Year 11 News

Mental Health Forum 

The Well-Being Committee attended the Burn Bright Youth Mental Health Forum at Wagga Wagga Christian College on Tuesday, June 1st. The annual forum's objective is to educate students in the community about the dangers of youth mental health and what we, as students and peers, can do to help our community's mental health.

We participated in various activities with other schools from across the diocese whilst at the forum, spreading out and making friends with individuals we would not usually talk to. We learned about the positive aspects of mental health and personal struggle and how to approach issues with friends and initiate conversations regarding mental health and personal struggle. The most fascinating aspect of the day was learning about the positive aspects and how they work. It was also mentioned that having a healthy relationship with friends, family, and others can help cancel out negative aspects and pressures such as stress and anxiety.

Following a brief break, a panel of professionals, including a school counsellor, an Aboriginal youth mental health worker/counsellor, a psychologist, and a CAMHS professional, further explored these subjects. We were able to submit questions that the panel then responded to. Many of the questions revolved around how we, as students, might assist individuals in our community. One of the most essential lessons learned that day was that we are there to be one other's friends, not therapists. We are there to assist and listen to them while also ensuring that they receive the assistance they require, not to take on their concerns and try to solve them ourselves.

We were instructed to develop a project that we could take back to our school and implement into our school community at the day's final session. The Wellbeing committee came up with two ideas: a mentoring programme and a cultural acceptance project. After that, we had to present our work to the rest of the crowd. These initiatives are currently being explored and proposed to the school leadership team to be implemented within the near future.

We would like to thank Mr Lawler and Mrs Lole for providing us with this opportunity.

Georgia Minato, Allira Aventi and Year 11 Well Being Committee Members