Wellbeing update

Wellbeing @ KSC

The Wellbeing Team has had a very busy Term 3, continuing to provide a range of programs for our students. We continue to promote a whole school approach to wellbeing and include a range of activities for our community. Please see more information below about the different programs we have organised this term.

We also say a big farewell for now to our Counsellor, Ella Cogger, who is off on family leave. Thank you for your ongoing kindness and support to those in our Koonung community and we wish you all the best for your newest addition when it arrives.

Study without Stress

Emily and Eryn have been running a group of Senior students through Macquarie University’s Study Without Stress Program. This 8 week program teaches students how to manage their study related stress as well as giving them valuable strategies to help them study for exams. A lot of the skills that have been covered can also be adapted into other areas of their lives to support their mental health and wellbeing. It has been wonderful to see each student’s individual growth and willingness to participate and try something new. Well done to all students involved!

R U OK DAY

To celebrate R U OK Day, the Wellbeing Captains and Wellbeing Team organised a range of activities across the day including a bake sale to raise money for charity, Just Dance, Karaoke, Dodgeball and a chill out zone. It was wonderful to see students engaging in lots of different activities to support their mental health and have important conversations about checking in on our friends. Congratulations to our amazing wellbeing captains Alice Lyons and Stef Lykouras on their fantastic effort organising the days’ activities.

Peaceful Teens

This term the Wellbeing Team have run the Peaceful Teens program with two groups of students; a Year 7 group and a Year 9 group. Over 8 weeks they learned a range of skills about learning to regulate their nervous system, practice mindfulness and understand how to manage their stressors and worries.

Wellbeing Days

In Week 5, the Wellbeing Team and Middle Years team organized the first Wellbeing Days for our Middle Years’ students. The goal of the day was to remind students how important it is to look after our wellbeing and mental health, because when we do, it allows us to thrive in other areas of our lives including our learning and education.

The Wellbeing Team presented to all three year levels about how they can access support from our team as well as external services they can go to access support. The Wellbeing Team is made up of a range of professionals who can support each student’s wellbeing and growth in a variety of ways. Whilst we are service that is available to all students at Koonung, we also partner with a range of organisations in our community to support students. In our presentation we spoke through the different places students might go in the community to access support including Headspace, Reach Out and Kids Helpline. We have put information for these organisations below.

We also took the students through a range of workshops to encourage them to learn new skills to support their wellbeing. This included mindfulness meditation, mindful connections and memory skills. The team thoroughly enjoyed working with the students to bring them a range of new skills to try which will hopefully be effective for them. We are looking forward to preparing more activities with a range of different focuses for future Wellbeing Days for our Middle Years’ students.

Teen Mental Health First Aid

As a part of our whole school approach to Wellbeing, Koonung has been continuing to implement Mental Health First Aid Training. We currently have over 50 staff who are trained in the Youth course and we have recently trained the entire Year 8 cohort in the Teen Mental Health First Aid Course. This program teaches young people the signs for when their peers might be needing more support and how to help them to connect with appropriate adults. Students participated in 3 sessions across Term 3 and they received a manual and certificate at the end of the training. Congratulations to our Year 8 students for taking on this challenge and committing to supporting their peers.

The Body Project – see details below!

Wellbeing clubs and programs

Wellbeing Wednesdays – Every Wednesday Lunchtime in the Wellbeing Office

Breakfast Club – Every Friday Morning, 8:15am in the Food Tech Room

Study and Snack - every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in MYC from 3pm-4pm

Please remember that our door is open, and we are here to support all students. You can visit any of us in the wellbeing space or contact us on our email accounts through your school email.

Kate O’Keefe – Director of Wellbeing - Kate.OKeefe@education.vic.gov.au

Emily Ridgwell – Mental Health Practitioner - Emily.Ridgwell@education.vic.gov.au

Eryn Tyler – School Counsellor - Eryn.Tyler@education.vic.gov.au

Ella Cogger – School Counsellor - Ella.Cogger@education.vic.gov.au

Liz Senior – Student Wellbeing Officer - elizabeth.senior@education.vic.gov.au

Support services for students, parents and carers

Eryn Tyler

The Wellbeing Team

Stand Tall - program for Year 8 and 9 boys @EACH