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Dr Helen Street

Dr Helen Street is an internationally recognised educational consultant and presenter, with a background in applied social psychologist and more than 25 years’ experience supporting schools around the world. She is the co-founder of Positive Schools and the founder of Contextual Wellbeing, and is widely regarded as a pioneer in promoting long-term learning engagement and authentic wellbeing through grounded, systemic development.

Helen has worked with schools across four continents, including in every Australian state and territory, building strong partnerships that translate research into meaningful, real-world practice. Her work focuses on creating inclusive, equitable learning environments where both students and staff can thrive. She offers a range of support, from keynote presentations and workshops on stress, motivation and wellbeing; to sustained consultancy and whole-school development initiatives.

An accomplished author, Helen has published multiple influential books on wellbeing and education. Her first book, Standing Without Shoes (2003), featured a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Her fourth book, Contextual Wellbeing (2018), became an international best-seller in education, and her sixth book, The Positive Schools Big Wellbeing Handbook (2024), provides a practical guide for building contextual wellbeing and learning engagement in classrooms and across entire school communities. She is also an Honorary Fellow at The University of Western Australia.

In 2026, Helen continues to support schools through presentations, ongoing consultancy, and long-term development partnerships, while leading the Positive Schools conferences for educators across Australia.

 

Keynote Presentation  - Thursday, 8 October (1440-1540)

 

Building positive schools from the inside out: Shifting our Focus from Wellbeing Support to Wellbeing Development 

 Whether small or large; mainstream or alternative; urban, regional or rural; independent schools Australia-wide care about the wellbeing of their students and invest heavily in wellbeing support. Yet, there is growing confusion, disparate views and increasing despondency about how best to actively build wellbeing in our independent schools. Research is telling us loudly and clearly that despite rich content and well-intentioned delivery, we can’t teach others to be well in a wellbeing class or morning mentor session. Rather, we need to build opportunity for wellbeing within the real-world contexts of daily school life. In this, we need to shift our focus from explicit wellbeing teaching and learning, to implicit systemic wellbeing development.

In this keynote address, Dr Helen Street presents ‘contextual wellbeing’ as a real-world, systemic approach to school wellbeing development; and a means of making sense of mental health in our schools. Contextual wellbeing is grounded in a shared understanding of the drivers of wellbeing but built on the knowledge that every school context is unique.

We need to know ourselves to grow ourselves. When we grow our school contexts well, our school communities thrive.

Workshop Presentation  - Thursday, 8 October (1030-1130)

 

Leaning into Staff/Student Relationships: Shifting our Focus from Care and Compassion to Voice and Vision.

Relationships between staff and students are generally viewed by both staff and students as the biggest driver of wellbeing in schools; but also, as the biggest driver of stress. Relationships matter, but the direction of their impact is highly varied. When healthy, school-based relationships support stakeholder agency, competency and confidence. When unhealthy, they can be emotionally exhausting, stressful and demotivating.

This workshop offers participants an opportunity to explore the elements of healthy and sustainable relationships. Healthy relationships contribute to greater connection, motivation and engagement in all school stakeholders. They provide the glue for school belonging and cohesion, and the foundation for whole-school contextual wellbeing.