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Victorian School Tour | Youth Speakers For Schools | Luke S. Kennedy

Achieve.

Now that was a successful tour of Victoria! I've had guest speakers tours in Victoria before, and every time they're really something special, and I've got some beautiful memories from them.

 

This one was right up there! It's interesting that when I'm putting the word out for my motivational speakers for schools tours, a lot of the enquiries come from primary schools. I love that I can be a speaker for primary schools and make a lasting impact on the fresh young minds. Admittedly when I started speaking, I thought my content may be a bit too harsh for the young ones. I mean my story is pretty heavy, but I PG my stories and content for the primary school students while still going deep and hitting home with some mindful topics that really open their minds to bettering themselves and their thoughts.

 

Before I go any further regarding the tour, so you can see the impact made and angles of my talk, this is a letter I received after being guest motivational speaker at Warrnambool East Primary school.

This left me with goosebumps and tears in my eyes.


"Today the yr 5's & 6's experienced a life-changing speech that will improve how we will treat others and ourselves. We found it very inspirational and we now feel like we can be whoever we aspire to be if we put our minds to it. Luke told us to be grateful for our life and make the most of it. This was a really good way to look brightly into our future. Luke had told us about his childhood of being negative and a bully towards himself. He also gave us tips to make our future positive, peaceful, and live our life to the fullest.

We learnt about meditation, reading books as well as how technology can impact our mental health"
 

WOW!!!

 

It's obvious that these students are deep, insightful, and open to learming about improving their lives and mindset. I feel we don't give our youngest ones enough credit for their openmindeness and ability to be insightful.  

 

Anyways.. back to the tour...

 

 

I had 10 mental health speakers talks booked in for the trip;

  • 6 primary student talks.

  • 1 guest speaker for high school

  • 1 teacher stress workshop

  • 2 parent mental health evenings.

 

 

So I was in Sydney for a few days (I now live in Brisbane) speaking at schools there, before I flew down to Melbourne on the Sunday.

 

 

I had 4 days booked in, as the Monday was a public holiday (I didn't know this when booking the tour week (Sums me up hahha). When on a youth speakers tour, I try to get a full 5 days in, however with the Monday being the public holiday, it gave me some more chill time (which I love).

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I've gotten right into my yoga lately, and spent the Monday at nice locations, and doing yoga. How good is life!

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I found the best vegan spot EVER!! Stumbling across cafes and bookstores is something I love doing when in a new city, and this spot I luckily found was called The Vegan Shack. Service, food, coffee, location, and most important the energy of the place, was out of this universe. Check out their insta!

I had my base for the tour at an airbnb in Richmond. With schools scheduled all across Victoria, it would have been less driving if I stayed overnight at each specific spot I was speaking, but I actually like driving, and prefer to set up for the week at one spot instead of packing and unpacking a few times.

 

 

The Tuesday morning I had a 3 hour drive North of Melbourne to a spot called Cobram. Waking at 5, I left home at 5:30, to ensure i was there for my talk starting at 9:30 (I like to be half hour early).

 

The drive was mostly through the dark morning, and I spent the time listening to podcasts (You can listen to mine here), and then in silence as I like to get deep in thoughts, or lack there of.

 

 

The sun coming up over the beautiful landscape of country Victoria brought a smile to my face and a sense of gratitude for the life I'm so happily living.

 

 

Arriving at the school, I was met with the organiser who I'd been in email correspondence with for a couple of months. Leading up to a mental health motivational speakers for schools talk, I have already built up a strong relationship with the organiser who is generally a teacher or principal. I don't just arrive at the school without any idea of the students, we talk about any incidents that may have been occurring or topics they'd like me to mostly focus on.

Talking openly about their students and demographic, it connects us together as we're both wanting to help the students. I'm always blown away with how much the teachers and principals are invested emotionally in their students. They genuinely care so much.

 

 

My talk was due to start as the abundance of energy entered the room. Yrs 3 - 6 all piled in and sat on the floor in front of me. I smile as I meet some of their eyes and they give me a welcoming smile and wave.

Getting into my talk, the students sit there wide eyed, and occasionally put their hands up to try answer a rhetorical question hahaha. I love the innocence.

 

After my talk, there was some deep insightful questions which had to be cut off after half an hour. Hearing the questions, I look at the teachers who are always very impressed with the deepness of the questions, and evidence that they were all listening intently.

 

The students, after the questions, like to come up and give me a high five or fist pump and then get photos.

After the talk, I like to check out the schools facebook page. I like to see the comments from the parents. This is a nice one I found after checking out Cobram Primary's FB page

The drive back after a talk is beautiful. I like to reflect on the talk, the questions, the kind and caring people I just met, and give thanks to my situation. Life is cool.

 

Returning home, I had a quick snooze which is needed for me after a talk. I put so much energy into them, and I feel completely depleted.

After the snooze, I hit The Vegan Shack again, then the gym.

 

I wanted to get to bed early, as I had a full day and evening as mental health youth speakers for schools on the Wednesday at Athol Rd Primary school;

 

  • 2 student talks (yrs 3&4, yre 5&6)

  • 1 teacher stress workshop

  • 1 parent mental health evening

 

 

Wednesday morning I hit The Vegan Shack (again) for breakfast. 

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I enjoy my coffee, but I don't have one when I'm speaking at primary schools. I like to have a relaxed and clear mind with the young ones. I feel I get a better connection that way. Young peeps pick up on energies, and respecting this, I stay clear minded to get that strong connection.

 

If I'm a bit tense or jittery, they feel that, and guess what will happen?

 

When I'm calm, and on their frequency, guess what happens? x

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Arriving at Athol Rd, I was pumped for a big day ahead. It's a very multicultural school, and growing up in Hurstville, these are my style of peeps.

 

I had yrs 3 and 4 first up, and seeing their tiny bodies rocking into the room, it was almost time to start.

Another impactful talk went by, then all the questions spilled out of their young minds. I get questions from "how did you stop hanging around certain friend that weren't nice" to "do you have any brothers or sisters" hahaha.

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Yrs 5 & 6 were next up, and it went great as well. Afterwards the teachers commented on how surprised they were of the students ability to sit so long fully engaged. I enjoy hearing this.

I then had my teacher stress workshop which is a session I get excited for.


The Reducing Stress & Anxiety Workshop covers;


Through story-telling, lived experience, and humour, Luke delivers his extremely popular Reducing Stress & Anxiety Workshop. Simply put, what’s Included in the workshop:

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  • Causes of stress & anxiety

  • The impact stress & anxiety has on our personal and professional lives

  • Take home easy to follow steps on how to reduce stress and anxiety

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"The Best one we've Had!" - Teacher

After the reducing stress and anxiety workshop for teachers, I went for some dinner before my parent mental health evening. Below is the letter that goes out to the parents (changes slightly for high schools)…


Motivational speaker & mental health advocate, Luke S. Kennedy, will be presenting to our 3-6 students on Wednesday 28th November.

He's one of the most sought after guest speakers in the country, and reports from all schools state that he leaves a huge impact on students and the school community.

Topics covered in his student talk;

  • Bullying (self-bullying/Negative self talk)

  • Mental Health - Self-Care

  • Resilience

  • How to be yourself and stop worrying what other people think


As well as this, Luke will be holding a session for teachers, and then for the parents of our school on the evening of the 28th. This talk is for parents only, as Luke will be going deep into his story (he PG's his content for students during the day), and mental health advice.


"The best speaker we've seen!" - Optus.


Luke's presentation isn't your typical Bad Guy Gone Good. Through 'on the edge of your seat' stories, Luke inspires deep, lasting change, and self-awareness, for a wide range of audiences, from large corporations, events, to primary schools, high schools, and even prisons.


You will leave inspired, and with mental health strategies you can use for yourself and children. Luke shows how being labelled early on in life, turned him from being a normal happy kid with a good upbringing, but resulted in him becoming an obese thug, addicted to drugs and alcohol, stabbed twice (again, he PG's his content for students), and severely depressed and anxious. He then demonstrates how he turned it all around again to become extremely happy and successful.


You will leave with simple yet extremely effective take-home strategies to improve your connection with your kids, and also improve your own mental health.

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I really enjoy this session, I get extremely deep with the parents, and at every session I get a few of them that cry. Expressing emotion is what it’s all about!
This parent mental health evening was no different!
A heap stayed around after the talk to chat and share their insight and stories. When the parents first hear of a youth motivational speaker for schools is coming to speak to them, thet parent arrive hoping to get some info on helping their kids mental health and successes in life.. and although I still do this, my main focus for the talk is working on the parents - their mental health, self-awareness, and fulfilling their dream and hobbies that they may have left in the past or lost touch with due to family life. The reason I do this is, is because I obviously want to save the world hahaha (but seriously do)... and I think to do this, we need to cover every area and lead from the front. What I mean by that is, is if these parents aren't leading by example and watching their negative self talk and looking after their own mental health, th ern how do they expect their kids to do the same. I speak to parents all the time and unfortunately a lot of them have lost themselves in the role of being a parent. It's honorable and expected for parents to put all their focus in their kids, but if they're not looking after number 1 as well, then it's a tough road ahead for everyone.

The youth speakers talk for parents has been getting life changing feedback, and I love to hear of the ongoing successes from parents and their families. I get reports (shitty word) all the time from parents who have told me of the increased connection they have with their families after I spoke to their kids and then themselves. On their way to changing the world :)

Getting home late after the parent evening and a full day at a school, I'm totally spent!!! Every bit of energy is drained, and although I would've like to have jumped straight in bed, I had to organise my clothes and food for a 3 and a bit hour drive the next morning.

Being a vegan, I have to prepare a lot of my food, otherwise I can he left without, and a full day of speaking without food, is absolutely tragic for me.

 

I got to sleep at about 11 and had to get up at 3:50 (I know... I'm a bit weird). Waking up a bit tired, my shower sorted me straight out.

 

 

Going on that long drive, my destination for this primary school speakers event, was Warrnambool East Primary school. I had never heard of the place, but after speaking with people during the week about where I was heading, I was told it was a beautiful spot... and they weren't wrong!!

I arrived and was greeted by a beautiful energy, and knew I was in for a great day. I was speaking with yrs 3-6 split over 3 sessions. I walked into where I was speaking which was the basketball courts, and I luckily got to shoot some hoops with some of the students before my talks. It's been a while between hoops, and my short stint back saw a couple of swooshes mixed with hopeless air balls and laughs from some of the students. After two back to back session  I asked a teacher where a good spot was for lunch. He told me of a vegan cafe!It was called Day Kitty. It was perfect!!! I loved the food and service there. Clean, fresh, filling, and energising the remainder of my afternoon, then parent evening.

Check out their Insta

Last session went perfect and afterwards that lift of energy I had, turned into a desire for a snooze. I went for a drive, found a quiet car park, and passed out for an hour. Perfection!!

Parent evenings can be interesting, attendance wise. They don't know who I am or what I'm about. During the day, I speak to the students to tell them to make sure they get their parents to come.

My talk was at 6pm, and at 5:50, there was one lady. I could pick up a little tenseness in the teacher who was organising the event, but all of a sudden, it was game time. Soon the rooms chair were all filled and they had to get more seats!!! Yes!
As more were arriving, the parents were telling an how excited their kids were when they got home. Their kids were giving them an insight into my talk, and also the main points they got out of it. Having our kids open up about their experiences and thoughts,n is what's going to help them ongoing with their confidence and wellness.

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The organiser stood up to introduce me, but  instead of doing so, she said she wanted to read the letter that the students wrote from the day (same message I put at the start of this blog). It gave me goosebumps and all the parents had huge smiles across their faces. I had them in the palm of my hand, and I hadn't even started yet :)

The next 90 minutes was met with tears, head nods, shakes of the head, and finally a beautiful open chat.

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I Loved Warrnambool!

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Driving home I noticed a sign that had a location (Colac) I was familiar with. I realised I was dri
ving past the location I was speaking at the next day... 2 hours away from where I was staying. My organisational skills aren't the best, so it meant I'd have to make the same 2 hour drive back in the morning.
The next morning, waking early again, I hit the Vegan Shack again for brekky and coffee. I was speaking with a group of teenagers that had been disengaged from mainstream schooling. These are the peeps I get a bit heavy with my stories, language, and energy.... so a coffee was all good.

Getting to Colac, I couldn't wait to rip into my final session of the youth speakers for schools, Victorian tour.

Getting to Colac, I couldn't wait to rip into my final session of the youth speakers for schools, Victorian tour.

 

I hit home big time with these guys!!!! Teachers and organisers told me how amazed they were with how focused the student were. Afterwards they asked some huge questions, and then fronted me with some one on one time. I get messages after each talk, and this group sent some beautiful insight, and some heart wrenching stories of their own battles. 

 

I want nothing more for the successes of these young peeps, and I hope my talk, and ongoing support, is a stepping stone towards their greatness.

 

Final talk done, there was no time for celebrating... I had to get up at 3:50 again (I know...) then next morning to get a flight to Sydney for another full week tour of NSW.

 

Let's do this!!

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Mental health and motivational speakers for schools, Luke S. Kennedy, is one of Australia's most recognised speakers for primary schools, high schools, behavioural schools, events, corporations, and even prisons.

He also holds his hugely requested reducing stress and anxiety workshop for teacher and students.

Do you have a group of kids that need a push in the right direction? Let Luke inspire your kids.

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