Wellbeing 

Brainstorm Productions 

Brainstorm Productions facilitated a live action performance on Tuesday 7 June for the Year 8’s called The Hurting Game’ focusing on online safety, digital reputations, peer pressure and positive relationships. It was very engaging performance and the students thoroughly enjoyed the show.  

Black Dog Institute Parent and Carer Presentation – Navigating Your Teen’s Mental Health 

One of Black Dog Institute’s volunteer’s Elle took the time to present to our Koonung parent community this term. The presentation included knowledge and tools about how to spot early warning signs of mental health issues, when and where to seek help and how to support a young person. It was a wonderful opportunity for our community to meet in person to discuss such an important topic.  

Mindfulness Mondays 

Mindfulness Mondays has been a positive reprieve for students to take some time out of their busy schedules and slow down, allowing them to participate in some mindful activities. Headspace Hawthorn’s Youth Advisory Group have attended a few sessions of Mindfulness Mondays to run activities this term. Student’s particularly enjoyed the IDAHOBIT day activity of creating preferred name or preferred pronoun keyrings. Headspaces YAG will continue to pop in to Mindfulness Mondays next term as well to run activities and answer questions about Headspace’s services.  

Coping strategies workshop – Live Life  

The Wellbeing Team ran a workshop for year 9 students in Live Life again this term. The focus was on resilience and exploring individual coping strategies to build student’s capacity to respond to stressors they experience in their everyday lives. It involved students trialing a range of activities including listening to music, exercise, mindfulness, breathing exercises and sensory toys and students rating the personal effectiveness of each activity  

Looking after yourself during the holidays  

The upcoming holidays are a great time to relax and reset after a very busy term. It is important to take some time to do things you enjoy and give your brain a break. Whitehorse Council have put together a variety of school holiday programs for young people to engage in some fun activities. For more information, go to https://www.whitehorse.vic.gov.au/things-do/festivals-and-events/school-holidays  

For mental health support during the break, please see information below  

Beyond Blue -1300 22 4636 

https://www.youthbeyondblue.com/ 

Headspace 

https://headspace.org.au/eheadspace/ 

Kids Helpline -1800 55 1800 

https://www.kidshelpline.com.au/get-help/webchat-counselling/ 

The Wellbeing Team wishes you all a safe, happy and healthy break  

Yvette Larubina & Eryn Tyler

Wellbeing Team