From the Wellness Centre

Reconciliation Week and 1967 Referendum – Respect and Solemnity

I was introduced to the music of Noongar Wongi rapper Inkabee and his dad Flewnt last year when I participated in Aboriginal and Torres St Islander Youth Mental Health First Aid. 

Inkabee released Beat the Odds a single and music video which he hopes will “spread a message of unity and strength”. He was ten years old when he and his dad created this tune. His dad Flewnt debuted in 2018 with Kya Kyana, which won best song and best hip-hop song in the WA Naidoc Music Awards. "That was a big song for me, and it was a big song for the community," he said of Kya Kyana, which means welcome to ceremonial grounds.

Find out more here:

INKABEE - BEAT THE ODDS (Official Video) - YouTube

Noongar Wongi rapper INKABEE aiming to Beat the Odds with first single - ABC News

Mental Health First Aid for Year Eight students 

I’m so keen to get started on the Year Eight Mental Health First Aid Training beginning in Week Nine and finishing in Week Eleven. As you would most likely be aware, Teen MHFA training comprises several sessions which are embedded in the Health Education Curriculum; films, talks, activities and practice conversations feature in this training. 

Students will learn how to notice and support their peers who might be struggling. This training offers an approach that helps students to have a discussion with a friend or peer they are concerned about, and to link them with an adult. Led by Mr Paul Donaldson, the Health Ed teachers, Mr Bryce McLean and Ms Charlene Warren are well skilled in this area. 

MHFA is an international organisation, driven by current research, which offers numerous courses for adults and adolescents with an aim to reduce stigma associated with beliefs about and language around mental health problems, and to increase and normalise help seeking. Indeed, in the nearly ten years that GSG has been conducting Teen MHFA training, the effectiveness of the course has been proven within our education space, as many more young people are seeking help, clarification and support, for others and themselves. 

Also, schools which deliver this training to their students, need to have a large percentage of their staff trained in Youth MHFA which is a 14-hour course; most GSG staff have completed this work. 

There are a few protocols which MHFA insist upon, which include this communication of information to homes and boarding, and also our school invites you to make contact with me directly if you consider your child too vulnerable to participate in the training. One of the ground rules which I establish with each class focuses on personal safety and the choice a student can take to leave the class for reasons of welfare (they would go to Secondary Administration, and I would follow up). 

The Year Eight students will receive a Certificate of Completion, contingent upon their attendance at most sessions. 

For other information please access the stock MHFA explanatory letter to homes and the flyer for students which are being sent within the week, and of course, you can email me at sheryl.moncur@gsg.wa.edu.au for further clarification. 

Kind regards and yours in managing our Mental Health,

Ms Sheryl Moncur | School Counsellor/Teacher