It’s okay, take your time
A suite of learning materials that build anxiety literacy in schools and their learning communities.
Client: NSW Department of Education
Agency: Portable
Sector: Education
Duration: 7 months
What I did: desktop and field research • engagement and activity design • in-school engagements with teachers , support staff, parents and children • content direction and oversight
Problem
People the world over are experiencing more anxiety, more often.
Anxiety increased in primary school students, teachers, and caregivers after COVID.
This led to the launch of the Anxiety Prevention Program by the Department, which set out to build anxiety literacy to help children, educators, and caregivers manage anxiety and build resilience.
Approach
Trauma informed and human-centred
Our top priority was the safety of all participants, and we implemented universal design principles in all our activities and outputs. We aimed to create safe and respectful environments where diverse voices could be heard without fear of harm.
Our approach to universal design focused on simplicity and accessibility, ensuring that people with different developmental levels could easily engage with the content we created.
Research and discovery
We centered our initial engagements around clinically informed play-based activities and open-ended discussions. These activities helped us understand audiences' current anxiety literacy levels and what resonated best.
Experimentation and prototyping
We combined the findings of our initial experiments with identified clinical frameworks to drive the initial design and content prototypes for the various audiences. The initial prototypes focused on three approaches to building anxiety literacy.
Testing, feedback and iterations
We took the three prototype approaches back into schools for testing and iteration directly with students, educators, and caregivers. We established key testing criteria and encouraged stakeholders to provide ‘frank and fearless’ feedback to the team.
Refinements and delivery
Dedicated design sprints between engagements allowed the team to develop and test the content and designs with members of the project’s Advisory Group. The materials quickly emerged into a comprehensive suite suitable to the needs of the audiences we engaged.
Deliverables
A comprehensive suite of engaging and flexible and learning materials
Booklets and worksheets for each individual student to use and interact with alone or alongside a supportive adult.
Simplified information conveyed on posters as reminders of important concepts within the materials.
Guidance on the concepts and theories behind the materials to empower supportive adults when guiding children.
Flexible and adaptable assets that educators are free to use for their own purposes when expanding upon the program contents.
Impact
A year on the Department has extended the program to school right across the state.
It’s commissioned a series of 60-second videos to build awareness and help promote it.
The suite of materials are now being used by teachers, support staff, parents and students across NSW to foster anxiety literacy in schools and their communities.
Awarded Gold at the 2024 BETTER FUTURE GOV DESIGN AWARDS
This award celebrates creative and innovative design in the traditional or digital visual representation of ideas and messages. Consideration given to clarity of communication and the matching of information style to audience register.