Last Thursday I had the opportunity to attend the Ballarat Diocesan Wellbeing Conference in Mildura. The conference is open to all secondary schools in the Ballarat Diocese where wellbeing leaders discuss issues that are impacting the wellbeing of young people in the communities that we work. It was interesting to hear that most of the schools in the Diocese are experiencing similar issues that young people are presenting with. I found the last presenter of the conference to be incredibly engaging with many of her observations resonating with our Damascus community.

Dr Helen Cahir is one of the authors of Resilience, Right and Respectful Relationships. The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) learning materials cover 8 topics of Social and Emotional Learning across all levels of primary and secondary education. Years 11 and 12 include the relevant topics of goal setting, time management and safer socialising in place of emotional literacy.

Dr Cahir provided a summary of the 8 modules in RRRR with most of the discussion focused on the 6^th topic, Help Seeking. This topic area is designed to help students discuss the importance of seeking help and providing peer support when dealing with problems that are too big to solve alone. This helps to normalise and destigmatise help-seeking behaviour. Dr Cahill emphasised the importance of students learning to extend their repertoire of coping strategies, to benefit from critical reflection on their own choices and be exposed to alternate options. Dr Cahill encouraged us to promote to students the concept of self-talk, and practice using positive self-talk, to approach and manage challenging situations. Positive self-talk is a key strategy for coping with negative thoughts, emotions and events. It is associated with greater persistence in the face of challenge and can be learnt or strengthened through practice.

All conference attendees felt that since Covid-19, some students have lost the capacity to manage their coping skills. It is indeed a complex situation allowing students to work it out for themselves or reach out to a trusted adult to intervene. As a College, we always encourage students to talk to a trusted adult however we do encourage these adults to empower students to develop their coping strategies. At times this does involve adults stepping back and allowing their student to ‘work things out for themselves’, provide some perspective on what needs to be addressed and consider advice that allows students to work on their own coping strategies.

Social and emotional skills are the foundation of healthy levels of wellbeing and are clearly linked to higher levels of academic achievement. Developing students’ skills in their capacity to cope will allow students to develop skills in resilience, building relationships and communication.