WELLBEING REPORT

In the last week of Term 1 the Year 12 students attended two information sessions to help prepare them for life after school. The first session was hosted by Sonya Karras. Sonya has been visiting our school for many years, she delivered the “Whole New World” safe partying program to the students in a way that was informed, educated and had them laughing while they learned.

The second session on the following day was around sexual consent. It was delivered by Allie Collyer from Mallee Family Care. Allie is the Community Legal Education Worker, she spoke to the students about respectful relationships and what it means to give consent in a relationship.

This term the Wellbeing Team is very excited to introduce two new programs to support the mental wellbeing of some of our students. 

Firstly, we will be running The BRAVE Program to help us support the increased number of students struggling with anxiety. The BRAVE Program is an online program for treating anxiety in young people. It was developed by a team of researchers from the University of Queensland, Griffith University, and the University of Southern Queensland. It has been specifically designed to teach young people the skills they need to reduce anxiety and cope with stressful situations. It is based on Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and has been running in Australia for over thirteen years. Therapy techniques used in this program include relaxation training, identification of emotions and thoughts, positive self-talk, coping skills, problem-solving and graded exposure. 

The BRAVE Program involves interactive sessions that Josie and Peta will be running each week throughout the term, if you would like more information about this program you can access it here https://brave4you.psy.uq.edu.au/  

The second program we will be running is the ICAN Program which is designed to empower autistic students to move from a mindset of ‘I CAN’T’ to ‘I CAN.’ This is done through a respectful, peer-based program that celebrates Autistic strengths, passions and shared experiences. The secondary school program is structured in a way that is organised and consistent. It is designed for the long term. The two stages of student progression are as follows.

Stage One – empowers Autistic students with the basic outcome of the I CAN program: a positive Autistic identity. 

Stage Two – develops Autistic students who are wanting to progress in the program and achieve outcomes around leadership and self-advocacy. Students are given opportunities to run activities during their mentoring sessions.

We have been fortunate enough to secure funding for this program through Jim Hirst from School Focussed Youth Services. I would like to thank Jim for his expertise and persistence in submitting this funding application in supporting our autistic students.

If you would like more information about either of these programs please email me at mmccallum@mackillopsh.vic.edu.au