Dr Hayley Watson

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United States
Los Angeles, CA
Dr Hayley Watson

Psychologist, Entrepreneur & Author. I create School Mental Health Programs and Resources for Educators.

See the link below for my new book to help teachers support student mental health!

12/23/2025

Dear Aussie parents & caregivers,

Like many adults, children and young people across Australia may be hearing about the recent tragic events in Bondi through the media, conversations at school, or online. Events like this can be confusing, frightening, and difficult for them to make sense of on their own.

To support families during this time, we’ve created a short, FREE resource to help parents and caregivers:

• Talk with children and young people about what has happened in a developmentally appropriate way

• Support their child’s emotional wellbeing following distressing news

• Recognise signs that a child may need extra support, and know what steps to take next

The module is designed to be gentle, practical, and easy to engage with. It’s broken into bite-sized sections so you can access the parts that feel most relevant for your family, when you need them.

This resource is freely available to anyone in Australia, and we encourage you to share it with other parents or caregivers who may find it helpful!

You can access the resource here:

Raisingresilientkids.com.au

Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragedy. We hope this resource provides some support as families navigate these conversations together!!

❤️❤️❤️

03/25/2024

My book has arrived!!!! 😍 (And as you can see, my baby nearly has, too 😆) I'm SO incredibly grateful to everyone who helped make this book a reality. Like all things in life, nothing ever comes to fruition without a great deal of support. To my team/family at Open Parachute, all of the incredible educators who reviewed and gave feedback, and, of course, all of the wise, courageous young people who shared their stories of overcoming mental health struggles to help others... From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!!!! ❤️ Together, we CAN make a brighter future for our youth, and I'm hoping that this book brings us one step closer in that journey 😍

If you haven't received your copy yet, you can find more information and place an order here:

https://openparachuteschools.com/finding-the-words/

Thank you, everyone, for spreading the word 🤗 🙏

03/22/2024

The book is trending at #1 in Crisis Management!!! 😍 Soooo excited!!!! Thank you SO much to everyone who has ordered copies and left reviews!!!!! 😄 I'm so grateful and THRILLED that the book is having a positive impact ❤️ The wisdom that the young people share in these pages and the way they lead us all to understand how they need to be supported as they face the myriad of challenges that previous generations haven't had to face... this is wisdom that needs to get out there!!! So much gratitude for being trusted to deliver this message to the world 🙏 😍

If you haven't ordered your copy yet, you can do that here :)

https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Words-Empowering-Struggling-Conversations/dp/1394187149

Thank you, everyone, for your support!! ❤️

03/16/2024

Here it is!! I’m SO excited that this book came together 😍 In some senses I feel like I’ve been writing it since my journey with Open Parachute began… As some of you know, I actually started this whole wild ride wanting to write a book for teenagers. And was promptly told by many a teenager “umm… dumb idea. Make us videos on a YouTube channel instead” 🤣 And through many twists and turns, the concept of ‘videos for teens’ ended up becoming a mental health program for schools. One that took Tom and back and forth I across three countries over four years (including many a border crossing/two week isolation during covid 😆) to film kids and teens sharing their stories of overcoming hardship, so these stories could give students all over the world a pathway to hope ❤️ The profound honour of witnessing and sharing these stories of struggle, vulnerability, honesty, courage, and strength, is an experience I will be forever grateful for 🥰 I also feel a great responsibility to take the wisdom that has been shared with me by these incredible young people and bring it to the widest platform possible, so that these youth voices can lead the way to a brighter future for all of us ❤️ Which brings me to this book 😁 It is a resource for educators (or anyone working with, living with, or supporting young people). It is designed to provide guidance for how to have conversations with youth when they are struggling with various challenges that impact their mental health, so that we are all more able to find the right words when the youth in our life truly need us ❤️ And what excites me most about this book is that in every chapter, there is a dialogue with one of the kids/teens we interviewed, so their language, their perspectives, and their needs can shine through and help us all better understand exactly what youth need when they are struggling. Young people really are our teachers, and I’m beyond excited that I can provide a way for these incredible teachers to be seen, heard, and respected for the courageous leaders that they are 🥰🥰🥰

You can preorder a copy here:

https://openparachuteschools.com/finding-the-words/

Or pass it on to anyone in your life you think might benefit. Release date will be sometime this month 😁😁

01/01/2024

Well I think it’s safe to say that I’ve been shocking at posting in 2023 😆 Mainly I’ve just been working. A lot. It’s insane how much effort it takes to build something that actually works (!!!) Especially in the field of mental health. And ESPECIALLY especially when you’re implementing it into a giant beast of a system like education 🫣 It also doesn’t help that we’re doing it in three countries at once 🙈🤣 Lots of stress, frustration, and late nights…. And of course also incredible excitement, fulfilment, and satisfaction to see it all come to life 🥰 Anyhoo, life purpose aside, I’ve managed to do a few fun things here and there this year 😇 Had an epic time in Greece (mainly because of the scooters!!! 😍) Israel was an eye-opening experience (right before the chaos). You could feel the intensity, like a palpable pressure. I can’t even imagine how it feels now… 😣 Skiing for the first time in 15 years was pure delight, and slightly unexpected that I actually remember how to do it 😆 My 40th bday was insanely fun, and a good insight into my tragically simple mind (all I really need is a few close friends and a DJ willing to play 80’s music ALL NIGHT… not much has changed since high school 🤣) Awesome (though short) visits with family (the nieces’ version of LA was more theme park than 80’s music, which I of course accepted with the utmost grace 🤔😆 But for reals - Harry Potter World is seriously amazing!!!) Lots of laughs with childhood friends, who just never get any less fun to be around 🥰. Wildly exciting partnerships with two foundations in Australia who are as passionate about youth mental health as we are, and are literally making our dreams possible 😍 Oh, and I wrote a book!! Details to come 🤩 Aaaaand if you’ve gotten this far, I suppose you’re ready for an explanation of the last pic… no, that’s not a soccer ball under my shirt 😆 Apparently there will be a baby in da house sometime in April 🥰

And that pretty much sums it up! 2024 will be an adventure in many ways. I miss all y’all who I never/barely get to see because my life is so consumed with ‘the work’ ❤️ I feel the love even though I barely ever get to show it!! 🥰🥰

😍

06/06/2023

What a weekend!!!! People keep saying this will be the best decade yet…So far I tend to agree with them 🤩 I’m assuming the rest of the year will also be scored by 80’s dance music on a continuous loop…💃🏻 That’s how it works right!? 🤣

04/28/2023

I'm thrilled to be presenting at this year's SEL summer Institute in Cambridge. Last year was such a fabulous meeting of minds, with so much passion for school mental health, and honestly the best conference vibe I have ever experienced (of course it helped to be touring the Harvard grounds between sessions :)

If you are an educational leader with a passion for wellbeing and social emotional learning, I strongly encourage you to join me this year!!

02/13/2023

The nieces descend on LA!!!! 😍 You don’t realise how boring your life is until you attempt to entertain two teenagers for four days straight 🤣 We have SO much to learn from ‘kids these days’ ❤️😁

12/27/2022

WHO’S HOUSE??? RAM’S HOUSE!!!!! 💃🏻💪🏼😎

Aaaand just like that, a new LA Christmas tradition is born 😁

First time in a few years I’ve had a chance to stop and look around…I should try this more often 🙊😆

Here’s to a year infused with oodles more joy for all of us! 🥰

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Los Angeles, CA

Website

https://openparachuteschools.com/finding-the-words/

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