma around an attachment disorder. Emma is now a Peer Worker, Peer supervisor and Trainer in mental health. Emma explains how seeing her life through the lens of trauma changed life completely. Show Less

Nineteen year-old Jett shares his story of suffering from bullying in school and in his dance career, which led to severe anxiety, depression and resulted in anorexia nervosa. When Jett was in primary school, the bullying started because of his mostly female friends and his interest in performance and dance. The bullying continued as he moved onto high school. When he was 13 something felt wrong to Jett about the bullying. He realised he was gay and he was being bullied for who he was. After an unhealthy environment in his dancing career led him to develop anorexia nervosa and severe depression, he found support with family, therapy and a healthy eating plan. Jett shares his journey and the lessons he's learnt as he works toward his goals for the future. Show Less

Olive is sixteen and lives with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD), ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), anxiety and depression. At the age of nine, Olive began to have negative thoughts but she managed to hide them from everyone until the first year of high school. After experiencing several crises Olive had to be admitted to a youth mental health unit for six weeks. Listen as she tells her story about her challenges and how she has grown from her experiences, not always smoothly but always forwards. Since making this film, Olive has had several difficult periods but she is still growing in her self-knowledge and learning new techniques for coping with her extremely challenging life. Show Less