St Catherine’s Years 7 and 8 students had the opportunity at the end of Term 1 to attend a presentation delivered by Brainstorm Productions, The Hurting Game.

This live theatre experience explored the skills needed to cope with life’s challenges and build meaningful connections.

The Hurting Game is part of our student wellbeing curriculum and has been developed by education and mental health professionals. Using humour, relatable characters and real student experiences, this opportunity provided a forum to spark conversations about friendships, online behaviour, resilience and mental health. The prevalence of challenges in these areas has only been highlighted in a post lockdown world.

The performance highlighted the games students play to give them a false sense of power and belonging, which can lead to anxiety, loneliness and disconnection. It challenged students to think about how they treat themselves and others, both online and offline, and provided strategies for breaking unhealthy behaviour patterns. Issues such as bullying, cyberbullying, mental health and body image were unpacked in the post-performance Q&A and wellbeing sessions.

The rich conversations which were generated after the performance among students were a terrific way to ignite further learning and exploration in this area as we move into Term 2.