From the Counsellors
Counselling at SMC
First of all, we would like to acknowledge the challenges and anxious times we are all facing right now due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Counselling at St Mary’s during term time continues to be available to your child, and to you in relation to supporting your child. All students have access to their teacher and their learning using Microsoft Teams, which is a platform that you can use to connect with us. Jane Sutcliffe, (Senior School) is available from 8.30am–4.00pm Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Gai Bath (Junior school) is available from 8.30am–4.00pm Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
We are also available on email: Jane Sutcliffe, jsutcliffe@smc.tas.edu.au and Gai Bath, gbath@smc.tas.edu.au.
Adapting to a new reality with your children
The disruptions to our usual routines and ways of living make it difficult to find stability and can increase feelings of helplessness.
There are many things we can do to minimise stress and strengthen our emotional wellbeing. In thinking about our article this fortnight we considered the countless issues we could address: coping in isolation at home together, sibling rivalry, how to encourage children to focus on their online learning, how to talk with young children and teens about the pandemic, generally coping with stress, spending more relaxed and fun time together as a family, to name a few, along with noticing the 'silver linings'.
Please visit the links below for information that you may find useful to support your child's emotional health and mental wellbeing during this challenging time.
- We answer kids' questions! with the ABC Listen app
- 10 Tips for Managing Anxiety during COVID-19
- Talking to Teens about COVID-19
- Helping Your Child Develop Coping Skills for Stress
- COVID-19 and Self Care
- Dealing with Bad World News
- Helping Children and Young People Cope with Stress
- Tips on How to Stay Safe Online during the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Coronavirus (COVID-19): How to Talk to Your Child
- The Kids are at Home - Do We Need to Teach Them Too?
We encourage you to focus on the silver linings with your children as they were doing in Year 4 last week. Check out their ideas below.
What children need right now is to feel comforted and loved. Play outside, take walks, bake (let kids make up their own recipes), conduct science experiments, write, start a book, read together, watch movies, find virtual field trips to zoos online and play board games. These are suggestions for young and not-so-young children alike. Enjoy one another and find the opportunities in these unprecedented times.
We look forward to connecting with you and your children through Microsoft Teams over the next few weeks. Please do not hesitate to contact either of us.
Gai Bath (Kinder–Year 6) and Jane Sutcliffe (Year 7–12)
SMC Counsellors