Cranbourne Resident Natalie Adams used Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership programme to create a special day to honor parents. The event was written about in the Berwick Leader.

Mum in Tribute to Everyday heroes.

Parenting can sometimes be a thankless job. But Cranbourne resident Natalie Adams is about to change all that. The 25 year-old, with the help of a small group of passionate mums and dads, is in the throes of organising a national thank you day to honour parents.

“The day has been designed to let parents know they are undertaking a valued and respected job,” Ms. Adams said. “Unlike paid professions, parents and careers in the home rarely get acknowledged. Ms. Adams said she came up the idea as part of a Landmark Education leadership program. “It’s something I feel passionate about, having been a young mum myself I know how difficult a job it is.” Ms. Adams said she urged parents to come along and enjoy the fun.

To see pictures and a report of the event, go to http://www.celebratingparents.com.au

Leanne Laing of Albany Creek is using the Self-Expression and Leadership Programme to take on obesity in her local schools. Her project was recently covered by the the North-West News, the leading newspaper for the suburbs northwest of Brisbane. The story is ran below:

THREE northwest schools are tackling the growing child obesity rate with a health-a-thon. For the first time Albany Creek’s All Saints Primary, Everton Hills’ Prince of Peace Lutheran and Hillbrook Anglican High School are taking part in a program called Building Champion Youth 2008. In 21 days, up to 1200 children will eat fruit and vegies, exercise daily and drink lots of water. Program co-ordinator Leanne Laing, of Albany Creek, said based on the theory it took 21 to 28 days to make or break a habit, she hoped her program would encourage children and families to be healthy. Ms Laing is doing a course through a positive educational organisation Landmark Education, which involves developing a community project.

“Each student has a pamphlet with a chart with the five food groups and they tick off each day what they’ve eaten and how much water they’ve had. There were no problems getting the primary school children involved, but high school kids are a different story.”

She said she hoped to have the program at schools across Australia.

The stepUP Foundation, which offers weekend workshops for teens to inspire and coach them around their futures, has grown from its roots in Australia and New Zealand, and is now offering its first ever programmes in the UK.  The foundation, which was founded in 2002 by businesswoman Ryll Burgin out of her participation in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Programme has seen over 6,000 teens in Australia and New Zealand coached and mentored in the weekend workshops. In addition to expanding to the UK this year, stepUP’s 2009 schedule has them starting new programmes in South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore and Ireland. StepUP will work work with another 6,000 teens this year alone, while 2009 will see 18,000 teens complete the programme.

At the stepUP weekends, the teens listen to inspirational speakers who are highly successful in their fields, be it music, sport, business or some other area. All stepUP speakers have one thing in common–They have overcome extraordinary adversity to be successful. To have the teens take on what they’ve heard, they are divided into groups of 7-10 and given coach/mentors who are successful businesspeople, and they work on applying the programme to their home, their education and their future. For more information, go to http://www.stepupfoundation.com.

Aboriginal Elder Reg Blow, a former NAIDOC Aboriginal of the Year and Self Expression and Leadership Program participant, wanted to create a gesture of reconciliation that could become part of the Melbourne landscape. He had an idea of a creating a walk through parkland to give everyone the sense of connection with the land that is fundamental to the country’s original inhabitants. It wasn’t until Reg’s participation in Landmark Education’s courses that his idea turned began to turn to reality. Reg created within the Darebin parklands “The Spiritual Healing Trail” as gift from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community as a gesture of reconciliation. It aims to promote personal good health through improving our emotional and spiritual well-being and a sense of being connected to the land where we reside, to others and most importantly ourselves.
For more information click here

http://www.darebin.vic.gov.au/Page/page.asp?Page_Id=3302&h=1

Willow Shanks owns the Inspired Life Health Club in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Out of her participation in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Program, Shanks created “Run for Their Lives”, a team treadmill competition wherein four local teams compete to raise money for local charities. The Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper, which had a team in the event, covered the story.

Treading Their Way Towards Goal

By Lorrae Kemp

April 2, 2008

FOUR local teams will take to a treadmill this Sunday for the first ever “Run For Their Lives” Treadmill-athon.

Mitchells Transport, Inspired Life, the Kalgoorlie Miner and the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Police will be participating in the 12-hour event at Inspired Life Kalgoorlie from 6.30am. Inspired Life owner Willow Shanks said the idea came through a course she is studying.

“I’ve been participating in a leadership and personal development program through Landmark Education in Perth, designed to make a real difference in your community and your life,” she said. Ms Shanks said she was amazed at the number of people willing to get involved in the event which will see the money raised given back to selected local organisations. “Everyone has been very generous ,” she said. Ms Shanks said she hopes it will become an annual event.

Landmark Education graduates Sally Radford and Adrian Bertolini have created a program to impact energy conservation and the environment in a novel way–They have taken Standby Saturday 24/7, a program originally designed last year in the UK, to Australia. Standby Saturday 24/7 is designed to raise awareness about standby power waste and reduce energy consumption and emissions.

In Australia, about 11% of all household power used is from standby power–An appliance or device that is on or plugged in but isn’t doing anything. This wastes about a billion dollars and sends about 650 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere from Australians alone. Whether it’s a stereo system or game system that is on but not playing, or a microwave sitting there with the light on but not cooking, or a cell phone charger that’s plugged in but not being used–All these things combine to waste a huge amount of energy.

They are reaching out to businesses and students, including school contests with cash prizes for designing Standby Sam and Sally characters and designing the best Standby Saturday campaign. Winners will be announced on Standby Saturday itself, Saturday June 7th, at the Going Green Expo.

To get involved, go to the website of Standby Saturday.

In 2000, 42% of marriages ended in divorce and currently 92% of non residential parents are fathers. With time, involvement of non residential parents often drops off. Brad Mander created Camp Connect out of his Self Expression and Leadership Program in 2003 and the Camp’s programs are designed to enrich & strengthen the relationship between non-residential fathers and their sons. This is achieved taking fathers & sons on a life impacting journey during the weekend camp. Powerful workshop sessions are carefully developed and sequenced to build communication and intimacy at a deeper level. The role model a father displays for his son(s) is critical in their
development. For more information
http://campconnect.org.au/

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/11/1060588321168.html

The Whitebridge Foundation was created by Grace Demaio a Melbourne designer who participated in the Landmark Education Self-Expression and Leadership Program. The purpose of the foundation is to collect and send excess clothing from major clothing manufacturers to help dress children in Vietnamese orphanages, Cambodian Refugee Camps and Tibetan refugee camps. The clothing, storage and transportation are all donated. She has obtained 15,000 garments so far and the first overseas delivery took place at the start of December. Here is a story about it from Australia’s National Nine News. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FuCAiFl17Q

The Birthright Quilt is a national, community-based initiative to address the unacceptably high infant and maternal mortality of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander mothers and babies.

The Birthright Quilt was initiated by Self Expression and Leadership Program participant Seneka Cohen, mother of two and registered midwife, who says that:”Maternity care is frequently insensitive to Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander women’s needs and according to the AIHW, for every non-Indigenous mother and baby that dies, there are at least 5 Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander women and 3 Aboriginal &Torres Strait Islander babies that die.” I started The Birthright Quilt to provide an opportunity for all Australians to express their feelings about the lack of culturally appropriate maternity care available to Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander women by decorating a quiltsquare that will be sewn together to form a series of unique quilted art pieces.

For more information go to http://www.birthquilt.org/

See a News report on the project http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ6Mzs7CVHg

Having people take on changing the world is hard, having them take on changing a lightbulb, not so much. But change enough lightbulbs and you can change the world:
http://www.changeamillionlightbulbs.com/