Life Education Australia (Life Ed) is the largest and most recognised health education provider in Australian schools. Life Ed reaches on average 700,000 children annually where qualified educators present evidence-based preventative health and wellbeing education, along with Healthy Harold, the giraffe puppet and mascot who is the face of the organisation.
Life Education Australia began in 1979, in The Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross by Reverend Ted Noffs, who used his experience with religion to focus on an action-based approach as opposed to preaching. In 2016, the program began to teach topics of illicit drug use like methamphetamine, in response to rising narcotics usage rates in Australia. In 2017, the Australian government announced plans to defund the program, but this was not implemented after public backlash. The in-person program was temporary halted and moved online due to restrictions placed by the Australian government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but resumed on October 13, 2020.
References
- "Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission - Life Education Australia". www.acnc.gov.au/.
- "What ever happened to Happy Harold? An investigation". www.mamamia.com.au/. February 11, 2019.
- "Life Education and Healthy Harold | The Saturday Paper". 2021-05-06. Archived from the original on 2021-05-06. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - Cook, Henrietta (2016-08-24). "Healthy Harold the giraffe makes strides to teach dangers of ice". The Age. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
- Street, Andrew P. (2017-05-31). "Healthy Harold, the adorable funding-saving mascot!". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
- "Aussie social media left distraught after news of Healthy Harold's defunding". Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
- "Healthy Harold returns to local schools". The Young Witness. 2020-06-18. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
- Gregory, Helen (2020-05-17). "Healthy Harold moves message online". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 2022-02-07.