Last week I had the privilege of being one of the support staff on the year 12 retreat. The retreat is often referred to as one of the highlights of the year 12 journey as students begin their formation of a class group within a Christian context. From my perspective the retreat provides a terrific impetus and focus on managing student’s emotional, spiritual, and physical wellbeing.

One of the activities that was presented to students was the need for students to manage their wellbeing with a focus on self-regulation and self-check ins. Be.You defines self-regulation as ‘learning about your own feelings and emotions, understanding how and why they happen, recognising them (and those of others), and developing effective ways of managing them. When young people learn to self-manage their emotions, they feel more confident, capable and in control”.

On retreat I was able to work with students on techniques to address the ups and downs of our mental health and wellbeing through a process that begins with self-regulation. This involves acknowledging and accepting our own feelings such as anxiousness, feeling overwhelmed, stressed, tired, sad in fact any human emotion. Once students can label their emotions, we worked through effective ways of managing these. When we acknowledge that our body is tired the message is to rest. But what do we do when we are feeling higher levels of stress, worry and apathy? Often these are a result of not listening to our body. Not acknowledging how much we are asking of it. Not recognising the demands, we are putting on it. Through self-regulation we can identify getting control back of our feelings and emotions. Increasing the amount of sleep, cutting back on additional shifts, exercising, meditation and addressing our diet are all ways we can bring equilibrium back to our body mind and soul.

A successful year 12 relies on trust, positive relationships, peer support and a positive mindset-all which were addressed on this retreat. I wish all students a wonderful experience and thank Adrian Newman, Sally Murphy and Sharon Lehtonen for their wonderful preparation.

Pictures below is my small group following our prayers of gratitude on the Anglesea beach.