Words for Wellbeing - Edition 4 - April 1, 2021

Edition 4 Video Contents Page

Welcome to Words for Wellbeing

Welcome to your fortnightly Wellbeing newsletter. You’ll find new information to enhance your health and wellness to keep you Fit4Life. These will include shining a spotlight on signature character strengths; top tips from the science of wellbeing; Conversations on the Couch with our Emmanuel family; and, loads more. We hope you enjoy them and we’re happy to take requests if there’s something in the wellbeing realm you’d love to learn more about.

The beauty of producing a newsletter every fortnight is that we can respond to the issues and concerns that walk through our Wellbeing doors in a timely fashion, sharing information and links to allow you to add valuable tools to your psychological toolkits. We kickstart this edition with an Easter message from Mrs Hodson; there are several 'How to Talk to Your Young Person' articles including the topics of consent and mental health; there are study, stress management and sleep tips; a visit from class of 2009 alumni, Tara O'Keefe; a wrap up of Bullying No Way Day; a word from Learning Diversity; information about South West Emerging Leaders Applications for Year 11s and much, much more.

So sit back and relax as you take in everything on offer in this edition of Words for Wellbeing.

An Easter Message from our Director of Faith & Mission, Helen Hodson

Over the period of Lent we have been focused on the message of St Oscar Romero, ‘Aspire not to have more, but to be More’. We have seen wonderful initiatives around the school in the way of raising funds for Project Compassion and also sharing messages for those who don’t have a voice. 

At the start of Lent we planted a seedling in our homerooms and we were challenged with the task of looking after the plant and nurturing it. Some of us have seen our plant wither as we gave it little water or sunlight, some were over watered, maybe due to lack of communication as to how much water the plant had been given. The importance of the plants is that they can be seen as a symbol of our faith. Sometimes we don’t give it enough attention and other times, we forget to hear what others are saying. It can also be seen as a symbol of the balance we need to find in sharing the resources we have within our global community, ensuring that all people have access to shelter, food, clean water and education. 

Easter is an important time in the Christian calendar as the death and resurrection of Jesus sees the beginning of Christianity and the beginnings of the early Church. Jesus’s time on earth demonstrated that he wasn’t perfect, and he didn’t proclaim to be. Jesus taught us to live justly. Easter is a great time regardless of your religiosity to pause and reflect, to allow yourself to take stock of all that you have to be grateful for and to consider how you may be a voice or support for those who need our support, whether locally or globally. Jesus’s message was universal, ‘You must love one another, just as I have loved you.’ This Easter may we all commit to aspiring to ‘be more’ and take a moment to reflect on how we can continue to support one another in the future.

Lord God, your love restores the dignity of the broken-hearted. Please help us to lift each other up in our words and through our actions.

Saint Joseph; pray for us.

May the spirit of Catherine McAuley and Edmund Rice guide us in all that we do.

Amen

How to Talk to Your Young Person About Mental Health

Post 2020 fatigue and the ongoing impacts and uncertainty surrounding COVID -19 continue to impact on our mental health and wellbeing. We have seen this at school with a significant increase in students and their families seeking urgent support, intervention and referral during term one. Despite what we sometimes feel, young people frequently turn to their families with questions and concerns about their mental health and most certainly, families are the first to notice when something is wrong. The following points are some of the common topics and questions that come up for us and for families.

Mental health

Language can be tricky in this area as people often worry they will say the wrong thing. Mental health is a dimension of our overall health that fluctuates and can be impacted or improved by many different factors in the same way as other dimensions like our physical health – i.e. everyone has mental health but not everyone has a mental illness. Just as fluctuations in our mental health are a really normal part of life, mental health problems are really common, particularly in young people. For the most part, young people navigate and manage these ups and downs really well, often with support from their friends and family.

Try – talking about what you do to support your mental health with your child in the same way you would talk about physical health – i.e eat nutritious food, drink plenty of water, get plenty of sleep, practice mindfulness, keep a gratitude journal etc.

The brain and anxiety

One of the most common things we’re seeing is overwhelming anxiety and this is a tough one for parents in particular. Anxiety is a very normal part of life that everyone experiences BUT not everyone experiences an anxiety disorder the prevents them from engaging fully in life. The way we experience anxiety is really related to threat perception and about our brain keeping us safe – this short clip is a great summary of what’s going on our brains when we’re anxious https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB0NLJjVYJo

The big difficulty for parents is that you want to protect your child from feelings of distress and so it can be very tempting to allow children to avoid those things that make them feel anxious. The problem is, developing really good strategies to combat anxiety hinges on training and practice – like building up a muscle or endurance.

Try – letting your child know that you have confidence that they can do things that challenge or make them uncomfortable.

Try - sharing your strategies for managing challenging and uncomfortable situations/tasks.

Building a tool kit

We all have a psychological “tool kit” for dealing with situations and tasks in our lives. As adults, we’ve spent many years building up, trying out and adjusting our tool kits AND knowing when to get help from someone else when our tools run out. Young people are still learning about their tool kit and building it up.

Try- talking about your experiences of success and mis-steps in managing difficult tasks and uncomfortable situations. Find new tools and strategies and practice them together.

Try - Asking your child to describe times they have managed uncomfortable situations/tasks successfully and help them to identify what tools they used.

Managing distress

It’s often really confronting for parents when their child becomes highly distressed, particularly if they become unsafe or make comments about self-harm. When something like this occurs, we would always recommend bringing in extra supports and in this case, we would usually start with your local GP. If you let reception at the GP clinics know that you are looking for an appointment regarding concerns for mental health, they will book you a longer appointment and triage you accordingly.

Where you have any concerns about safety out of hours, please also access the hospital/000 who have staff trained to intervene and provide support in a crisis. You can also call Lifeline 13 11 14 and Parentline 13 22 89 for additional support and guidance.

It's important to note, that school Wellbeing is not a crisis service, nor are we resourced to work with problems of a severe nature.

Youth Mental Health First Aid Training for Parents

Links, information and YMHFA for parents

https://headspace.org.au/

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

Mental health first aid is the help provided to someone who is developing a mental health problem, has a worsening of an existing mental health problem or is in a mental health crisis. The first aid is given until appropriate professional help is received or the crisis resolves. Mental health first aid strategies are taught in evidence-based training programs authored by Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Australia and conducted by accredited MHFA Instructors across Australia.

The Youth Mental Health First Aid Course is for adults working or living with adolescents (those aged between 12 and 18 years), however, the course can be relevant for those helping people who are a little younger or older. This course is particularly suitable for parents, teachers, sports coaches, and youth workers.

The course teaches adults how to assist adolescents who are developing a mental health problem or in a mental health crisis. Course participants learn about adolescent development, the signs and symptoms of the common and disabling mental health problems in young people, where and how to get help when a young person is developing a mental illness, what sort of help has been shown by research to be effective, and how to provide first aid in a crisis situation.

We are looking at offering a YMHFA course for Emmanuel parents in term 3 or 4 and would love to hear from you – is this something you would be interested in? Please email me to express your interest and preferred/suggested dates/times, rsloane@emmanuel.vic.edu.au

How to Talk to Your Young Person About Consent

Consent has been at the forefront of community discussion in recent weeks, generating lively conversation and debate about the needs of young people in this space, including how they can be supported to develop healthy, positive and respectful relationships. As always, we encourage families to continue talking about these hot topics and the following are a few things to consider and to support these important conversations.  

1. Navigating healthy relationships

Consent is not just about teaching young people that “no means no”, but one point in the much broader development of skills and capabilities that enable us to engage and enjoy healthy and respectful relationships. Young people need support to navigate and practice their skills in building and maintaining all kinds of relationships, dealing with conflict and disagreement, negotiating boundaries, adapting to change, conversational skills and of course grieving the end of relationships. 

Try – asking your child about what they think healthy relationships are and how they feel about their skills in this area. 

Ask – what does a positive relationship look like to you? What do you do to be a good friend? What do your friends do? Are there things you don’t feel so confident with? What kind of strategies are you using when things go wrong or you feel uncomfortable? When is a friendship more than a friendship? How do you know?

2. It’s a community issue

Tackling sexual and other violence in our society is an undertaking that can only be done by the community as a whole. These conversations and the challenging of unhelpful attitudes and practices needs to happen not just in the classroom but in our councils, sports clubs, churches, businesses and most importantly, in our homes. The culture and behaviour of young people is reflective of the culture in which they grow and live. 

Try – asking your child about what healthy and respectful relationships look like in other places they engage with like work, sports clubs and within the family. Talk about what this looks like in your workplace and the other organisations and spaces that you engage in. What’s working? What isn’t working so well? 

Try - Ask your child how they think it could work better.

3. Critical media literacy 

Movies, series, short videos and social media frequently depict all sorts of relationships and often not in the healthy and positive ways we would like. Young people (and society as a whole really) will though, continue to consume this media for entertainment and social connection and because of this it is so important that we support and encourage them to develop the skills to use a critical lens. 

Try – watching a show with your child and talking about how this represents relationships, ask “is this real? Is this healthy? Why do they use that for entertainment?”. 

Try – ask your child to talk you through the latest social media craze, what’s good about it? What don’t they like about it? It is respectful? 

4. Open and compassionate dialogue 

We always recommend keeping communication lines open, but particularly in the case of potentially controversial topics, it’s also important to be compassionate and supporting the idea of having a go. This is because, more and more we are afraid of saying the wrong thing, asking the wrong question or exposing our lack of knowledge on a topic and being judged or shamed for this. This unfortunately shuts down conversations which limits learning, development of skills and growth. 

Try – letting your child know that they can ‘try out ideas’, ask any questions and talk through scenarios in a safe space and you don’t expect them to get everything right every time. 

Remember – making mistakes and taking mis steps is how we all learn. 

5. Links and information 

Mason Black, school captain at Brisbane Boys College, delivered a powerful speech on sexual consent to his fellow classmates and it has gained the attention of thousands of people around the country.

In the moving address, the Year 12 student urged people  to 'start being human'.

You can watch his speech below.

Here are some useful numbers in this space:

Centre Against Sexual Assault: 
24-hour counselling for victims/survivors of sexual assault, 1800 806 292.

Victoria Legal Aid: 
Free legal help, 1300 792 387.

Youthlaw: 
Legal services for people 25 and under 9611 2412.

From Boys to Men Webinar Series - Maggie Dent.

Commonly known as the ‘queen of common sense’, Maggie Dent has become one of Australia’s favourite parenting authors and educators. She has a particular interest in the early years, adolescence and resilience, and is an undisputed ‘boy champion’.

Maggie is offering a very affordable webinar series based on her 2020 book From Boys to Men: Guiding our teen boys to grow into happy healthy men.

In three separate online events, Maggie will explore key aspects of the book, including communication, motivation and helping boys navigate anger and failure.

WEBINAR 1: Teen boy communication that really works

Have you found communication a challenge since your son hit adolescence? You are not alone if your formerly sweet boy is now communicating with you in monosyllabic grunts and everything you say seems to annoy or upset him enormously. In this webinar, Maggie explains what's going in our teen boys' brains that makes them feel more sensitive, critical of themselves and others, and volatile. She explains how parents and people who work with teen boys can use warm, caring, empowering communication with the lads in their lives – communication that helps them cross the bridge to manhood to a place where they feel worthwhile and engaged in respectful relationships.

WEBINAR 2: 'Unsticking' an unmotivated teen boy

It's very common (but also pretty exasperating) for tween and teen boys to become unmotivated about things like schoolwork, tidying up after themselves or changing their clothes. While these things might matter to parents and teachers, there are many biological, neurological, physical, hormonal and psychological changes that make motivation challenging for the average adolescent boy. While we hope the situation is temporary, it can become a permanent mindset so in this webinar Maggie shares some practical things we can do (and things we should avoid) at home and at school to 'unstick' a son whose motivation is stuck. This will be helpful whether you have a 14-year-old who you just can't understand or an 18-year-old you can't get off your couch.

WEBINAR 3: Helping teen boys manage anger and failure

Going live on Thursday 22nd April...or watch in your own time.

We all get angry from time to time, it's a normal human emotion. However, because of what's happening in their brains and bodies – and because of the deep conditioning that anger is a more acceptable emotion for males than, say, sadness – teen boys can particularly struggle with their anger. For those of us living or working with teen boys, it can be challenging to respond calmly and compassionately when faced with an adolescent's immature, explosive reaction contained within an often-man-sized body. In this webinar, Maggie looks at why anger is not the problem, more a symptom of a deeper concern. She explores why teen boys' poor choices, mistakes and failures often lead to anger and despair – and how we can better respond to help our boys cope and recover from muck up moments.

To register, or find out more, simply follow this link, or go to maggiedent.com

Study Made Simple

Well here we are at the end of term and a few students are starting to come through our doors feeling overwhelmed with their workloads and feeling as though they’re falling behind with their studies.

Here are a few tips we share to get you all back on track:

Balance

Spending 100% of your time at school, studying, sleeping and eating is not good for anyone, nor is it as productive as you might think. We all function much better in all avenues of our lives when we have relative balance.

This means that making time for homework, exercise, for fun, for your friends and family, as well as the all important relaxation is the best thing you could do for your academic success.

Don’t compare

‘Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive that is youer than you.’ Dr Suess

Comparing ourselves or our scores to anyone else NEVER ends well. Regardless of the reality of how well we are actually doing, our pesky brain is ALWAYS much more likely to tell us we aren’t doing good enough.

So, cut out the middle person, and simply don’t compare yourself to anyone else. We’re all different and unique and so too will be our academic career.

Study Routine

This is where many of our students are falling over. The earlier in your secondary school career that you establish an effective study routine for yourself, the better.

This includes:

• Setting up a comfortable, quiet, well lit environment where you go to study every time you study. That way, your brain associates the space with focus and concentration.
• Schedule in specific study blocks. I usually find that 45 minutes of effort followed by 15 minutes of rest or reward (a snack, a break, a short episode of something…) works really well. You might do 2 or 3 blocks in a row, like this, or it might just be one. You’ll be surprised how much you can get done when you know the time is limited.
• Plan in advance. You’ll know when assessments are due, SACS and other tests and exams are coming up, so mark them in your diary and schedule your preparation in.

GAT/SACs

For senior students, take your GAT and SACs seriously. They are excellent preparation for exams and their scores really do count. The study habits you create around preparing for them can set you up for success, and also for university down the track.

Manage your stress

It’s so very important to know yourself and understand and be able to identify your early warning signs of stress. Has your concentration or memory gotten worse? Are you having trouble sleeping? How’s your appetite?

Managing your stress comes down to the daily choices you makes and in the case of stress management, prevention is truly much easier than cure once the stress really takes hold.

So, back to balance. What fills your cup? Are you coming to our meditation sessions on Rice? Why not?

Activity Scheduling

Just like any stable and reliable structure, good mental health requires a solid foundation. The keys to a secure foundation are balance and consistency both of which are even more important when we are under any stress.

Recently, a few of our senior students have wandered through our Wellbeing doors feeling the cumulative pressures of study, work and social life. Here are some tips we’ve shared with them, to help them find a little more balance and to reduce their stress.

To simplify matters, we can break most of our tasks in life into four categories:

Achievement Activities:

Anything that we do that is goal-oriented and provides us with a sense of accomplishment at its completion. Our ‘have to’ tasks tend to fit into this category as well. E.g. study; work; household chores; errands; etc. But achievement activities can also include the satisfaction that comes from completing a book, or a piece of art, or having walked the dog, for example.

Pleasant Activities:

All of the things we do that we enjoy and that make us feel good. This category includes all of our leisure and pleasure activities. For example: reading; watching a movie; travel; having a massage; gardening; drawing, etc. I also find that the activities that lead to personal growth fit into this category, for example, meditation practice, journaling, gratitude practice etc.

Social Activities:

Whenever we spend meaningful time connecting with others, we are being social. This can include face-to-face contact, but especially at the moment, includes telephone, Face Time, Zoom, Skype, email, social networking. Exercising with a friend at a safe distance is very popular at the moment. Walking and talking has always been a favourite of mine.

Physical Activities:

Any activity that requires us to move our body. The World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests that we ‘move’ at least 30 minutes every day, at least five days per week. It doesn’t even have to be consecutive e.g. you could do ten minutes of physical exercise, three times per day. For example: walking; running; cycling; taking the stairs; swimming etc.

What you’ve probably already noticed is that many things that we do fit into more than one of the above categories. How great is that!

Walking with a friend on the beach is a physical activity, a pleasant activity AND a social activity. It might even be an achievement.

The key is to make sure you are engaging in enough activities in ALL of the categories on a regular basis. Many of us are very good at completing ‘Achievement’ type tasks but we struggle to find time to fit in exercise or time to catch up with our friends as often as we’d like. In my clinical work, I consistently talk to adult clients about their lack of prioritising pleasure and leisure in their weekly lives.

When an imbalance occurs and we’re doing too much of one thing and not enough of others, we increase our risk of stress. If that continues for a long enough period of time, the risk of developing other mental health issues increases.

I challenge you to think about your own life balance in order to successfully have a study or work routine at home, consider the following:

• Commit to a helpful sleep and wake cycle, going to bed at the same time every night and waking at the same time every morning, in time to get ready and begin the school day on time
• Drink lots of water
• Eat breakfast, recess snacks and lunch during the school day to keep your brain functioning
• Continue with your study plan outside of school. I recommend 45 minutes (an average attention span) of work followed by 15 minutes rest/reward
• Don’t forget to add in activities from the other areas of your life, social, physical & pleasant activities.

Here is a photo of my current activity schedule for the week. You’ll see I’ve colour-coded the four domains which gives me a quick snapshot of where I need more of one colour and perhaps less of another.

If you’d like a blank copy of this calendar to create your own activity schedule, simply email jfleming@emmanuel.vic.edu.au

Getting a Great Night's Sleep

Good quality sleep underpins all aspects of our wellbeing, yet sleep is something most of us struggle with at certain times. Perhaps we have trouble falling asleep, or staying asleep and there's nothing worse than waking around 3am - a sure sign of stress.

Sleep hygiene is the name of the group of strategies we recommend to improve the quality of your sleep. Ideally, we need 7-8 hours per night.

Check out these strategies recommended by Beyond Blue. You don't need to try them all at once, but if you're struggling with sleep, why not try one of these ideas at a time until you find what works for you.

Goodnight!

Conversation on the Couch with Dr Jodie Fleming

It’s time to reintroduce you to our fourth Fit4Life Wellbeing team member, our School Psychologist, Jodie.

Jodie is many things to many people. A published author: Her memoir ‘A Hole in My Genes’ documents her cancer journey. A staffy lover: Jodie is mum to a gorgeous blue staffy named Mortimer. A doting auntie to two teenage boys. An ocean swimmer. A retreat leader. A cancer survivor. A dependable and motivated work colleague. I could go on and on. But to me and countless others, Jodie is a treasured and valued friend with a wicked sense of humour and raging caffeine addiction. 

Please enjoy getting to know Jodie even more, with her latest Conversation on the Couch.  

What are you currently reading?

I couldn’t make this up if I tried, but at the risk of sounding like an over-achieving, over-thinking academic (which I am most definitely not!) I’ve finally just picked up a copy of Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning and it is so good! And only 154 pages so you know, my kind of book!

I’m actually doing some research for my own book and have just written a chapter on the importance of belonging. It begins with my memory of visiting the Jewish Holocaust Museum in Melbourne on Year 10 camp with our now Year 12 students. We were privileged enough to hear the story of a beautiful man by the name of Joe Szwarcberg. I wish Joe had a book I could read, because I want to remember the finer details of his story and how he survived such atrocities and so much loss.

At the end of the talk I was able to ask him what kept him alive. He replied, ‘Hope.’

I think Viktor Frankl’s book is the closest thing I could find and it’s certainly making me feel the same way I did the day we sat and heard a first-hand account of what life in a concentration camp was like. It will never leave me.

What are you watching on Netflix?

Well, I try very hard to watch what all of you watch. I want us to have things in common, to connect
over and I also want to know what messages you’re receiving about the world, and relationships in particular. With such a big focus on consent, prejudice and growing up walking through our Wellbeing door lately, I’ve started watching Ginny & Georgia, and last night I watched Moxie.

Moxie carried some great messages, but so far in Ginny & Georgia, the lack of explicit messages around consent and the complete absence of it within one of the sexual relationships in the first episode left me gobsmacked and more than a little angry, I have to say. I’ll persevere and watch the remainder, but only so that I can sit with you and explain where all the mistakes were made.

How are you challenging yourself in 2021?

Well, this term I’ve already challenged myself by joining my Year 11 group on retreat complete the high ropes course. I’m not the biggest fan of heights, but noone else was volunteering to go first and I thought, ‘Well, I can’t ask my group to extend themselves if I’m not willing to.’ So, up I went.

Luke Kenna videoed my climb and afterward I asked him why he filmed it in slow motion. Bewildered, he told me he didn’t. Hahaha that’s how slow I was climbing!

Tomorrow, I join our Year 9’s on camp and my big challenge on this one will be caving. Mr Martin has already challenged me to do it and so I will, but I have to tell you, I’m pretty claustrophobic. Watch this space!
** Okay, it turns out I challenged myself as far as I could stretch my comfort zone, but just before the panic crept in, I decided to not push myself any further. I'm a true believer that it's important to know our limitations, and that by the time we reach the panic zone, we're unable to experience growth anyway.

If you could wave a magic wand and wish for some improvement in our Emmanuel students’ wellbeing, what would you wish for?

There are so many things I’d like to say here including wishing everyone already had a full toolkit of helpful, healthy coping mechanisms they can use when their uncomfortable emotions take over.

I wish that I could help them understand that what they see as an insurmountable problem, won’t be in a week, a month, a year, five years from now and that whatever it is will likely help them grow and develop as a person.

I also wish that people didn’t feel as though they need to hurt themselves in order to feel better, or have a sense of control over their emotional pain. There are so many other strategies that can provide that, which are easy to learn, healthy and tools you can use for life. You just have to be willing to come and learn them.

Tara O'Keefe - Class of 2009

Tara is the Group Business Director at QMS Media in Melbourne.  QMS is a Media agency specialising in outdoor media.  Tara’s creativity, eagerness to try something new and business savvy has seen her rapidly step up the ranks at QMS, and late last year she was nominated for a Women in Media Award.  These national awards recognise women at the forefront of the industry for their courage, innovation and leadership.

Prior to working with QMS, Tara's first job was working for one of Australia’s biggest media agencies – Carat.  Here she was part of a team supporting huge clients such as Disney and Cadbury.

Recently, Candice Hampstead, our Alumni Coordinator, sat down with Tara to learn a bit about what she has been doing since she finished school, who inspires her and what was important for her this International Women’s Day.

Learning Diversity

We are excited to be including an article from our fabulous Learning Diversity Team in every Words for Wellbeing and welcome any requests for topics you’d like to see covered. Please email alane@emmanuel.vic.edu.au

Inclusive Education: Essential for some, but good for ALL!

National Day of Action Against Bullying & Violence in Review

The National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA) is Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative, connecting schools and communities to find workable solutions to bullying and violence. Awareness of the day and its purpose was highlighted to our students through activities during extended homeroom and a casual dress day with many students wearing a touch of orange. A lunchtime activity was led by our Wellbeing intake worker Tracey van Rooy and Year 10 leaders.  This activity involved students making chatterboxes that held tips for others to use if they were bullied or saw others being bullied.

The gold coin donations for casual dress day were donated to Caritas - Project Compassion.

The link below offers support to families.

Bullying, No Way! Day

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Healthy Lunch Box Tips by Ruth Walker, Dietician

Lunch is important. It gives you the energy you need to get through a day well. It also contributes to your overall daily nutrient intake. It is hard to reach your requirements for key nutrients such as protein, iron and fibre if you skip lunch.

As a dietitian, I often hear the complaint, “I’m bored of my lunches. What else can I have for lunch?” Interestingly, I don’t seem to get the same complaints about lunch or tea! Perhaps this is because busy days stifle creativity and impact on the time available to make something truly delicious. Being away from a kitchen and limited cooking facilities also limit the type of lunches that can be prepared.

Here are some simple and delicious lunch box options to add variety to your food intake during the day (none of these require any heating):

• Rice-paper rolls. These are healthy, easy to make and you can make them the night before.
• Salad wraps. These are full of fibre and you can change up the flavours by swapping ingredients and/or adding hummus/tzatziki/beetroot dips.
• Power bowls. Put a range of colourful salad ingredients (spinach, tomato, beetroot, carrot, rice, avocado) in a re-usable container. Remember to add some sort of protein (meat, chicken, tuna, quinoa, chickpeas).
• Zucchini slice. Full of protein, fibre and calcium - an oldie, but a goodie!
• Savoury muffins. You can make a big batch and then keep them in the freezer so they are ready when you are.

Check out this link for a great range of recipes

If you have access to a microwave or sandwich toaster you could heat-up leftovers or a homemade soup. You can even scramble eggs or toast a sandwich with yummy fillings!

If you have nothing prepared, some healthy takeaway options include sushi, rice-paper rolls, Subway (6-inch) and pre-made sandwiches from a local bakery (avoid any extras).

Also, remember that not every meal needs to be a Master Chef meal. It is okay to have something simple for lunch to give you the energy you need to get you from breakfast to tea – even if you feel like it is a bit repetitive. Keep in mind that you can make something as delicious for tea. Also, you can spend more time preparing great lunches on the weekend. If you are a bit bored with your lunch – make sure you eat it anyway. This will probably stop you snacking on unhealthy things later in the day.  

What are your health goals at the moment? Should having nutritious and delicious lunches be one of them?

Hot Cross Buns

Year 11 Students - South West Emerging Leaders - Applications Open

Applications for the 2021 South West Emerging Leaders program are open now but are closing soon!

Applications are welcome from any Year 11 students who live in the Shires of Moyne or Corangamite or the City of Warrnambool.

This year's program is an innovative mix of face-to-face and online learning:

* self-leadership and leading when you're not in charge

* leadership and teams

* emotional intelligence

* transferable skills

* entrepreneurship

* health, mind and happiness

* mindset and motivation

* what employers want

* the future of work in the Great South Coast

... and much more!

You'll also be matched with an industry-based mentor.

Meet new people, extend yourself and improve your future employability!

DM us for an application form.

Coming Up This School Holidays: Intensive Social Skills Program with Neuro Speech Connections

Mindfulness

Fit4Life, Wellbeing @ Emmanuel College

Your 2021 Fit4Life Wellbeing Team are, from left to right, Jodie Fleming (School Psychologist), Rachele Sloane (Wellbeing coordinator), Claire Wrigley (Assistant Principal Students Wellbeing), Tracey van Rooy (Student Wellbeing Intake Officer). You can look forward to meeting us all through the Conversations on the Couch in coming editions, or, in person anytime!

The Fit4Life Wellbeing Team are here to enhance your school experience, working within classrooms, across camps and retreats, providing education and resources, delivering evidence-based group programs, we are set up to deliver support for mild to moderate issues within the school setting. For more severe, or ongoing issues, we can help you connect with appropriate external services and supports.

We have moved but we are still located on McAuley campus. You’ll now find us upstairs in the Convent, at the end of the Year 7 corridor, directly above the Heritage room.

Can’t follow my instructions? Here are some videos coming from The Stage, the front office, and from the Year 7 corridor. Simply click on the links for a speedy tour.

We also have spaces on Rice and Goold campuses. Teachers, parents and guardians and students are all able to refer students to us. If you'd like to catch up, simply email us at wellbeing@emmanuel.vic.edu.au

Fit Bits

Our weekly Fit Bits links are designed to energise, motivate and encourage us to take brain breaks and mindful moments throughout each day for our minds and our bodies.

ENERGISER

**Explicit language warning**

BRAIN BREAK

MINDFUL MOMENT

MOTIVATIONAL MUSIC

We hope you’ve found something useful in this edition of Words for Wellbeing.

Our past editions of Words for Wellbeing contain useful reminders about how to cope with the changes that stage three lockdown brings. You’ll find all of our past editions online - just follow this link and enter Words for Wellbeing in the search bar: 

Wishing you a safe and restful Easter period and school holidays, stay tuned for our next edition of Words for Wellbeing!

In the meantime, if you need to contact Wellbeing, please email us at wellbeing@emmanuel.vic.edu.au to organise a catch up or just to check in or offer us any suggestions or feedback on our Words for Wellbeing.

Stay safe and well everyone.

Love from your Wellbeing Team