Student Wellbeing at BHHS

A big thank you to the amazing student wellbeing team we have. 

Led by the wonderful Felicity Shiel-Jones, the hard-working team consists of two full-time adolescent counsellors Colin Osborn and Grace Ren, and the Mental Health Practitioner Diana Ma.  We also employ a part-time very experienced Psychologist Felicity Cronin and have employed an additional school psychologist to support the school next year.  Felicity has been overseeing both the areas of Student Wellbeing and Disability Inclusion for a number of years, however with Department of education changes to the Disability inclusion and funding in government schools in coming years we have introduced a new Leadership role in this area from 2024.  Lucy Maxwell will be our new Disability Inclusion Leader in the school and will oversee the team of four classroom learning support staff (Shivangi, Dani, Joy and Caitlyn) in addition to supporting all students with a diagnosed learning disability and an Individual Education Plan (IEP).   Lucy has a Masters In Inclusive Education and will be a wonderful addition to the student services team.

Wellbeing report for 2023

The BHHS Wellbeing Team have finished another busy year and are ready for a well-deserved break!  In addition to running whole-school wellbeing and community theme days (IDAHOBIT, NAIDOC, Harmony week, R U Ok Day …), they also run a regular Breakfast Club for students, Lunchtime activities and clubs, RAISE mentoring, EAL conversation club, senior student mentoring, lunchtime yoga, year 10 Peer Support Program, stress-management sessions, social skills workshops and many other programs throughout the year.  This year we have also hosted a number of social work students from universities who have assisted in program delivery and individual student support.

There are about 20 students on average that utilise the wellbeing hub for lunchtime activities each day.  On average the team will meet with 15- 30 students each a week, and over 100 students are regularly supported throughout the year. The most common reasons that students seek wellbeing support include family issues, friendship change and conflict, anxiety and stress, mental health (mood, lack of motivation, self-harm), and learning obstacles and school pressures.