The History of It Takes 7

Hi!

I am Trish, the author of the It Takes 7 holistic healthcare program. It Takes 7 is the culmination of 20 years of working in health education, engaging in health research and writing health programs.

My interest began when I took a break from teaching in 2003 and studied Remedial Massage. I became fascinated with the working of the human body, especially the brain. Studying anatomy and physiology shed light on so many aspects of healthcare behaviour. Why we do the things we do, or don’t do! It also highlighted for me the importance of brain health and teaching practices for calming children’s brains so they are in the best possible posture to learn!

Comfortable in my Jeans (CIMjeans) was the first health program I wrote. It was a 6-8 week holistic health course designed to support patients in our health clinic who were focused on weight loss. My husband Rob (naturopath) was convinced, the then popular ‘diet/exercise’ model for managing weight loss was missing the mark. Promoting a holistic 7 Natural Physicians concept was our clinical method for helping our patients broaden their focus for daily healthcare practices.

CIMjeans looked at neuroscience and the emotional drivers in the brain. Participants were able to consider the chain reaction of their own healthcare practices, either good or bad, at a cellular level within their bodies. In turn, this allowed them to better understand why they sometimes acted, reacted, thought or felt the way they did. We marvelled at the plasticity of the brain which offered great hope for overcoming long standing, poor healthcare habits.

There were two surprising outcomes within the first year of running the CIMjeans program. One, we observed a remarkable turnaround in our clinic with teenagers enjoying long lasting weight loss, gaining confidence and enjoying improved general health and wellbeing. We believed a key reason for this success was based on our allowance of small sweet treats (like chocolate😊) that had highly personal and deeply embedded psychological roots. And two, motivated with a passion to reach young children, young families and the youth, a second healthcare program was developed, and I ended up back in school!

The 7 Natural Physicians (7NPs), a foundational primary school health program, was birthed in late 2003. This program was intentionally linked to state and national Health and Physical Education (HPE) curricula. The Acronymic saying Attitude is the ANSWER (Air, Nutrition, Sunshine, Water, Exercise, Rest) was invented to make the ABC of health and wellbeing tool user friendly for educators and young children. The 7 quirky doctors were created as a portal into a child’s imaginative world and incorporated features such as colour, humour, drama and music. A website and a variety of resources were developed so teachers could adapt healthcare units with broad cross-curricula links for literacy, numeracy, science, art, music, etc.

Support from the medical community, non-for-profit organisations, governments and private donors arrived fairly quickly. Before long, several schools in low socio-economic communities welcomed and trialled the program. From 2004–2012 the 7NPs program received funding for 16 individual community health projects, was rolled out in five states and 60 educational sites within Australia.

Key supporters stressed the importance of attaching academic research to the program. In 2009, as a part of a state funded project, an external researcher evaluated the program. That same year I won the UniQuest Trailblazer Competition (Student Category) for original, innovative, early stage research and entrepreneurial ideas competition enhancing James Cook University innovations. The reason I won this award was because firstly, I was able to demonstrate there were significant gaps in the HPE curriculum and secondly, I had developed an innovation to address these gaps. My Master of Education Honours research was completed in 2012.

Everything came to a standstill post 2012 when funding for health education initiatives became scare reflecting the impact of the Global Financial Crisis. After a significant break I decided to rework CIMjeans and the 7NPS into an adult program specifically for my husband to follow up his work in rehabilitation centres. It was a retirement plan! This time it also embraced a spiritual dimension. Surprisingly, over the next 2 years we ended up running several community health courses. Once again, interest was expressed by teachers for the children’s program. I felt it was time to take out the clowning aspects and deal with the series business of health. And with this renewed inspiration in mind,  It Takes 7 emerged.

As I started to look for images for a children’s wheel, I was stumped. What images would best highlight diversity and inclusion? The idea dawned on me, ‘What if children could take their own pictures and create their own health wheel? What if classrooms and health centres could make their own posters, health brochures, PowerPoints, etc?’ The search for someone to create an interactive photo collage wheel tool began and a new website was created. Once again, I perceived the breadth of cross-curricula health activities in education was limitless.

I came up with a new name Take 7, but it just didn’t sit right. I didn’t like the notion of taking and not giving back. Helping yourself and helping others was always a fundamental principle in all our health programs. My daughter and son-in-law, who have also generously supported the development of this version of the program, suggested It Takes 7. We all liked it. It is more explicit.

So here we are, still plodding along on a similar road. Still sitting with big ideas, a low budget, a small team and trying our hardest. Hoping, with all our heart, that It Takes 7 will inspire and promote wellness in your family, your household and your community, wherever you are across the globe.

Kindest regards,

Trish