Minty’s story: When talking about it eases anxiety

The unique program aims to foster understanding around identity, puberty, navigating relationships, body image, body safety, protective behaviours and body changes among young people.

For Minty, this was a turning point.

“There were two things that I noticed have really helped Minty – one was accepting her body; and the other thing was managing stress,” Minty’s mum, Mary explains.

“There are a lot of changes going on, so she would get angry and stressed at times, but those techniques really helped her. Now when she is stressed, she will take time out and listen to her favourite music, think about what happened and reflect on her responses and her reactions.

“It’s nice how she’s implemented the calming techniques for herself, but she’s also been explaining this to her younger brother and others as well, regarding how to manage emotions. I’m really proud of her.”

Building a strong identity

Mary says discussions about personal identity were also extremely relevant and helpful.

“We are from Pakistan, so acknowledging and talking about different cultures and being accepting of different cultures is so important. Each culture is just a different identity,” Mary continued.

Compared to how she felt before the Talk About It program came to her school, Minty says she is now a lot more confident, self-aware and educated.

Supporting parents

Mary says the Talk About It session provided answers and reassurance, and reinforced her own positive influence as a parent as well.

“Although honestly, I had talked about all these things with Minty before, when the information comes from Educators themselves, it really gave a stamp on my words,” Mary said.

“There’s a lot that parents are also doing, but sessions like this really do help kids develop their personalities in a positive way.”

Last year, the Talk About It program reached more than 46,000 students across Queensland with vital information on puberty, relationships and identity.