Student Wellbeing
Wellbeing Expo
Our Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Night
On Thursday 9th September (RUOK Day) Wantirna College, together with Boronia K-12, Fairhills High School, Rowville Secondary College and Scorsby Secondary College, proudly hosted an online Mental Health and Wellbeing Expo. It was attended by parents, students and community members including State MP for Bayswater Jackson Taylor and State MP for Ferntree Gully Nick Wakeling.
Students from all five schools hosted the Expo and the night began with an Acknowledgement of Country. We then had a 30 minute Mental Health presentation from Headspace, where participants could ask questions. Other speakers on the night included Knox Youth Services, Bridge Builders, Knox Police and EACH.
Our students spoke about what Wellbeing and Mental Health mean to them and Wellbeing staff from all five schools spoke about their Wellbeing Programs and answered questions. One of our student’s thoughts:
“My first impression of the Wellbeing Centre was at my orientation and it felt friendly and looked like a cool place to hang out. In Year 7 Wellbeing made an appointment with me to check in to see how I was going and they were really helpful. They can help you with managing stress and challenging situations. However, there are lots of other ways that we can interact with Wellbeing on a regular basis. It’s not just a place to go when you feel overwhelmed, it’s a Wellbeing Hub and there are places you can go online daily to check in for wellbeing reminders and tips. Wellbeing is an important part of the school journey and goes hand in hand with learning.”
Attendees left the session with a ‘digital show-bag’ of resources and contacts for service providers in the Knox area.
We want to thank the following students who represented the college in outstanding fashion on the night: Brodie Barlett, Olivia Bedford, Elijana Henry and Ulysses Rigano.
Their thoughts about the Expo:
“It was an amazing night to see how there are so many support systems throughout Knox. It was a wonderful experience to get to meet and work with students and staff from different schools around Knox. Thank you for the wonderful opportunity. Congratulations to everyone that presented.”
“It was awesome to get to meet the other students from the other Knox schools and work with them. It was great to learn and present our ideas and to listen to the support services around the Knox area. Everyone who presented did really well and it was an amazing experience.”
We absolutely loved working with the other four Knox government schools and look forward to doing so again in the future. We thank all the families that attended the Expo and hope that we can provide more opportunities for talking about mental health and Wellbeing with our school community in the future.
Wellbeing Contacts · A reminder that you can now contact the whole team at wellbeing@wantirnacollege.vic.edu.au for any questions or concerns regarding your young person
· Our Instagram is @wcwellbeinghub
· Wellbeing resources can be found at: Compass/Community/School Resources/For Parents/Wellbeing Resources
· Look out on Compass Newsfeed for Wellbeing updates
Support Services
The Wellbeing Team have compiled a range of resources and support services for students and families to access via Compass under Community (the two people) – School Documentation – For Students/For Parents – Wellbeing Resources.
Youth support services headspace: visit headspace.org.au to find your nearest centre or call eheadspace on 1800 650 890 Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800 or kidshelpline.com.au ReachOut: reachout.com.au SANE Australia: 1800 187 263 or sane.org
National 24/7 crisis services Lifeline:13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467 or suicidecallbackservice.org.au beyondblue: 1300 224 636 or beyondblue.org.au
Parent Support
Parentline 13 22 89
If you would like further ongoing support, it is recommended that you make an appointment with your family General Practitioner (G.P) where you can discuss the concerns that you may behaving. The G.P. will then be able to make the appropriate referral for ongoing support as required.
Would you like to speak to someone from the Student Wellbeing Team?
The role of the Student Wellbeing Team at the College is to coordinate a range of appropriate services to support young people and their families. Please contact a member of the Student Wellbeing Team at the College if we can be of any assistance on 9801 9700. In some cases, your phone call may be re-directed to the member of the team that can support you with your specific concern.
Student Wellbeing Team wellbeing@wantirnacollege.vic.edu.au
@wcwellbeinghub
Resources can be found at: Compass/Community/School Resources/For Parents/Wellbeing Resources
Katrina Katz – Leader of Student Wellbeing
Guiseppe Relia – Social Worker
Sanela Avdic – Social Worker
Lea Marrison – Mental Health Practitioner
