Di Wilcox is the founder of The Magic Coat. Di has a Bachelor of Social Science in Women and Children Studies and a Diploma of Education. In 2013 she received Momentums Most Inspirational Woman of the year award and in 2012 and 2014 she was a top three finalist for the Pride of Australia Medal. Most recently in 2017, Rotary International presented Di with a Pride of Workmanship award.
After teaching both nationally and internationally, Di was astounded at the number of children who were unable to focus at school. She spent her recess and lunch times speaking with children who she could see were struggling to concentrate, to find out what was going on in their minds. Di discovered that most of these children loved school but could not focus because of all the worries that they had going on in their lives both in and out of school.
After some research, particularly in the area of Positive Psychology Di wrote lessons for her own class to help them manage these worries and build resilience. It didn’t take long before other teachers were asking her to work with their students and then other schools. Soon Di left teaching to focus 100% on developing a program that could provide a common language for adults and children to share, that would help children to build confidence, manage their emotions, build resilience and encourage empathy for others.
This is when The Magic Coat Program was developed and, after three years of piloting the program, Di now presents to hundreds of parents and children but also trains teachers, psychologists, social workers, women refuge workers and the police in how to use the program and resources with the children with whom they work.