Wellbeing @ Homestead
Everyday Matters
Social Connections
Struggling to connect socially? Here are some tips and resources
During your younger adult years, there are many things to navigate that can cause stress and worry, like academic pressure, social media, and trying new things. So, it’s understandable that figuring out how to make new friends or connect with new people can be extremely challenging. An important aspect of growing up and finding out what interests you and what you are passionate about, is meeting new people. A normal part of connecting with new people is feeling worried and stressed about how to initiate a conversation, how to maintain a friendship or how to navigate conflict. These are some of the difficulties that young people face every day. It’s normal to experience distress around social interactions and worrying about how to approach people. Feeling stuck or confused on what to do in these situations is very common and is a challenge that many young people face. Approximately 57% of young people your age reported feelings of loneliness, and 1 in 2 young people report feeling stressed about these feelings. If this is something that you are experiencing, then these are some useful tips to consider.
Tips:
Putting yourself out there: small talk
Small talk is something that many people shy away from, but it is actually a great way to break the ice and find shared interests with new people.
Some conversation starters may include:
- Introduce yourself to someone new.
- Asking open ended questions: which means asking questions that the other person must give a detailed response to, rather than a yes or no question. - e.g. What sports do you play or have played in the past? – This gives the person a chance to explain their history with sports and gives you an opportunity to ask further questions based on their response.
- Asking a person about an activity or hobby they are involved with.
- Approaching someone to ask about homework or involvement in classwork.
- Ask to join in on a conversation or activity.
- Join a lunchtime group you are interested in (see below).
Joining lunch time groups or other school activities
There are a variety of school groups and activities that you can be involved in, based on your interests. Joining a lunchtime group or attending school activities is a great way to connect with like- minded people.
Lunchtime groups
Other school activities:
Lunchtime house events run frequently throughout the term, check your weekly student bulletin for updates and information.
There are lots of sporting activities that you can be a part of – you can see Lachlan the Sports coordinator for more information.
Get support
You can contact the wellbeing team if you’re needing to talk to anyone at school.
School Wellbeing
Reach out to Bethany or Emma for support.
Bethany's email: bethany.collier3@education.vic.gov
Emma's email: emma.howarth@education.vic.gov.au
Kids helpline
1800 55 1800
Lifeline
13 11 14
Headspace
1800 650 890
Wyndham Youth and Children's Counselling Support
Ph 87341355
Disability Inclusion@Homestead
Katie Jaz is the Inclusion Leader at Homestead.
Katie is the person who works with our teachers and other staff to ensure that the right supports are in place to ensure that our students have a successful year of schooling. We encourage all families with students who have additional learning needs, or suspected learning needs, to get in touch with her. Her email address is: Katie.Jaz@education.vic.gov.au or on 7379 9600.
If any of our families have allied health reports from specialists working with your young person including psychologists, speech pathologists, paediatricians, treating specialists etc we encourage you to share the information with us to ensure that the appropriate supports and special provisions are provided to your child.
We understand that the wearing of school uniform can be challenging to some students based on sensory and other needs. On our college website we have an 'accessibility clothing' section that provides information for students on the options available. This information includes podiatric needs. The link to that page is https://www.homesteadssc.vic.edu.au/uniform