From our Counsellors 

Making the Most of Opportunities  

In this final term, Shelford students are being encouraged to actively participate in sessions about wellbeing and skill building sessions. These opportunities allow students to celebrate their journey, savour the time they have together, and develop skills (around strengths, friendships, mindset, etc.) to support them in the next chapter. 

As time passes and things inevitably change, our power lies in what we pay attention to. 

Grounding ourselves in the present moment and making the most of what is before us benefits our overall wellbeing – being present reduces stress and anxiety, improves our relationships, and allows us to savour moments so they become memories. Memory involves encoding, storage, and retrieval, forming the building blocks of our life narrative and ongoing sense of identity. The crucial first step of encoding can be supported in different ways, such as paying attention to our senses (i.e., what we hear, see, feel, smell, taste), connecting with our surroundings (environment and people), and creating mental images of the present.   

Everyone in the Shelford community will have a ‘Shelford chapter’ in their life narrative, and we can each have a say in what is included and remembered from that chapter. In these next few weeks, we encourage students and the broader Shelford community to embrace an open and conscious mindset – take note of the moments when you feel a sense of joy, peace, pleasure, and gratitude. 

 “Enjoy the little things in life, because one day you will look back and  realise they were the big things”  

Edith Benardeau-Short

Psychologist

Charlotte Edmonds

Counsellor