Wellbeing News

Man Cave

The Year 9 boys participated in a full-day workshop facilitated by The Man Cave.

The Man Cave’s student workshops provide a full-day experience designed to support students in exploring masculinity, challenging outdated societal expectations placed on men, and building healthier relationships with themselves and others.

Grounded in the Rites of Passage framework, the workshops create safe and supportive spaces for participants to engage in honest conversations. The program includes group-building activities, interactive games, and meaningful discussions focused on mental health, relationships, and consent.

The Year 9 boys thoroughly enjoyed the program and shared overwhelmingly positive feedback about their experience.

The Workshop

While the boys were busy participating in The Man Cave, the girls participated in The Workshop. The Workshop is designed to empower young women by challenging societal expectations, building confidence, and fostering strong, supportive friendships. Through interactive discussions, group activities, and self-reflection, students will explore body image, friendship dynamics, and the pressures placed on girls by society. The program encourages critical thinking, resilience, and self-acceptance, helping students navigate their teenage years with confidence and purpose. The girls confidently engaged in discussions and enjoyed participating in games focused on navigating friendships and supporting one another.

Tier 2 Group Programs

We’ve had a fantastic start to the year with the launch of our Tier 2 group programs. Canine Comprehension is currently running with a group of Year 7 students, along with a smaller Year 10 group. Our Martial Arts Therapy Program is also underway with another group of Year 10 students.

A psychologist from the Wellbeing Team has developed and is facilitating Chilled, a small group program designed to support selected Year 8 students. Men’s Talk, created by a member of our Wellbeing Team, is running with a group of Year 9 boys. The Steady Minds program, developed and delivered by two provisional psychologists, is supporting Year 8 students this term.

We are also proud to introduce the Deadly Lovin’ program to Cranbourne Secondary College for the first time, engaging Aboriginal young people from across all year levels and further strengthening our commitment to inclusive, culturally responsive wellbeing supports.

Canine Comprehension

Throughout the Canine program, students are taught to develop an awareness and understanding of verbal and non-verbal communication indicators. They work with hands, tone of voice, body language, facial gestures, plus vocal conversations. The Canine Comprehension Program also highlights the inner voice that we all experience and how we can channel our inner voice from hearing only negativity into positivity.

Martial Arts Therapy Program (MAT)

The MAT Life Skills Program is an active therapeutic modality that combines the principles of physical and mental wellbeing with those of traditional martial art training techniques. Its format engages and empowers young people to learn life skills, and to better manage the challenges in their lives.

Chilled

The Chilled Program is an evidence-based program developed by Macquarie University that aims to address anxiety in young people. 

It includes the following skills:

• learning about feelings and anxietylearning to think realistically (detective thinking/cognitive restructuring)
• fighting fear by facing fear (exposure activities)
• learning coping skills such as building confidence, relaxation or problem solving

Resources will also be provided to parents/carers to support them with parenting an anxious child.

Men’s Talk

The main aim of the Men’s Talk program is to support students to develop skills to self-regulate, manage difficult emotions, and navigate through challenges in social connections. 

Some topics we will be exploring over the course of the program include:

• Masculinities and stereotypes.
• Emotional regulation
• Anger and techniques for managing anger.
• How anxiety & depression affect males.
• How to support our friends in times of need.

Steady Minds

Steady Minds seeks to teach students to develop an awareness and understanding of the interoceptive cues they notice in their bodies, so that they can identify when they are beginning to dysregulate, and act pre-emptively. In this program, participants will experiment with different regulation tools to identify what supports them best. We will learn to assess their environmental triggers so that they can take active steps to manage their behaviour and reduce feelings of worry, shame, and frustration. As a result, the program intends to improve students’ relationships with themselves and

others by building their skillsets to respond appropriately to their feelings, and the feelings of others, understand social conventions, and develop interoceptive awareness and strategies to regulate their emotions. 

The topics we will be exploring include:

• Emotion shifts and interoceptive skills
• Environment triggers - what can I control vs. what can’t I control
• Developing emotional regulation tools and impulse control
• Social dynamic exploration and understanding social conventions

Deadly Lovin’ – Year 7-12

Deadly Lovin’ is designed to support Aboriginal young people through engaging, culturally relevant learning and discussions around relationships, identity, and wellbeing.

The program will focus on the following topics: 

1. Self-Esteem & Empowerment 
2. Deadly Relationships 
3. Deadly vs Gammin Attitudes & Beliefs - (“Deadly” and “Gammin” (or gammon) are distinct, widely used terms in Aboriginal English that represent contrasting attitudes, concepts, and evaluations. They represent a way of interpreting the world that is often different from standard Australian English). 
4. Rights & Responsibilities in Relationships 
5. The World of social media 
6. Consent

Safer Internet Day

Safer Internet Day was held on Tuesday, 10th February, and we used this opportunity to share important information and resources with our students to raise awareness about staying safe online. It encouraged us all to pause and reflect on what’s happening in the digital world and to consider how each of us can contribute to creating a safer, more positive online environment. Even small actions, such as starting a conversation, sharing a helpful tip, or adjusting a habit can make a meaningful difference to everyone’s online experience.

Five actions everyone can take:

• Be Kind: Show empathy, respect and kindness in every online interaction.
• Balance time online: Make space for offline connection, rest and reflection.
• Speak up: Report online abuse and harmful content to eSafety.
• Protect your space: Use privacy settings, strong passwords or parental controls to keep your online space safe.
• Start the conversation: Talk about online safety with your networks – family, friends, colleagues, and communities