COUNSELLING CONNECTIONS

Mental Health Week

This week is Mental Health Week focused on 10 October which is World Mental Health Day. It would be a rare person today who is unaware of the impact of stresses on mental health and our need to improve mental health, especially for our young people. At Saints we are fully conscious of this need and later this term another group of staff will be participating in Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA ) training. YMHFA is a strong focus for the College, and we maintain the highest level of recognition: Master level workplace recognition in Mental Health Australia. You can read more about Mental Health Australia here.

I would also like to think that this regular section of the College newsletter, along with other contributions, is our explicit commitment to mental health all year round! With that in mind, should readers have some thoughts on matters this section could usefully address for parents and carers, students and young people generally, please get in touch. Our contact details are below.

Managing exam stress

It is that time of year, mango madness as called by some. Year 12 exams are just around the corner, other years are wakening to the seriousness of the senior year’s assessments and learning demands.

Griffith University has a helpful handout Managing Exam Stress: Tips and Information. You can access this file at the link below.

Almost everyone feels nervous before an exam. Butterflies in the stomach and worrying thoughts - "Will I be able to answer the questions?" "Have I done enough revision?"- are indications of exam nerves that are probably familiar to all students.

In fact, a certain amount of nervous tension probably helps us perform to the best of our ability, producing a rush of adrenaline that helps us to feel alert and focused. But too much anxiety can block thoughts, create a negative frame of mind, and lead to panic and potentially poor exam performance.

There are several things you can do to help manage exam anxiety and turn uncomfortable, panicky thoughts into more creative tension. Please follow the links below for helpful, targeted strategies.

Resourced from: https://www.csu.edu.au/current-students/studying/assignments-and-exams/exams/managing-stress

Stop worrying and start living

Glen Gerreyn has an excellent article dealing with anxiety, stop worrying and start living. Click the link to access this URL and helpful site dealing with adolescent mental health.

Our college phone numbers

The College has a new phone system as provided by Catholic Education. Many phone numbers have now changed. If you have saved any of our numbers, please update them for HWBC staff. Our email addresses remain unchanged.

One reason for the changed phone extension numbers was to group people with similar roles into similar extension numbers. Thus, you see our HWBC extensions are all 2913x.

Sacha Donaldson RN       07 4052 9132       sdonaldson@cns.catholic.edu.au

Marjike Keller                     07 4052 9134        mkeller@cns.catholic.edu.au

Br Roger Vallance fms     07 4052 9133        brroger@cns.catholic.edu.au