Student Support Services

Hello Dandenong High School,

My name is Sarah, and I am the new Secondary School Nurse who will be working in the Health Promotion and Wellbeing space every Monday & Tuesday. You will find me in Room A23 if I am not out and about on the school grounds.

My role includes providing students with individual health consultations via referral and participating in health education classes and small group sessions to run health promotion activities within the school.

There are no silly questions and although I may not be able to help personally with absolutely everything, I will be happy and able to refer to someone who can!

What can I help with?

Well as an example, ‘wellbeing’ encompasses so much, I’ll give you a quick rundown:

Physical health that includes information on healthy foods, exercise/movement
Sexual health includes a focus on safe sex, consent, sexually transmitted infections (STI), contraception, pregnancy and menstruation
Substance use questions and concerns
Managing stress & anxiety with a focus on building upon helpful coping strategies and skills
A focus on self-care activities

I have been a Registered Nurse for 15 years and worked in many of the public hospitals in Melbourne from Cardiothoracic/Emergency Nursing, Research with Monash University to more recently working in the Private Mental Health space, facilitating group work in alcohol and other drugs and anxiety and mood disorders. This led me to discover a passion for working directly with young people and for the past 4 years I have been working through a Master of Counselling.

I have two young children in Primary school who keep me very busy with weekend sports of basketball and football. I enjoy spending time with friends and family (when I’m not studying 😊) and getting out in nature.

I look forward to meeting and working with you all.

Sarah

School Nurse