This article has been developed to help parents and carers support their child at home while they participate in the Best Version of Me module as part of the Peer Support program.
Best Version of Me is a module about values, integrity, and inclusion: supporting young people to explore what matters to them and how this shows up in their everyday choices.
Each week, small groups of Year 7 students, led by Year 10 Peer Leaders, get together to explore these concepts through fun and engaging activities. The Peer Leaders have been trained in their roles and have a guide to follow for the sessions. They’re supervised by a teacher. It’s a meaningful opportunity for those students to step into leadership and support their Year 7 peers through one of the more significant transitions of adolescence.
Over eight sessions, Best Version of Me gives students the chance to develop self-awareness, practise empathy and communication, and build an understanding of what integrity really means.
Here’s how you can support that at home.
1. Talk about values together
Values are the beliefs that guide how we treat people and make decisions. Most of us hold them without ever naming them. Best Version of Me asks students to consider and name their values. You can extend this conversation at home by sharing your own: what matters most to you, and why? Where did those values come from? Have they changed over time? You might also invite your teen to explore the same questions at home, without pressure or judgment.
2. Connect behaviour to identity
Integrity means aligning your beliefs with your actions. This is harder than it sounds, especially as a teenager, when peer pressure is at its peak and the desire to fit in can sometimes shape decision-making. When your teen makes a decision you want to explore, try connecting it back to identity rather than just behaviour. Instead of “why did you do that?” try “does that represent the kind of person you want to be?” This invites reflection rather than defensiveness.
3. Model integrity in the everyday moments
Your teenager is watching how you navigate everyday situations that involve fairness, honesty, or care for others – such as how we respond when someone is in need, or being given too much change at the greengrocer. These moments are often more influential than conversations alone. If Best Version of Me is encouraging your teen to align their actions with their values, they are more likely to take this seriously when they see the adults around them doing the same. You might choose to talk together about why you responded in a certain way in a situation like this, and whether it felt aligned with your values.
4. Practise empathy at the dinner table
Empathy is a skill, and like any skill it improves with practice. One of the simplest ways to build it at home is to make perspective-taking a normal part of conversation. You can use conversations about a conflict at school or something in the news to ask: “how do you think that felt for the other person?” or “what do you think was going on for them?” You’re not looking for a right answer. You’re building the habit of pausing to consider someone else’s experience before forming a conclusion.
5. Talk about inclusion and exclusion
Best Version of Me explores what it means to genuinely include people, not just be polite or surface-level inclusion. At this age, friendships and group dynamics are forming quickly, and young people are often navigating where they belong. Talk with your teen about what inclusion looks like in practice. For example, who might be finding it harder to find their place in a group, or who might benefit from someone reaching out. These conversations can help young people build awareness of others’ experiences and feel more confident in choosing kind and inclusive actions. Your teen is more likely to act with kindness if they’ve already thought through what that looks like.
6. Help them find their positive influence
The module asks students to think about how they can positively influence the people around them through their words, actions, and choices. For a Year 7 student, that’s a big idea, but also an empowering one. Talk with your teen about people they admire who are making a difference, big or small, and ask them where they think they could do the same. Notice and name it when you see them already doing it: standing up for someone, including a person who was left out, choosing honesty when it was easier not to. Young people who are told they’re capable of positive influence are far more likely to believe it and act on it.
7. Make space for who they’re becoming
Starting high school often means your child is quietly renegotiating their sense of self. They may be testing new identities, dropping old ones, figuring out where they fit. Best Version of Me helps them develop constructive ways of identifying who they are. At home, the most valuable thing you can do is stay curious rather than directive. Ask open questions. Listen more than you advise. Let them know that who they are right now doesn’t have to be fixed, and that growing and changing your mind are can be signs of strength, not weakness. The best version of themselves is something they’re still figuring out. And maybe, we adults are too.
