On Monday he visited Phoenix P-12 Community College to pass on some of the mindfulness coaching, tools and techniques he learned during his AFL career to year 12 students for success in their final year of studies.

The recently-retired Tiger launched a unique High Performance Mindfulness (HPM) program to help students cope with the pressure of year 12 after two COVID-disrupted years of schooling.

Richmond Football Club mindset expert Emma Murray developed the program to give students the mental tools to thrive, and it is the same program she uses in AFL clubs and other elite athletes including Olympian Cate Campbell and cricketer Will Pucovski.

"It's about having a real understanding of when you are at your best, what your strengths are, and also when you are not at your best ... to have an awareness of when you are in your A game, or when you're in your B game," Mr Astbury said.

Having a focus on the things in life you can control, rather than worrying about the things you can't, is one of the keys, which is tied in to building awareness to recognise and regulate unhelpful emotional states - like stress, overwhelm, fear and hopelessness.

"For me as an athlete this high performance mindfulness had an enormous impact throughout my career and I don't think my career would have amounted to a great deal if I didn't undertake this sort of element of performance coaching and I really wish I had it earlier, particularly in school," he said.

"Given the disruption of the past two years, students are coming into VCE carrying a fair bit of stress and burnout but sadly, most don't have the tools or techniques to manage their thoughts, feelings and behaviours when stress, pressure and expectation hits and this impacts their performance at school."

Ms Murray said the tools of HPM were applicable whether at the highest levels or elite sport or under pressure in the classroom.

"These tools have been tried and tested by elite athletes in under the pressure of high-stakes competition and we know that they also work for senior students under exam pressure - but more broadly throughout the year when stress hits," she said.

Phoenix P-12 Community College principal Karen Snibson said the program would equip students with greater self-awareness and emotional control.

"Students can be really hard on themselves and instead of focusing on helpful thoughts they can often slip into unhelpful thinking that can sabotage their performance no matter how much work or preparation they have done. The HPM program is designed to build the helpful mindset skills and thinking patterns that enable students to perform at their best - not just during VCE but in life beyond school," Ms Snibson said.

IN OTHER NEWS

Mr Astbury said having seen the significant gains of understanding the impact of mindset on performance, he was thrilled to support Ms Murray's program in schools across the country, and online.

"As humans, our minds are wired to focus on all the things we perceive as threatening and dangerous - it's part of our survival instinct, but if we don't learn how to control this, it can be particularly destructive and get in the way of us being able to perform at our best especially when it really counts like school assessments and exams," he said.

"The external pressures adolescents feel from their teachers, parents and even social media is out of their control - but the pressure they place on themselves is 100 percent within their control - they have the power to change this, to control their mind and how they think, feel and act, but sadly too few students have the tools and techniques to switch off that stress response in order to bring all their strengths to the moment."

Our team of local journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the Ballarat community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: