Words for Wellbeing - Edition 6 - May 13, 2021

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.

This edition we celebrate Diversity & Inclusion @Emmanuel College with articles about IDAHOBIT Day on May 17th, including tips on using inclusive language and how to use pronouns; we explore motherhood across cultures; our cultural diversity in Australia; we have a very special Conversation on the Couch with Brophy's Sparklez Hernan; we discuss languishing - perhaps the emotion of 2021!; we introduce a new segment on screen time & making healthy choices; we even have a recipe in the name of Food Allergy Week, plus much, much more. 

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

Diversity & Inclusion Day @ Emmanuel College, May 17th, 2021

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION EXPLAINED

Diversity refers to the mix of people in a community – that is, all the differences between people in how they identify in relation to their:

Social Identity: e.g. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander background, age, caring responsibilities, cultural background, disability status, gender, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, and socio-economic background.

Professional & Academic Identity: e.g. profession, educational level, work experience, organisational level, etc.

These aspects come together in a unique way for each individual and shape the way they view and perceive their world as well as how others view and treat them.

Inclusion refers to getting the mix of people in a community to work together to improve the wellbeing for all. Inclusion in a school community is achieved when a diversity of people (e.g., ages, cultural backgrounds, genders, perspectives) feel that they are:

RESPECTED for who they are and able to be themselves;

CONNECTED to their peers and colleagues and feel they belong;

CONTRIBUTING their perspectives and talents to the community; and

PROGRESSING in their education and/or career at work (i.e. have equal access to opportunities and resources).

It is only through inclusion that organisations can make the most out of diversity.

On May 17th, Emmanuel College is celebrating Diversity & Inclusion Day, IDAHOBIT Day https://www.idahobit.org.au/ by encouraging all of our community to wear colourful ties and socks to Go Rainbow & Be Visible

We are also proud to be flying the Progressive Pride flag on May 17th.

IDAHOBIT DAY, May 17th

31 years ago - on May 17, 1990 - the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia & Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) celebrates LGBTQIA+ people globally, and raises awareness for the work still needed to combat discrimination.

RECOGNISING DISCRIMINATION

Transphobia
Describes negative feelings or actions towards someone who's trans or gender diverse. Transphobia can include abusive threats or actual physical violence, sexual harassment and deliberately excluding someone because of their gender.

Homophobia
Verbal homophobia is the most common form. Things like name-calling, rumours and abusive words ('fag’ or ‘dyke’). Phrases like 'that’s so gay' which compare sexuality to words like ‘crap’ can have a negative impact.

Biphobia
Biphobia is abuse towards someone who is attracted to more than one gender, and even includes when that person's identity is erased. This can be in the form of telling someone that their sexuality is 'just a phase', or even telling them to 'pick a side.'

Interphobia
Intersex discrimination happens when a person is treated less favourably than another person in a similar situation because that person has physical, hormonal or genetic features that are neither wholly female nor wholly male; a combination of female and male; or neither female nor male. This can include exclusion or mistreatment in medical services.

THE IMPACT

Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia can occur online, face to face and affect everyone by creating spaces where people feel unsafe and like they can't be themselves. Sexuality and gender identity or intersex status aren't always visible, so creating a culture where everyone feels safe, even if there aren't any visible LGBTI people is even more important.

WHAT ARE THE BASICS OF USING INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE?

1. Using inclusive language makes a real difference to LGBTIQ people. Our top three tips are:
   If someone discloses to you that they’re from one of the LGBTIQ communities, respectfully ask what terms they use to describe themselves, then use those terms.
2. Don’t question or make assumptions about someone’s gender, sexuality or relationship. Accept and respect how people define their gender and sexuality.
3. Use language that acknowledges that we have diverse relationships and families. This can mean using words like 'partner' or 'parents', particularly when describing groups of people.

HOW SHOULD I USE PRONOUNS?

Pronouns are one way people refer to each other and themselves. Most but not all men (including trans men) use the pronoun ‘he’. Likewise, most but not all women (including trans women) use the pronoun ‘she’. Some people use a gender- neutral pronoun such as ‘they’ (e.g. 'Pip drives their car to work. They don’t like walking because it takes them too long.')

If you’re unsure what someone’s pronoun is, you can ask them respectfully, and preferably privately.

Use a question like 'Can I ask what pronoun you use?' Do not ask 'What pronoun do you prefer?' A person’s pronoun and identity are not a preference. Instead, just ask what pronoun they use. Some people’s pronouns may be context-specific. For example, someone might not use their pronoun in a particular environment or around particular people because they do not feel safe or comfortable to do so.

WHAT IF I MAKE A MISTAKE?
People may worry that they will offend or be embarrassed if they use the wrong term, name or pronoun, particularly for trans and gender diverse people.

It’s important to try to use respectful language and some mistakes are understandable, particularly when you are learning. If you make a mistake, apologise promptly and move on. Don’t dwell on it, and don’t give up – keep trying to get it right.

Repeated mistakes indicate a lack of respect, and can be very distressing. If it continues or is deliberate, it could constitute bullying or discrimination which is unlawful.

Adolescence is an intense time of change in every aspect of our lives: socially; emotionally; spiritually; cognitively; physically; and, sexually. It’s also the stage of life where a significant amount of identity formation occurs. Adolescence can bring many questions, some of which are easy to talk about and have simple answers, and others not so much.

We’ve borrowed some pieces of an article from Minus18 - Champions for LGBTQIA+ youth - an interview with Nevo Zisin.

Nevo Zisin (they/them) is a queer, non-binary, Jewish writer, performer, activist and public speaker based in Naarm/Birraranga/Melbourne. They run workshops in schools and professional development trainings in workplaces around transgender identities. They're the author of the award-winning Finding Nevo, a memoir on gender transition, and The Pronoun Lowdown, which will soon be in our LRC.

For the full interview, follow this link:

https://www.minus18.org.au/articles/we-ask-nevo-zisin:-can-your-sexuality-or-gender-identity-change-over-time

CAN SOMEONE'S SEXUALITY OR GENDER IDENTITY CHANGE OVER TIME?

Yes, absolutely! Sexuality, as well as gender, can be incredibly fluid.

I have identified as so many things throughout my life. I was assigned female at birth, I came out as bisexual when I was 14 and then as a lesbian at 15. After a few years I realised that didn’t quite fit right for me either, and I came out as a binary trans man.

I really thought that would be the end of my comings-out, but as I got to know myself better, breathe and expand more, meet other queer people, I felt more and more non-binary and fluid in my gender and sexuality.

Besides, almost every single LGBTIQA+ person I’ve met in my life has been told at some stage that their gender or sexuality is a ‘phase’ – which indicates that in some way, everyone thinks these categories are fluid.

AGE DOESN’T MATTER – YOU CAN EVOLVE AND CHANGE AT ANY POINT IN YOUR LIFE!

I think this fluidity exists at any age! That said, I do remember feeling stressed when I was younger and I came out as a lesbian, that I would never be able to change my mind. I was worried, ‘What if I fall in love with a man? Then that will prove to everyone that it was a phase!’

Here’s the thing: everything is a phase! Childhood, high school, university, the different jobs you have, your relationships – they’re all phases! But just because something might be short-lived, it doesn’t mean it isn’t real or doesn’t impact you. So don’t worry too much about something being a phase, or being perceived as a phase. Don’t block yourself off from evolution and growth and change, because that’s exactly what life is all about!

You’re allowed to not have all of the answers and you’re totally allowed to just be figuring things out – even if you’re figuring it out forever.

THERE’S NO ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL WAY OF COMING-OUT

Coming-out is deeply personal (and also might not even be something you want to do at all, and that’s okay). You know your family and yourself best. I think having some resources to offer can be really helpful, so that you don’t have to do all of the educating 

FEELING SUPPORTED MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE

IF YOU NEED SUPPORT, SUPPORT IS THERE FOR YOU. REACH OUT!

There are some great resources out there available for LGBTQIA+ young people. I really recommend all of the resources Minus18 offers. I was so lucky to have found Minus18 when I was 15. Attending social events and being part of those online spaces was so helpful for me in feeling less isolated.

Switchboard also provides really amazing support. They even offer different formats for receiving support, like over the phone, or web chat (which I enjoy because phone calls sometimes give me anxiety). The best thing to do when you’re struggling is to reach out – even just speaking to a trusted adult. There are people who want to help, I promise.

ALLIES, LISTEN UP! WE GOT TIPS FOR YOU TOO.

The more proactive you can be in your learning, the better. Buy books, watch panel discussions, listen to podcasts. There is so much information out there nowadays, and with the internet at your disposal there’s no longer any excuse for not engaging. Even watching TikToks by LGBTIQA+ content creators can be a great place to start – you’ll learn a lot!

Not relying on your family member or friend to do all of the educating is one of the best ways you can be an ally, so that they can just be themselves and not have to be your teacher.

Continue to ask questions: ‘How can I best support you?’, ‘Do you have any resources you might recommend?’, ‘Is there any way I can be a better ally for you?’ As soon as you feel like you’re done, and doing the best job you can, that’s probably when you’re not! So keep asking, keep exploring and keep growing.

Conversation on the Couch with Sparklez Hernan

We are so excited to invite Sparklez Hernan, SAFE in the South West LGBTIQ+ Support & Youth Activities Worker, to this edition's Conversation on the Couch.

For the past 6 years employed at Brophy Family and Youth Services in the SAFE in the South West Program, facilitating LGBTIQA+ inclusive spaces, delivering LGBTIQA+ training and workshops, and advocate for LGBTIQA+ recognition and celebration across the Great South Coast.

Sparklez facilitates sessions for young LGBTIQA+ people and their friends, in the Yumcha groups and they recently represented on an expert panel at the recent launch of the new National Rainbow Tick Guide.  Woo hoo!!

Fun Fact: Sparklez has over 20 pet fish.

Sparklez's Pronouns are They/Them.

If you could offer your fifteen-year-old self, one piece of advice, what would it be? 

There's no right or wrong way for you to be in the world, and stop obsessing with finding yourself as there is a whole life of exploration to be had outside of the high school, most of which does not define who you are as a person.

What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you? 

There's not a whole lot that I would do differently. I feel as though being gender non-conforming and socially affirming and creating that expression of self comes with some social judgement regardless of how wonderfully diverse a community is. 

What does pride and support mean to you? 

For me, it's a representation of self, being able to find like minded people who support without question and able to relate to experiences that have happened on the basis of identity and expression.

At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive? 

Anytime I deliver work within LGBTIQA+ spaces it makes me remember the times I wish I had opportunities similar and hearing the impact of finding other LGBTIQA+ people is having on those who can feel as though they are 'the only queer in the village'

Mothers & Mothering

On Sunday May 9th, we celebrated Mother’s Day, a day that means so many different things to so many different people. We stumbled across a beautiful post on Facebook that sums our sentiments up perfectly.

There are a million ways to mother, a million kinds of mothers and they don’t all look like the ones in your Facebook feed. To those without children, who wanted or lost children, to those without their mothers, to those who provide love and care and support for children - the best friends, the aunties, the teachers, the carers... I see all of you. This life takes a village and we don’t need a Hallmark Day to remind us.

In keeping with our Diversity & Inclusion theme for this edition, we found a gorgeous article on mothering, around the world. And we've also got a special little Emmanuel Mother's Day video too.

Please enjoy!

Motherhood in Different Cultures Around the World 

https://youaremom.com/pregnancy/motherhood-in-different-cultures/

Even though motherhood seems universal, motherhood is very different in different cultures around the world. In this article, we'll show you some examples.

Without a doubt, motherhood is an essential life event for women and society across the globe. Yet motherhood in different cultures takes on different forms. Even though it may seem universal, ideas about motherhood vary greatly, both around the world as well as in your own environment.

Motherhood in different cultures: social construct

Certainly, motherhood is a biological occurrence that only affects women. However, nowadays, anthropologists are studying motherhood as a cultural construction that"s a general and universal biological occurrence. 

Doctor in anthropology Ángeles Sánchez states that motherhood isn"t just reproducing with your body. In fact, every culture has a sociocultural construction. Therefore, it"s a psychosocial event.

It’s easy to see that motherhood is a biological and cultural event by seeing what motherhood looks like in different cultures around the world.

Women’s support in Kenya and Tanzania

In the tribes of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, there is a lot of female social support. For example, this happens in the Maasai and Swahili tribal groups. These women gather around new mothers during their first few days of motherhood.

From the moment of delivery, new mums are surrounded by women. Then, men disappear during the first few weeks of motherhood. In the Swahili tribe, the couple sleeps in separate rooms for 40 days after childbirth.

On the other hand, in the Maasai tribe, all of the women in the village attend the births. Then, the men wait at the house of the mother's mum. For the next two months, the rest of the Maasai women help the new mums by doing their tasks and responsibilities for them.

Traditions and customs in China and Japan

In China, the strong attachments to traditions means that today, they still practice zuò yuè zi. During the first month after giving birth, the mother and baby need to stay in the hospital or at home to protect the newborn"s health.

Another tradition is focused on the hygiene of the mother, who must wait until after the postnatal period to bathe. Regarding food, during pregnancy, women need to avoid foods that they consider hot, like eggs, and eat cold foods, like fruit.

In Japan, men play a somewhat foreign role during pregnancy. In fact, they don’t go to doctor’s appointments or pregnancy courses. Even in some Japanese hospitals, men aren’t allowed to enter during childbirth.

After the first month, the Japanese people celebrate a very important tradition: the Miyamairi. It involves taking the baby to a Shinto temple for the first time and performing a ceremony to celebrate the baby's birth. In it, they ask for the baby to grow up strong and healthy.

The late motherhood of the West

Women in today’s Western Europe are very different from those just a few decades ago. Motherhood in particular has changed.

Now that motherhood isn’t linked to marriage, women who want to be mums first try to be professionally and financially stable. This inevitably leads women to have babies at an older age.

In this context, it’s common for families to have very few children. This is because families' goals have changed. They don’t want to have a lot of kids, but rather to give them a quality life.

Motherhood in different cultures: what is the best country to be a mum?

In 2015, the NGO for children Save the Children published the 16th annual report of the State of the World’s Mothers. It analyzes health inequalities among the world’s major cities. In addition, it assesses the wellbeing of mothers and children in 179 countries.

The results of this report show that Norway is the best country to be a mother, followed by Finland and Iceland. As for the countries at the bottom, it shows that Somalia is the worst.

The researchers base this report on several factors, such as mothers’ health, as well as the risk of mothers dying from pregnancy or childbirth. In Norway, 1 in 12,160 women die from maternal causes, while in Somalia, 1 in 30 die.

“We need to do more to make sure that all mothers and babies have a fair chance of survival and a happy, healthy life, no matter where they live."

–Carolyn Miles–

Final thoughts on motherhood in different cultures

Without a doubt, motherhood in different cultures varies around the world. However, you don’t need to compare other cultures to observe the differences. In your own context, the idea of motherhood is surely changing and evolving constantly.

Professor Cándida Alamillos explains that, in the current transition period, society demands different family models. In addition, they're changing how they see gender roles.

Undoubtedly, despite the fact that families have different characteristics, diversity in motherhood gives us the hope we need to make all ways of life more fair and equal.

Our Cultural Diversity

Australia is a vibrant and multicultural country — from the oldest continuous culture of our first Australians to the cultures of our newest arrivals from around the world.

Our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and is at the heart of who we are. It makes Australia a great place to live.

An integrated multicultural Australia is an integral part of our national identity. All people who migrate to Australia bring with them some of their own cultural and religious traditions, as well as taking on many new traditions. Collectively, these traditions have enriched our nation.

Facts and figures

There are some fascinating statistics about Australia's diversity that can be good conversation-starters:

• nearly half (49 per cent) of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was
• we identify with over 300 ancestries
• since 1945, more than 7.5 million people have migrated to Australia
• 85 per cent of Australians agree multiculturalism has been good for Australia
• apart from English, the most common languages spoken in Australia are Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek, Tagalog/Filipino, Hindi, Spanish and Punjabi
• more than 70 Indigenous languages are spoken in Australia.
  

These facts are taken from ABS 2016 Census Data. Check out the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.

Languishing: There’s a name for the ‘blah’ you’re feeling

By Adam Grant for The New York Times
https://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/there-s-a-name-for-the-blah-you-re-feeling-20210427-p57mo0.html

At first, I didn’t recognise the symptoms that we all had in common. Friends mentioned that they were having trouble concentrating. Colleagues reported that even with vaccines on the horizon, they weren’t excited about 2021.

A family member stayed up late to watch National Treasure again even though she knows the movie by heart. And instead of bouncing out of bed at 6am, I was lying there until 7, playing Words With Friends.

It wasn’t burnout. And wasn’t depression. We just felt somewhat joyless and aimless. There’s a name for that: languishing.

Languishing is a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you’re looking at your life through a foggy windshield. And it may be the dominant emotion of 2021.

Many people are struggling with the emotional long haul of the pandemic. It hit some of us unprepared as the intense fear and grief of last year faded.

In the early, uncertain days of the pandemic, it’s very likely that your brain’s threat detection system – the amygdala – was on high alert for fight-or-flight. As you learned that masks helped protect us – but package scrubbing didn’t – you probably developed routines that eased your sense of dread. But the pandemic has dragged on, and the acute state of anguish has given way to a chronic condition of languish.

In psychology, we think about mental health on a spectrum from depression to flourishing. Flourishing is the peak of wellbeing: you have a strong sense of meaning, mastery and mattering to others. Depression is the valley of ill-being: you feel despondent, drained and worthless.

Languishing is the neglected middle child of mental health. It’s the void between depression and flourishing — the absence of wellbeing. You don’t have symptoms of mental illness, but you’re not the picture of mental health either. You’re not functioning at full capacity. Languishing dulls your motivation, disrupts your ability to focus and triples the odds that you’ll cut back on work. It appears to be more common than major depression, and in some ways it may be a bigger risk factor for mental illness.

The term was coined by sociologist Corey Keyes, who was struck that many people who weren’t depressed also weren’t thriving. His research suggests that the people most likely to experience major depression and anxiety disorders in the next decade aren’t the ones with those symptoms today. They’re the people who are languishing now. New evidence from pandemic healthcare workers in Italy shows that those who were languishing last spring were three times as likely than their peers to have post-traumatic stress disorder.

Even if you’re not languishing, you probably know people who are. Understanding it better can help you help them.

Expanding your lexicon
Psychologists find that one of the best strategies for managing emotions is to name them. Last spring, during the acute anguish of the pandemic, the most viral post in the history of Harvard Business Review was an article describing our collective discomfort as grief. Along with the loss of loved ones, we were mourning the loss of normalcy. “Grief.” It gave us a familiar vocabulary to understand what had felt like an unfamiliar experience. Although we hadn’t faced a pandemic before, most of us had faced loss. It helped us crystallise lessons from our own past resilience and gain confidence in our ability to face present adversity.

We still have a lot to learn about what causes languishing and how to cure it, but naming it may be a first step. It could help to defog our vision, giving us a clearer window into what had been a blurry experience. It could remind us that we aren’t alone. Languishing is common and shared.

And it could give us a socially acceptable response to “How are you?”

Instead of saying “Great!” or “Fine”, imagine if we answered, “Honestly, I’m languishing.” It would be a refreshing foil for toxic positivity, that quintessentially American pressure to be upbeat at all times.

It’s no coincidence that another name for intuition is “gut feeling”. We instantly feel sick, or our heart rate rises, or we start to sweat.

When you add languishing to your lexicon, you start to notice it all around you. It shows up when you feel let down by your short afternoon walk. It’s in your kids’ voices when you ask how online school went. It’s in The Simpsons every time a character says, “Meh.”

An antidote to languishing
So what can we do about it? A concept called flow may be an antidote. Flow is that elusive state of absorption in a meaningful challenge or a momentary bond, where your sense of time, place and self melts away. During the early days of the pandemic, the best predictor of wellbeing wasn’t optimism or mindfulness. It was flow. People who became more immersed in their projects managed to avoid languishing and maintained their pre-pandemic happiness.

An early morning word game catapults me into flow. A late-night Netflix binge sometimes does the trick, too. It transports you into a story.

While finding new challenges, enjoyable experiences and meaningful work are possible remedies to languishing, it’s hard to find flow when you can’t focus. This was a problem before the pandemic, when people were habitually checking email and switching tasks. In the past year, many of us also have been struggling with interruptions from kids, colleagues and bosses. Meh.

Give yourself some uninterrupted time
That means we need to set boundaries. Years ago, a Fortune 500 software company in India tested a simple policy: no interruptions Tuesday, Thursday and Friday before noon. When engineers managed the boundary themselves, 47 per cent had above-average productivity. But when the company set quiet time as official policy, 65 per cent achieved above-average productivity. Getting more done wasn’t just good for performance at work: we now know that the most important factor in daily joy and motivation is a sense of progress.

I don’t think there’s anything magical about Tuesday, Thursday and Friday before noon. The lesson of this simple idea is to treat uninterrupted blocks of time as treasures to guard. It gives us the freedom to focus. We can find solace in experiences that capture our full attention.

Focus on a small goal
The pandemic was a big loss. To transcend languishing, try starting with small wins, like the tiny triumph of figuring out a whodunit or the rush of playing a seven-letter word. One of the clearest paths to flow is a just-manageable difficulty: a challenge that stretches your skills and heightens your resolve. That means carving out daily time to focus on a challenge that matters to you: an interesting project, a worthwhile goal, a meaningful conversation. Sometimes it’s a small step toward rediscovering some of the energy and enthusiasm that you’ve missed during all these months.

Languishing is not merely in our heads; it’s in our circumstances. You can’t heal a sick culture with personal bandages. We still live in a world that normalises physical health challenges but stigmatises mental health challenges. As we head into a new post-pandemic reality, it’s time to rethink our understanding of mental health and wellbeing. “Not depressed” doesn’t mean you’re not struggling. “Not burned out” doesn’t mean you’re fired up. By acknowledging that so many of us are languishing, we can start giving voice to quiet despair and lighting a path out of the void.

Adam Grant is an organisational psychologist at Wharton, the author of Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know and the host of the TED podcast WorkLife.

Learning Diversity Fornightly Column

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

https://diversityandability.com/blog/celebrate-difference-neurodiversity-and-mental-health-awareness-weeks/

Screen Time: Making Healthy Choices

Welcome to our new regular column on making your technology time nutritious for you. 

We’ve all experienced times when we’ve put the screens away (finally!) and felt like we’ve just eaten a big bucket of KFC - we feel lethargic, tired, and perhaps even a little it unwell. Chances are, we’ve just spent too much time staring at the screen, or perhaps it was the content that wasn’t so good for us.

Other times, we put the screens away and we feel revitalised, connected and joyful. That’s when we know we’ve been using our technology in a way that’s nutritious for us. Chances are we spent only around 30 minutes or less on there and the content we focussed on made us feel good about ourselves.

This column will share information about all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly.

We begin today with some information for parents about an APP called YOLO, something many of our junior school are apparently using.

If you’d like us to research a particular APP for you for future editions of Words for Wellbeing, please just email and let us know @ jfleming@emmanuel.vic.edu.au

Warning on apps…..What apps are my kids using?

Young people are often downloading apps and getting new apps which are on trend! A recent such app is Yolo. This app is the latest popular teen app to hit the headlines, there are genuine concerns with its anonymity feature that could put young people at risk of cyberbullying and online abuse. Due to anonymity, it is a platform for online predators to make connections with young people. 

What is YOLO?

YOLO is an anonymous messaging app that is a free add-on to Snapchat. YOLO lets users add an 'ask me anything' sticker to their Snapchat story, then privately review the questions, decide which to answer and who to share the content with. Responses are posted on Snapchat through a sticker which can be customised. Users can also reply to comments as well as share comments. YOLO is not affiliated with Snapchat and is owned by Popshow.

Anonymous online services allow people to communicate and share content without revealing their name or true identity. People may use pseudonyms or made-up names. However, not all services that claim to be anonymous are truly anonymous. Your online activity and the content you share may still be traceable and recordable in some way.

Please see the link below to a parent’s guide on the app, Parent guide to the Yolo App 

Having conversations with your child about their online activity will assist with safe behaviours. 

Podcast Recommendation:

Parental as Anything

How much screen time should you let your kids have? How do you talk to your tweens and teens about sex and consent? How do you keep your cool when your child throws a tantrum?

Maggie Dent, one of Australia's favourite parenting authors and educators gives you practical tips and answers to your real-world parenting dilemmas.

Maggie talks to parenting experts from around the world to find practical solutions to the challenges every parent is facing today.

She'll help you be the parent you really want to be and give you ideas on how you can raise healthy kids who thrive.

World Meditation Day

When you’re a kid, you lay in the grass and watch the clouds going over, and you don’t have a thought in your mind. It’s purely meditation, and we lose that. Dick Van Dyke

When the world around you is ensconced in madness, and you can’t quite seem to find a moment of peace in the storm of the day, it’s time to step back and remember those blissful moments as a child where we merely lost ourselves in the world. World Meditation Day is a call to the world to take time to participate in this millennia-old practice and clear our minds, remembering that we are people first, and workers second.

How to celebrate World Meditation Day

Celebrating World Meditation Day is best done by setting some time aside for yourself to clear your mind and relax. How meditation looks can vary broadly from person to person, with some preferring physical activity accompanying their practice (often Yoga or other exercise-oriented activities) while others prefer to sit and take their ease.

For your own World Meditation Day celebration, find a place where you feel at ease and relaxed, whether that’s in the bath, at the gym, or even overlooking a natural environment like the ocean or forest. Then simply put yourself in a comfortable position, close your eyes, breathing steadily, and let all thoughts wander clear from your mind. If you’ve never tried to meditate before then it can be difficult to clear wandering thoughts from your mind and you may benefit from trying a guided meditation tutorial in which an experienced individual will gently talk you through the process. 

Whichever way you choose to celebrate World Meditation Day, just remember that Meditation is most beneficial when practised regularly, so why not set yourself a reminder to meditate once a day, every day for the rest of the week and see how you feel.

Reshape Our Future: Youth Conference

Food Allergy Week

Australia has the highest incidence of food allergy in the world, and it’s growing at a rapid rate. We estimate that there are 650,000 Australians with a diagnosed food allergy, and many more undiagnosed.

 Food Allergy Week is an initiative of Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia and is dedicated to promoting community understanding of food allergy to help protect those at risk. While people with food allergy need to take all reasonable steps to avoid their allergen/s, it is also important for the community to have a basic understanding of allergy to help keep those at risk safe. It’s up to us all to be allergy aware.

As COVID-19 restrictions ease, more Australians are dining out. Food service venues are employing staff again and it is likely they have never had training in food allergy. For this reason, throughout Food Allergy Week 2021, we call on food service venue owners to train all food service staff using the free online food allergen management training - All About Allergens: Training for Food Service.

Managing food allergies is everyone’s responsibility. During Food Allergy Week 2021 we will be promoting our consumer resources to help people living with food allergy understand their responsibilities when dining out. We have a number of resources to help people communicate their food allergy to food service staff. Visit the eating out confidently section of our website to learn more about managing your food allergy.

To acknowledge Food Allergy Week, Mrs Dalton has shared a gluten-free recipe for us all to enjoy.

Gluten-free jaffa marble cake

INGREDIENTS

• 185ml (3/4 cup) reduced-fat milk
• 125ml (1/2 cup) fresh orange juice, strained
• 1 tbs orange rind, finely grated
• 100ml extra virgin olive oil
• 150g coconut sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly whisked
• 160g buckwheat flour
• 40g coconut flour
• 2 tablespoons almond meal
• 1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tablespoons 70% dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 30g (1/4 cup) raw cacao, sifted

EQUIPMENT

• 5 x 19.5cm (base measurement) loaf pan

METHOD

• Step 1: Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan forced. Grease the base and sides of a 9.5 x 19.5cm (base measurement) loaf pan and line with baking paper, allowing the edges to overhang.
• Step 2: Place the milk, juice, rind, oil and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 4 minutes or until sugar dissolves (mixture may curdle slightly). Transfer to a bowl. Cool for 6 minutes.
• Step 3: Add eggs to milk mixture and stir to combine. Reserve 1/4 cup buckwheat flour. Add remaining buckwheat flour to the milk mixture. Add the coconut flour, almond meal, baking powder and bicarb. Stir until smooth. Transfer half the batter to a second bowl. Stir the chocolate and reserved buckwheat flour into one bowl. Stir cacao into remaining bowl.
• Step 4: Spoon half the batters, in random spoonfuls, into the prepared pan. Use a butter knife to create a swirled effect. Repeat with remaining batters, using the butter knife to create a swirled effect. Bake for 46-48 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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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!

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.

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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

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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: 

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