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Quirky Kid expanded The Best of Friends® from clinic-based workshops into a structured social and emotional learning program designed for use in schools and psychology clinics.
The program grew from years of Quirky Kid’s clinical and school-based work supporting children with friendship, communication, emotional regulation and common playground challenges.
By 2016, St Catherine’s School in Sydney had confirmed implementation of The Best of Friends® in its Junior School, marking an important step in taking the program beyond Quirky Kid’s own clinics and into school settings.
Turning child psychology into a structured school program
The Best of Friends® was developed to help children build the knowledge, skills and confidence to understand and manage emotions, develop and maintain friendships, communicate effectively, show empathy and navigate social situations.
The program combines illustrated stories, discussion, interactive activities and structured group practice. This approach allowed Quirky Kid to translate clinical experience into a format that teachers, school counsellors and other trained facilitators could use consistently with children.
The school-based version also created a pathway for the program to reach groups of children in the environments where many friendship and social challenges naturally occur.
From launch to external recognition
The move into schools became the beginning of a wider development journey for The Best of Friends®.
In 2016, Quirky Kid won the Australian Book Industry Innovation Award for the program and The Best of Friends® was also shortlisted by Speech Pathology Australia.
The program later became the subject of an independent evaluation through the University of Wollongong, strengthening the evidence history behind its use in child-focused settings.
Continuing in schools and clinics
The Best of Friends® has continued to evolve since its early school rollout and is now part of Quirky Kid’s suite of psychologist-developed programs available to schools and psychology clinics.
Schools can implement the program with training, resources and implementation support, while Quirky Kid also continues to deliver group-based versions directly.
The original school launch remains an important milestone in Quirky Kid’s development from a child psychology clinic into an organisation creating structured mental health and wellbeing resources for wider community use.
