Dear Parents and Carers,

This year in the wellbeing space, our school continues to focus on:

Building teacher capability to activate student voice and agency within the classroom
Reducing the % of students with 20+ days absence from 39% in 2019 to 25% in 2024.
Embedding a whole-school approach to the development of the social and emotional wellbeing of students
Developing and implementing strategies that involve parents and carers as partners in their child’s learning

Anglicare Early Help Services at ETRS

Echuca Twin Rivers Playgroup Update

On Wednesday, we launched our first Playgroup session at school. It was wonderful to see so many people attend the morning and so many different ages joining too. We had 13 families register and it was filled with fun and eventually sunshine. The Performing Arts room was the perfect location for inside / outside play where many of the children interacted, cooperated and played together while the parents and carers enjoyed a warm drink and a bite to eat while they too interacted with each other and played with many of the exciting toys with their children.

Playgroup will continue on a fortnightly basis and our next session will on Wednesday the 10th of May from 9:00am. Anyone with young children are more than welcome to attend. Our next session will include Mother’s Day art and craft activities. Please spread the word and ask anyone who is interested to contact the school for more information. They can also contact Kristy Beaumont at Anglicare for more information too.

Rural Health Connect

Rural Health Connect is an online platform that links people to psychologists over video calls and phone calls. RHC originated in Central QLD in response to a clear need for better access to psychologists in rural areas and have now expanded across rural Australia. Rural Australians deal with drought, bushfire, floods and isolation on top of all of life’s other pressures yet access psychologists at less than a fifth of the rate of people in cities. RHC want everyone, regardless of where they live or their life circumstances, to be able to access the psychologist that is right for them. And to be able to conduct their sessions without disrupting their daily lives.

A new pilot with Federation University, supported by the Victorian Government through RHC are providing a direct, free of charge, link to a provisional psychologist, without needing to see your GP for a mental health care plan. Provisional psychologists are students in their 5th and 6th years of study, who are gaining their final experience before registration. All provisional psychologists complete regular sessions with board approved supervisors .

This service is for children, adolescents and adults who are noticing signs that they may not be functioning at their best, as a method of early intervention. If you have a diagnosed mental illness please speak to your GP about what would be the best service for you.

This pilot is for people in rural and regional Victoria only.

Signs that you might not be functioning at your best include frequent feelings of sadness, trouble concentrating, feeling overwhelmed, problems with your work, family or social relationships (ruralhealthconnect.com.au).

Areas of interest addressed via this service are:

Anxiety
Depression
Stress
Anger
Grief and loss
Sleep problems

If you would like to access this service or would like more information, please refer to this link: https://ruralhealthconnect.com.au

Rural Health Connect-

Wishing everyone a great weekend.

Kind regards,

ETRS Wellbeing Team.

Happy Birthday