Rewards
Hi, my name is Jeanette Pritchard. I live in Monbulk in the Dandenong Ranges of Melbourne. I am passionate about the wellbeing of young people.
As a teacher, I watched in dismay as report after report showed their mental health deteriorating. I knew, from my own experience, behind every statistic was a young person struggling with anxiety, a young person harming themself or a young person abusing drugs or alcohol.
Of particular concern was the harsh reality that suicide had become the leading cause of death of young people. It seemed so many had lost hope. In response to my concerns, I worked with my school and the local community to establish the Standing Tall school-based mentoring program in Hamilton Victoria.
Since that time I have worked with a number of other schools and communities to establish mentoring programs. Watching the wonderful community members form caring relationships with young people showed me the things that make a real difference in the life of a young person – Hope, Empathy, Action, Relationships and Trust which I have come to call the Hearts Language.
In my recently finished book ‘The Language of Hope’, I put forward my ideas on why I think our young people are struggling and why it is important to reclaim the Hearts Language to shape a world where our young people can rediscover hope.
The beautiful artwork ‘River Red Gum ‘ by artist Kaylie Rogers was chosen for the cover of this book because trees symbolise resilience and hope and provide safety and nourishment. The water the tree soaks from the river to sustain itself is a metaphor for heart energy needed to nourish our young people.
In order to translate ideas explored in the book into action, I am launching ‘The Heart’s Language Project ‘an online community of people who care deeply about young people and want to make a difference.
This is particularly important at this time because, due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the statistics around the mental health of young people have fallen off a cliff. I believe it is time for community members to kickstart their hearts to support our young people.
This project will build awareness around what is impacting on our young people, promote initiatives, programs and organisations which focus on making the world a better place for young people and will give people opportunities to be involved.
HOW YOU CAN HELP?
If what I am doing resonates with you, I would love for you to help me get my book printed and become a part of the community of seed funders responsible for bringing The Heart’s Language Project to life!
HOW THE FUNDS WILL BE USED?
The funds will be used to cover the costs of self -printing 150 copies of the book here in Melbourne. I will be gifting a copy of the book to a number of the schools I have worked with in the local area.
80% of the total funds raised will be used to cover a portion of the production and printing costs of the book and the building of the website theheartslanguage.com.au and 20% of the total funds raised will be donated to a wonderful youth-led project You(th) Are Not Alone which aims to address the issue of youth loneliness. The team leading this project were all involved in the BigBrothersBigSisters Young Achievers program. They are a real testament to the power of mentoring.
If I raise above the target I will donate a high percentage of that amount to two great organisations. One is very close to my heart, the Standing Tall school-based mentoring program in Hamilton and the other is Stride Education, a great organisation which offers social and emotional wellbeing programs to students, teachers and parents.
Tomorrow (Saturday 21st November) is the last day of this Crowdfunding Campaign. I want to thank everyone who has come on this adventure with me or will potentially come on board before the campaign finally finishes. I believe that change is in the air and we can work together so our young people can look into the future with hope. I look forward to working with you all to help make that a reality.
I finish this campaign with words of one of my favourite authors Arundhati Roy.
Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.
Warm regards
Jeanette Pritchard
As we roll to the end of this campaign here is last night's attempt to explain to Mark Watt and Paul Coory on the Melbourne Community Heart radio program, why I wrote the book 'The Language of Hope' and what I want to achieve with the Heart's Language Project.
https://www.facebook.com/com989heart/videos/839257573559199/
Kind regards
Jeanette
THREE DAYS TO GO
This crowdfunding campaign ends on Saturday. It has been an incredible journey and I have been humbled by the large number of people who have opened their hearts to support it. COVID has been a great time of reflection and resetting of priorities.
Our young people deserve all the love and support we can give them. I believe these words by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin give us a sense of what is possible.
Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
Warm regards
Jeanette
CAMPAIGN PROGRESS
6 DAYS TO GO-60% THERE.
Last year we all watched thousands of young people calling for immediate action on climate change. It was only one of a number of different actions taken by young people across Australia calling for change. I believe young people are crying out for a new story- a story that enhances the human spirit and takes their future seriously. To me the words of Irish Nobel Prize winner, Mairead Corrigan Maguire are a powerful statement of what that story could focus on.
I believe, with Gandhi, that we need to take an imaginative leap forward toward fresh and generous idealism for the sake of all humanity.
Warm regards
Jeanette
Well we are into the home straight of this campaign. A big shout out to all those who have supported it. I have had positive feedback from those who have received their books and prints. As we emerge from lockdown here in Victoria, and I see families joyfully reuniting, I often think of those vulnerable young people in our society who may find getting back to 'normal' pretty tough. It will be an 'all hands on deck ' time for our community to support them. I believe the Heart's Language Project can make a real contribution.
Warm regards
Jeanette
It was always my dream that my book 'The Language of Hope' would lead to action. That is why this review for the book by Kerry Willis means so much to me.
The Language of Hope truly offers hope for our people and our planet. Jeanette Pritchard has written a heartfelt call not just to our young people, but to all of us, to work together for a fair and just society. Her book touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes at times. The combination of Jeanette’s readable and accessible picture of where we are at today, and how we came to be here, along with the stories of seven different women who are taking action now, makes for a powerful argument, and template, of what it is possible to achieve. And then there are the profound words of Ciara Symons, poetry that takes us beyond the constraints of our prosaic language to think, to feel and to understand from our hearts, our minds and our deepest selves.
Kind regards
Jeanette
In July 2019 Geoff Gallop, ex-Premier of WA, stated on Q&A
Young people at the moment are the miners’ canaries of our society. They’re picking up the real issues that we have deep down in the way we conduct our social relationships, the way we organise our society, the priorities we give. They can’t see the hope. I think we have a responsibility to recognise that factor and to build a better society ... young people are telling us something and we should be listening.
In my book ‘The Language of Hope’ I feature material from the highly talented young Ciara Symons, a Year 11 student from Geelong. Through powerful poetry and prose, Ciara gives her views on how we dealing with climate change, social justice and care of the environment. I hope her voice is heard.
Kind regards
Jeanette
UPDATE
ARE WE ON THE RIGHT TRACK?
Yesterday I was speaking to a Secondary school teacher who coordinates the Year 9 cohort at a local school. He tells me that the greatest challenge faced by many students under his care is anxiety and he is very much focusing on their wellbeing. This is the time to stand with him and many other people seeking to support our young people. From my experience, communities and organisations can be very creative in finding ways to make that happen. THE HEART'S LANGUAGE PROJECT will give us an opportunity to share what can be done.
UPDATE ON THE CAMPAIGN
We have 14 days to go and we are well over the halfway mark to reaching the target. Once again thank you to all those who have been involved.
Last week I posted single copies of ‘The Language of Hope’ to a number of people. The prints of Kaylie Roger’s ‘Red River Gum’ are now available so I will be posting them as well as a number of other books this week.
WEBSITE
The beautiful website https://theheartslanguage.com.au/ was launched last week. It will be the engine room for this new venture. Check it out. On the website, there is more information about THE HEART’S LANGUAGE PROJECT and the book ‘THE LANGUAGE OF HOPE.’ Your thoughts and ideas are very welcome.
Best wishes
Jeanette
Empowering young people to take action will be a key component of the Heart’s Language Project. The project being supported in this campaign is being driven by a dynamic group of young people who have been mentees in programs run by BigBrothersBigSisters. The group have decided to give back by setting up the YOU(TH )ARE NOT ALONE project which seeks to address a social problem affecting many vulnerable young people in our community – loneliness and isolation. It is wonderful to see these young people wanting to give back and make a difference in the world. Their commitment and enthusiasm are impressive. They are very worthy of support.
Well, we are almost halfway towards hitting the target for this campaign. That is incredibly encouraging. Never has there been a more important time to support our young people. Students in Victorian schools have only been at for school for about three months this year. This means, for some young people both their educational progress and their emotional wellbeing has been impacted and they will be wearing the scars for years. Many parents are exhausted. The journey of healing will be ongoing and I believe our online community can make an important contribution.
I am hitting the airwaves. With 3MDR (971FM) it will be with Michelle Perera on her show ‘Community ‘on Saturday 31st October at around 1.20 and, Anne Creber on her show 'The Good Life' on Monday 8th November between 3-5 pm. I will also be joining Mark Watt on the Community Heart Radio Show. (98.9) Northwest FM at on Wednesday 18th November at 7 pm.
Great news. 😊 The campaign for The Heart’s Language Project is well over a third of the way towards reaching its target. Raising children and young people in our society is challenging at the best of times. These are the worst of times. I have always thought the expression 'it takes a village to raise a child' captures the importance whole communities sharing the responsibility of raising the young. As we slowly emerge from this pandemic, parents and schools are doing the heavy lifting. However, we know the impact on the wellbeing of our young will be ongoing. This is surely an ‘all hands on deck ‘moment. I believe the online community formed by 'The Heart's Language Project' can become a 'virtual village' to learn about and support existing endeavours as well as creating new ideas and initiatives to creating a world where young people can not only survive but thrive.
Nelson Mandela once said 'There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.'
I want to thank every person supporting this campaign or have shown interest. It is great to see that it gaining momentum.
Being an adolescent is always a time of tremendous vulnerability because of physical and psychological changes happening as they move from the dependency of childhood towards the independence of being an adult. Every one of them is asking the same three questions Am I normal? Do I belong? Will I make it? Now they are dealing with a disrupted and confused society.
In my book ‘The Language of Hope ‘we hear the voice of a highly intelligent and perceptive 17-year-old Ciara Symons. Ciara challenges the reader to think deeply about the society we have created and the future we are carving out for her generation.
Never has there been a more important time to think seriously about the society we wrap around our young people and the changes that need to be made.
Wow …..only two days into the campaign and we up to 28% of the target. That is fantastic. Please spread the word.
Today the coordinator of the Standing Tall mentoring program shared with me the story of the mentoring journey of Harley and Min. It really captures The Heart’s Language in action.
This is their story
Harley began his mentoring journey with Min when he was in Grade 5 at the age of ten. He was a very vulnerable little boy and he could well have disengaged from school early. However, that did not happen. Last year he completed Year 12. Min was by his side all that time. She is still supporting him in the real world.
One of the most memorable things that Harley has taken away from their time together is Min’s encouragement to “always keep your eyes open for opportunities and reach out and grab them”. This advice has served Harley well in many facets of his life.
School life has not always been smooth sailing for Harley, he admits to missing a fair bit of school in Year 9, but Min was always there to support him and encourage him to re-engage.
As the years have passed, Min has been instrumental in helping Harley achieve many of his life goals. Encouraging and supporting him to look for employment – She has supported him in many practical ways, for example; finding him a suit to wear to his brother’s wedding, helping him practise for his Learner Driver permit, and taking him for his test at Vic Roads.
Harley acted as the Standing Tall Peer mentor for two years, and through this, was given the opportunity to share about his mentoring journey with various community groups and also on the radio. He has taken so much out of being a participant in the program, that he hopes to come back and be a mentor himself one day.
Harley regards Standing Tall as an excellent opportunity and urges anyone given the chance to “Snap it up!”
Dear friends
Thank you so much for being the 'early adopters' to my venture. It has made my heart sing to know that you have put your hand up to help me move forward. I don't believe there is anything more important than supporting young people to make this world a better place. In my book, I quote Geoff Gallop Ex-Premier of WA who, when asked on the ABC Q&A program what he observed about young people in Australia today said:
'Young people at the moment are miner's canaries of our society. They are picking up the real issues that we have deep down in the way we conduct our social relationships, the way we organise our society, the priorities we give. They can't see hope'
I look forward to going on a journey with you all to give them hope.
Warm regards
Jeanette
Dear friends
In my book 'The Language of Hope' I quote Geoff Gallop Ex-Premier of WA who, when asked on the ABC Q&A program what he observed about young people in Australia today said:
'Young people at the moment are miner's canaries of our society. They are picking up the real issues that we have deep down in the way we conduct our social relationships, the way we organise our society, the priorities we give. They can't see hope'
I believe we can turn that around. It has been heartening to see the ball rolling on this campaign with a number of people already putting their hand up to be involved.
I look forward to going on a journey with you all to give them hope.
Warm regards
Jeanette
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