PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

THROUGH THE LENS OF ADOLESCENCE

As parents and educators, we know that adolescence challenges everyone, and not only those going through it. Offering the best support during these changing times means making sure that adolescents know they are valued, that they matter.

Understanding three changes all adolescents experience will help:

1. Teens can be forgetful—and it’s not necessarily their fault. In adolescence, the human brain undergoes ‘neural shearing’, making us forgetful and challenging our organisational skills. The best way to fix this: gentle reminders and strategically-placed suggestions to develop a routine and stick to it.

2. Let them solve their own problems. Teens will attempt to find their own solutions to life’s obstacles because they have a biological need for autonomy. Being present, actively listening and collaborating regularly with teens boosts their confidence so that they can build the type of self-esteem that only comes from sorting out things themselves.

3. Allow them to find safe havens beyond hearth and home. Independence is another one of our biological imperatives. Encourage relationships with trusted adults outside of the nuclear family. Even though your young adult won’t suspect it, you’ll be giving them opportunities to hone interpersonal skills that will be assets throughout life.

Research and mental health statistics tell us that these normal changes that every adolescent brain goes through can distort the way the world looks and increase feelings of insecurity.

Our College’s vision and mission commits us to developing the student as a whole person: spiritually, physically, emotionally, artistically, intellectually and socially. We strive to provide a safe space for adolescents to take those first steps towards standing on their own.

Keeping the whole person in focus, the St Joseph’s community builds enduring and meaningful connections as teenagers begin to decipher a world through the lens of adolescence.

God bless,

Mrs Marg Blythman