Weekly Wellbeing 

‘Not cancelled’

At this time when a lot of things are cancelled and being taken away from us, it is important to focus on what is ‘not cancelled’. There are many other things that I would like to add to the below list, but one that specifically comes to mind is ‘understanding.’

Understanding is not cancelled! According to the Cambridge dictionary, understanding refers to ‘knowledge about a subject or situation, or about how something works’ (Cambridge Dictionary (2020), Cambridge University Press,https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/understanding, accessed 4/8/2020). 

From an educational and social perspective CHPS staff are doing an incredible job helping students to understand many things about themselves and the world around them. The question is, what are we doing within our families to understand each other? 

When reading this question, a common response may be “I am trying to juggle so many things at the moment and don’t have time to answer a raft of questions” Another one may be “I’m just trying to survive right now.” To those responses, I say “I understand.” I understand that life is super-challenging and stressful, but at the same time encourage you to step back and explore some of the below online resources that can help every member of the family understand a bit more about each other’s personalities, love languages and character strengths. 

I know that when my son came home last year insisting that we all do the ’16 Personalities’ test, it was amazing to learn more about each other and fun to celebrate our similarities and recognise our differences. These are also “not cancelled” and the more we can understand each other, the easier this time is likely to be. 

  • 16 Personalities (Cool Avatars!) link
  • The 5 Love Languages Quizzes link
  • VIA Character Strengths Survey (Your children are likely to know theirs!) link

Posisocks     

Sometimes when we are feeling negative, we look down. How cool would it be to look down at our feet and be encouraged? I just discovered a new enterprise started by Trent Cotchin (AFL Richmond player) and his family, involving positive comments on socks and thought I’d share it for a bit of fun. See here for more information. Note: although being married to a very dedicated Richmond supporter, I receive no benefit from alerting you to this website/product!

10 extra psychology sessions on Mental Health Care Plans 

This week the Federal Government announced an additional 10 subsidised sessions on top of the already 10 psychological subsidised sessions under a Mental Health Care Plan scheme. See here for more information. If you need any help with this process, or need recommendations of local psychologists, please contact Cheyenne or myself.

Resources

Here is a website and app that I have recently come across. Please see the Student Wellbeing Page of the Remote Learning Website for more information and links. 

Government Mental Health website link

WorryTime App link

Maroondah COVID-19 Community Survey

Maroondah City Council are currently seeking your feedback regarding your current experiences. This information will be used to help inform plans in relation to community relief and recovery efforts according to community needs. Visit here to participate.

Pos Ed FriYay

It was great to hear about the different activities that students participated in last Friday. Well done to some students who wrote encouraging letters to nurses and other frontline workers. I am sure that they feel encouraged by them.

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to your child’s teacher if you or your child require Wellbeing support. We are all here to help.

Until next time, 

Julie Reid  -  Student Wellbeing Officer