Drawing together a robust body of research, the ReLATE model has four foundational concepts:

Safety: ReLATE recognises safety as an essential pre-condition for quality teaching and learning.

A counter-stress school environment: ReLATE fosters wellbeing by actively counteracting stress, through trauma-informed policies and practices that promote communication and self-regulation.

Enhanced teaching and learning: ReLATE is guided by neuroscience to enhance teaching and learning and encourage staff to use repeated, supportive actions.

Sustainable whole school culture change: ReLATE aims to create whole of school culture change through teaching about resilience, adversity, trauma and collective efficacy.

Education professionals will have access to four full days of professional learning, run by our highly skilled consultants. Staff will also be equipped with practical tools to implement in the classroom, including:

• Self-regulation plans to de-escalate challenging behaviours for both students and staff
• Traffic light identification enabling your staff to discuss critical incidents proactively, with a degree of urgency and in priority order
• Debriefing and communication strategies, giving staff a process to mitigate abusive behaviours or mistreatment.

ReLATE walks leaders through cultural change processes, supporting them to translate knowledge into meaningful action. Through the implementation cycle, our consultants support school leaders with school level data, building transferable capabilities to answer to critical questions, such as:

• Are we truly making a difference in the teaching, learning and wellbeing domains?
• How do we know?
• What is the evidence of meaningful impact?

Through ReLATE, schools can expect to see happier, more connected and engaged students, staff and school communities, as is measured throughout implementation. Schools and systems can expect a shift in their culture and attitudes as well as strengthened responses from teachers to student behaviour – all of which create the pre-conditions for improved learning and wellbeing outcomes.

ReLATE supports schools to reduce behavioural incidents, shifting the focus from reactive to aspirational. Calm environments translate to improved wellbeing for students and staff and free time to focus on new areas for growth and improvement. Through ReLATE, your school or system will become trauma aware and best positioned to meet the diverse needs of your community.

We take the time to get to know you and your community
We work hard to ensure that we understand your needs and the unique strengths and challenges within your school community. During the three annual Discovery Day sessions we meet with members of your school community including leadership, staff, parents and students (where appropriate) to gather data and explore ‘where your community is at’ and refresh your strategic objectives and find out ‘where you want to be’.

We provide you with bespoke Discovery and Insights Reports, drawing out your school or system’s unique characteristics and informing an implementation approach that is designed to drive the desired change.

We work with you to gather and explore:

• existing knowledge and beliefs about trauma and trauma-informed practices
• opportunities and barriers to improving safety and wellbeing
• baseline data, unpacking the story behind this data.

We provide direct and ongoing support for implementation
With ongoing support from our skilled consultants, each school or system will establish a School Implementation Taskforce (SIT). The SIT represents an integral group of staff who will lead implementation. They are supported by clear guidelines, detailing each of the key tasks needed to create a lasting change in schools. Through this process your school or system will be supported to:

• implement planning days
• use data to inform thinking
• examine values, beliefs and assumptions
• contextualise resources for your community

Our consultants are available to provide advice and support and check in with SIT members outside of the formal learning sessions, answering questions and providing further guidance to address challenges and explore new goals.

Our expertise doesn’t just come from theory, it comes from experience
Our frontline connection to the education sector ensures our programs are effective and practical. ReLATE was developed in Australia by MacKillop Family Services, drawing on the practice model implemented in our MacKillop Education schools. MacKillop Education provides a safe and supportive school environment that caters for young people who are disengaged in education.