Mother of Shooting Stars participant, Chloe, has attributed Shooting Stars and its Seven Sisters program to her daughter's growth in the development of her emotional regulation skills.
Chloe joined the Shooting Stars program based in Carnarvon in 2020 as a quiet and shy young girl. Twelve months on, after engaging in Shooting Stars’ Seven Sisters program, her mother Kathy Fletcher is amazed at the transformation.
“She’s gone from a very quiet, shy follower to a confident, proud leader,” said Fletcher.
“She has learnt to deal with her emotions and how to help others with their own.”
Shooting Stars rolled out its Junior Seven Sisters program in all of its sites, including Carnarvon in 2021 where over the course of 10 weeks, participants learnt to recognise and name their emotions, develop strategies for cheering themselves up or calming down and learnt how to build healthy relationships.
“I have no doubt that the team from Shooting Stars and the Seven Sisters program have played an enormous part in bringing my daughter full circle to the amazing girl she is today,” said Fletcher.
Developed in line with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives of social and emotional health, the Seven Sisters program applies a holistic model of connection to seven different spheres of life: culture, land, physical self, mental self, community, family/kinship and ancestors/spirituality. Characters were designed to reflect these spheres to allow participants to affiliate and connect with at least one character.
The program finishes with a community netball match event, open to families and the wider community to support the participants.
The event is also an opportunity for local Aboriginal health service providers to engage with participants and build connections to break down barriers for our participants, so they feel comfortable accessing health services in their community.
