Jocelyne Chirnside
Helping Australian children reduce conflict and increase resilience
As a leading researcher and consultant on interpersonal conflict, Jocelyne Chirnside draws on her experience as a teacher and parent to mentor young children to successfully navigate the social and emotional challenges in life.
With 30 years of teaching experience, including 18 years in Social and Emotional learning across 80 different schools, Jocelyne has been implementing crucial education programs on resilience through frequent collaboration with teachers and parents across the country.
Conflict is often unpleasant and, when poorly resolved, can lead to negative consequences like bullying or mental health issues. Despite this, managing conflict is rarely taught well in schools, leaving many children unable to handle conflict well and succeed later on in life.
Jocelyne hopes to address this gap in education by implementing her four-step CARE method that has been transforming school communities into thriving, respectful and resilient environments.
She has founded a range of education programs, including ‘EMPOWERING Life Skills’ and the 'BRIDGE BUILDERS' program, in order to develop diagnostic and strategic frameworks for schools to reduce disruptive behaviours and increase social and emotional wellbeing. Her highly-successful programs have been implemented across the country, where she has transformed schools into harmonious environments with improved academic results and happier families.
With a focus on practical strategies, as well as qualitative and quantitative data to support her practice, Jocelyne has been able to provide an educative and proactive approach to navigating day-to-day conflict. She has also been instrumental in helping schools with their strategic behavioural, anti-bullying and leadership policies.
Jocelyne has written the book “Empowered for Life: Strategies to equip children to deal with everyday conflict and bullying”, which has since become a valuable resource for parents, guardians and education leaders.
As a speaker, Jocelyne is passionate about highlighting the difference between conflict and bullying, as well as the practical skills to resolve conflict at school. In doing so, she hopes to empower children to be more resilient in their personal lives.