COUNSELLING CONNECTIONS

A Tale of Two Wolves

From Luke McKenna @ Unleashing Personal Potential

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.”

He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

In our lives, we always have a choice. We can't always control the situation we are in, but we can control how we choose to respond in any situation. We can choose which wolf to feed. Whichever wolf we feed will grow and get stronger. Whatever we focus on will expand.

"Today and each day, ... I consciously choose to starve the bad wolf and feed the good wolf."

Which wolf will you feed today?

Thank you, Mr Anthony Cunneen

Boarders and many day school students have met Saints old boy and paramedic Mr Anthony Cunneen over the last month. While Sr Suzana was in Europe attending to family business, Anthony wonderfully filled our nursing needs. Many thanks Anthony for your approachability, compassion, rapport and extreme levels of skill.

Sleep

We are coming to the end of Term 3 and shortly exams in Years 11 and 12 will be upon us. Research has consistently shown that teenagers are prone to poor sleep hygiene and that poor sleep is detrimental to mental, emotional and physical health, learning and exam performance. Parents need knowledge of adolescent sleep hygiene since adolescents are frequently their own worst enemies with regard to appropriate sleep. Featured below are some slides from a recent online presentation I attended. You can access this online zoom presentation, it is only 30 minutes long and is free. Teen Sleep: Problems and Solutions  is made available by Generation Next. 

The presenter is Dr Chris Seton a paediatric and adolescent sleep physician working in Sydney at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research and Sydney Adventist Hospital. His keen interest in children’s sleep led to his appointment as Australia’s first specialist sleep paediatrician. Dr Seton’s special interests include adolescent sleep deprivation, paediatric narcolepsy and the relationship between sleep and learning in children.

I strongly encourage all our Saints parents to get into this short course and share it with friends and family members.

I also have access to a large ebook that is the main resource of evidence-based practice on adolescent sleep, and the author is an Australian expert. Teenage Sleep: Understanding and helping the sleep of 12-20 year olds can be sent to you. Simply email me brroger@cns.catholic.edu.au with a request for access to this excellent text of Professor Dorothy Bruck, School of Psychology, Victoria University.

Do You Have a High Performing or Aspiring Athlete?

There is an upcoming presentation, at a small cost, for parents and carers who want to better support a high performing athlete or an athlete who aspires to be high performing.

The flyer is linked here and the booking link is here.

R U OK? Day

The national R U OK? Day is coming soon. Thursday 14 September is late in our academic year and at the end of Term 3, so Saints celebrates R U OK? Day in Term 1 each year. This gives the College community time to act on the ideas presented and, hopefully, allows us to be proactive rather than reactive promoting our students’ mental health and wellbeing.

This year R U OK? Day Mental Health Australia has provided an excellent resource: Promoting positive mental health practices. Originally targeted to workplaces, the insights and advice apply equally to home, families and school communities. Please consider reading this on my recommendation.

Br Roger Vallance   brroger@cns.catholic.edu.au   07 4052 9135

Mrs Marijke Keller mkeller@cns.catholic.edu.au  07 4052 9136