Student Wellbeing
From the Wellbeing Team
Holloway Rd News
Yrs 10-12
AUGUST 2019
Our Therapy Dog - Nelson
Holloway campus is very fortunate to have a therapy dog 3 days a week. This loving good boy is our pride and joy and brings happiness to everyone, even the staff! He has been very well trained through the company ‘Lead The Way’ and is supporting our students every chance he can get. He enjoys apples and long walks on the beach after a hard day at work!
Headspace Psychologists
Last year, the Victorian Government introduced a new scheme to address the increasing number of mental health issues among young people in schools. Every Secondary Government School could apply for assistance from Headspace Psychologists who would come and work in the school if the demand was there. At Holloway Campus we began making referrals in Term 3, 2018 and by December we had successfully referred 22 students. Such was the demand that Headspace provided two Psychologists and they have worked on the campus Mondays and Fridays – one each day.
Some students who were connected last year were able to continue seeing these Psychologists this year whilst many more new referrals have been made. To date we have managed to get a service for about 50 students. This way exceeds previous years when we relied on Bayside Youth Services Youth Counsellors who now have no outreach counsellors at all, and the DET’s own Psychologists who have now been strictly limited to do educational assessments and no clinical counselling.
We are very fortunate that many students have been identified earlier and received appropriate levels of psychological assistance; especially as they enter their senior years where academic stress increases regardless of any other circumstances. Having fully registered psychologists at the school provides easy, confidential and free access to experienced and highly skilled mental health professionals. Seeking this sort of help externally can be more difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. Furthermore, students seeing psychologists in school spend less time out of class and we attempt to make appointment times that cause the least academic inconvenience.
Educational Program on Anxiety & Stress:
In an attempt to be more proactive, we have been looking at educative programs that inform young people about the signs of anxiety and stress and what they can do about it. We have been fortunate to initiate a program organised and implemented by a Youth Worker from Bayside Youth Services and the Project Officer at the BGKLLEN (Bayside/Glen Eira/Kingston Local Learning & Employment Network).
This program commenced on Tuesday, July 30 and every Year 10 student will be receiving it sometime between weeks 3 and 8 of this term. It takes four periods and examines:
- What Anxiety Means To You – it may be different from one person to the next.
- Defining Anxiety – common features for us all; regardless of age.
- The Brain & Anxiety – what parts are affected and what does this mean for students?
- Who experiences Stress & Anxiety - including some current statistics about who/how many.
- Exploration – how to recognise stress in yourself and others; using ‘mindfulness’ to minimise stress and anxiety.
- Statistics – how common is it?
- Takeaway Message – anxiety and stress are common; almost everyone undergoes anxiety & stress but when it becomes chronic and unrelenting we become ill.
We will be conducting an evaluation of this program when it’s over by conducting a brief survey of the students and their teachers who experienced it. It is our intention to deliver it again our during Headstart program (Nov/Dec) for students transitioning from Year 9 to Year 10 and students transitioning from year 11 to 12.
Mr Ross Down and Ms Bre Gerritsen
Student Wellbeing Co-ordinators Yrs. 10 - 12
Bluff Rd News
Yrs 7-9
Engage 1-1 Psychology - Visiting Clinical Psychologist
Sometimes students require extra support to help them cope with various issues they may be struggling with. Often families are time poor and regular visits to the Psychologist can be difficult. Here at Bluff Rd Campus 7 - 9, we're fortunate enough to have a visiting clinical psychologist Hollie here on site. Every Tuesday Hollie comes to us through Engage 1-1 Psychology, and holds individual counselling sessions for students in need. We have a purpose built counselling room and private waiting area so students can feel comfortable and secure.
Jump on to the Engage 1-1 Psychology website (see below) and click on "School Services" for a more detailed description and background of the services provided. Please contact Student Wellbeing Bluff Rd 7 - 9 Campus for a confidential discussion and to arrange for the necessary parental consent forms.
When Screen Time becomes Scream Time
If you have kids, nieces, nephews or friends with kids, then there's no doubt you would have heard about the struggles endured with getting them off the screen. Recently I've been doing a little research in to screen time in an effort to factor this in to Student Wellbeing here at Sandringham College Yrs. 7 - 9.
Below are a few snippets from a great article I came across written by child's author Anita Lehmann - it mainly refers to young children, however there may be some useful tips to use at home. It utilizes the work of French clinical psychologist Isabelle Filliozat who specializes in positive parenting.
Ms Penny Power
Student Wellbeing Co-ordinator Yrs. 7 - 9
How to end Screen Time Without a Struggle by Anita Lehmann
Have you ever had the electricity cut off just as the football game reached its most nerve-wracking stage? Or your toddler pressed the "off" switch just as the protagonists in the deeply engrossing romantic comedy were finally going to kiss?
When we human beings (not only children!) are absorbed in a film or playing a computer game, we are, mentally, in another world. Screens are hypnotic to our brains. The light, the sounds, the rhythm of the images puts the brain into a state of flow. We feel good, and don’t want to do anything else. We certainly don’t want the situation to change.
During these moments, our brains produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter which relieves stress-and pain. All is well – that is, until the screen is turned off. The dopamine levels in the body drop fast and without warning, which can, literally, create a sensation of pain in the body. This drop in hormones, this physical shock, is where children’s scream-time begins.
It doesn't matter that we are clear when screen time ends. After all, we'd discussed and arranged it beforehand, and/or given them warning. Cutting them off forcefully is hurtful. So instead of simply switching the off button, the trick is not to cut them off, but to instead enter their zone.
Here are three tips that Isabelle Filliozat recommends to turn off screen time without a fight:
1. Enter your child's world.
Whenever you decide that screen time should come to an end, take a moment to sit down next to your child and enter his world.
Watch TV or sit with them while they play their game on the screen. This doesn't have to be long, half a minute is enough. Just share their experience.
2. Ask questions.
Asking, "What are you watching?" might work for some kids, others might need more specific questions. "So what level are you on now?" or "That's a funny figure there in the background. Who's he?" Generally, children love it when their parents take an interest in their world. If they are too absorbed still and don't engage, don't give up. Just sit with them a moment longer, then ask another question.
3. Build a bridge back to reality.
Once the child starts answering your questions or tells you something they have seen or done on screen, it means that they are coming out of the "cut-off" zone and back into the real world.
They're coming out of the state of flow and back into a zone where they are aware of your existence—but slowly. The dopamine doesn't drop abruptly, because you've built a bridge—a bridge between where she is and where you are. You can start to communicate, and this is where the magic happens.
You can choose to start discussing with your child that it's time to eat, to go have their bath or simply that screen time is over now. Because of the minute of easing-in, your child will be in a space where they can listen and react to your request. They might even have been smoothed back into the real world gently enough, and is so happy about the parental attention that they want to turn off the TV/tablet/computer on their own. (I've experienced my children do this, hand to heart.)
To me, simply the awareness of what is going on in my children's minds helps me handle end of screen time much better than before. It isn't always as smooth as I want it to be, but we haven't had a scream time incident since I discovered Isabelle Filliozat's little trick.