The Helmsman Project Information

The Helmsman Project is a not-for-profit organisation that runs an adventure-based coaching program designed to help equip young people with the breadth of perspective, goal setting skills, self-belief, resilience, teamworking skills, and sense of personal accountability required to navigate through life's challenges and achieve their full potential. The year-long program starts with a 12-week personal and team coaching process that integrates two intense adventure education blocks to complement the students’ learning processes. Sailing and land-based activities are used as the adventure education medium. Following the first 12 weeks, participants are supported to develop and implement a community project, learning work readiness skills such as project management, presentation skills, teamwork and time management, in addition to pursuing the development of the ‘soft’ skills learnt during the initial 12 weeks. Prospective participants are chosen from year 9 cohorts of participating schools located in lower socio-economic suburbs in collaboration with their teachers and parents. The program has been developed with the support of the University of Western Sydney, The University of Sydney and the University of Wollongong. Accompanying the implementation is also a comprehensive scientific research project, overseen by the University of Sydney, designed to evaluate the long-term impact of the program.