Student Support Services

The Student Support Services at Taylors Lakes Secondary College aims to respond to all health and wellbeing needs of students at the college.

Role in the school:

mental health,
physical health,
the development of strategies to assist with everyday challenges/barriers, working with key teams across the school to source, implement and evaluate wellbeing initiatives that are targeted towards the specific needs of our students, and
Further developing and implementing Dept of Education and Training initiatives.

Student Support Services Team at TLSC:

Maria Tsatalios: Student Support Services Leader

Dee Mills: School Counsellor (Youth Worker)

Bayley Strachan: School Counsellor

Jen Malbon: Mental Health Practitioner (Social Worker)

Kaitlyn Einan: Student Health Promotion Nurse

The Student Counsellors provide a confidential service for students who are facing challenging situations that are impacting their mental health and learning. Bayley, Dee, Jen and Kaitlyn each provide one-to-one counselling to students. All counsellors provide short-term intervention for students with mild to moderate mental health needs and liaise with the relevant internal and external services where students need more intensive support. For students allocated to the Mental Health Practitioner parent consent is sought before commencing intervention services.

The team will be based in the Student Support Services Hub, the office next the Careers and Senior Sub School office. One-to-one counselling will take place in counselling suites in the college.

Referral process

Formal referrals are generally completed by a Year Level Leader (YLL), Sub-school Leader (SSL), Assistant Principal (AP) or Principal. Students are able to refer themselves by approaching one of the members of the team.

Confidentiality

All sessions are confidential, and the team is guided the legal obligations as outlined by the Department of Education.

External referrals

The wellbeing team member can work in a case management capacity, where they will facilitate referrals to external services/agencies. In addition, they will provide all the steps required to see a psychologist, which includes obtaining a Mental Health Care Plan (MHCP) from the GP.

Additional support

If a young person is required to sit in a meeting with a representative from the Department of Families, Fairness, and Housing (DFFH), Family Support agencies, Department of Justice or the Police and have an active case with a member of the wellbeing team, they can sit in on these meetings to provide support, information and clarity. When a young person has had ongoing support from a member of the Student Support Services Team, they can provide a support statement if an application for the Special Entry Access Scheme (SEAS).

Maria Tsatalios

Student Support Services Leader