What is Rainbows ?

Rainbows serves as an advocate to promote the prevention or the control of behaviour that is harmful to children. It does this through programs that provide a safe place for children in crisis, enabling them to express their feelings in relation to grief and loss.

Rainbows offer the following age directed program: 

• Sunbeams - kindergarten, pre-primary and Year one.
• Rainbows - primary Years 2 - 7.
• Spectrum - secondary Years 8 - 12.
• Kaleidoscope - young adult edition.
• Prism - single parent and step parent edition.
• Silver Linings - crisis response program.   Silver Linings works differently to that described below. Please see Silver Linings page for more details.

How does it work ?

Rainbows groups consist of a trained facilitator and 3-5 participants.  These participants are grouped according to age and often types of loss.

The program is most commonly implemented in schools, although it is also conducted in churches, youth groups and community agencies.  Site groups meet weekly for twelve weeks, for up to forty minutes for Primary School students and up to one hour for Secondary School students.

On completion of the twelve sessions, all the groups in the site come together for a Celebrate Me session.  This is a special celebration designed to bring closure to the participants and to celebrate their own uniqueness and that of their family unit.  

Sessions are usually conducted during school hours but may also be conducted after school.