Words for Wellbeing - Edition 15 - October 7th, 2021 - The Mental Health Week Edition

Welcome to Words for Wellbeing

Welcome back for Term 4 and to your fortnightly Wellbeing newsletter.

October was once the home to Mental Health week, but as a sign of the times, this year it's become Mental Health Month, including World Mental Health Day on October 10th.

The message from Look After Your Mental Health Australia is to Look Up, Look Out and Look Forward, so to help you do just that, we've included a tonne of resources, introducing you to helpful services, websites and people all with messages to help you look after your mental health.

Please enjoy everything on offer in this edition of Words for Wellbeing and don't forget to follow our Instagram page @ecwwords4wellbeing.

Mental Health Day, Week & Month!

R U OK? Day Homeroom Challenge

While we await the results from the R U OK? Day Self-Care slogan and poster competition thanks to KFC Counselling, here are some of the amazing creations from some of our homerooms. We'll print the results for the winners as soon as we know. Great work everyone!

7C's Self-Care Slogan,

'I've got your back, and you've got mine, I'll help you out anytime.'

Ten Mental Health Tips

ReachOut

ReachOut is the most accessed online mental health service for young people and their parents in Australia.

Our trusted self-help information, peer-support program and referral tools save lives by helping young people be well and stay well. The information we offer parents makes it easier for them to help their teenagers, too. We’ve been championing wider access to mental health support since we launched our online service more than 20 years ago. Everything we create is based on the latest evidence and is designed with experts, and young people or their parents. This is why our service is trusted, relevant and so easy to use. Accessed by more than 2 million people in Australia each year, ReachOut is a free service that’s available anytime and pretty much anywhere.

Headspace

headspace is the National Youth Mental Health Foundation providing early intervention mental health services to 12-25 year olds. headspace can help young people with mental health, physical health (including sexual health) alcohol and other drug services, and work and study support.

National LGBTI Health Alliance

LGBTIQ+ Health Australia is the national peak health organisation in Australia for organisations and individuals that provide health-related programs, services and research focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people and other sexuality and gender diverse (LGBTIQ+) people and communities.

We recognise that people’s genders, bodies, relationships and sexualities affect their health and wellbeing in every domain of their life.

Butterfly Foundation

Butterfly Foundation is the national charity for all Australians impacted by eating disorders and body image issues, and for the families, friends and communities who support them.

Black Dog Institute

As the only medical research institute in Australia to investigate mental health across the lifespan, our aim is to create a mentally healthier world for everyone.

We do this through ‘translational’ research. Integrating our research studies, education programs, digital tools and apps, clinical services, and public resources to discover new solutions, foster connections and create real-world change.

Our partnerships with people with lived experience, federal, state and local governments, communities, schools, corporate Australia and others in the mental health sector enables us to drive evidence-informed change in mental health where it’s needed most.

Batyr

batyr is a for purpose preventative mental health organisation, created and driven by young people, for young people.

eSafety Commission Free Webinars for Parents & Carers

This Term 4 webinar the eSafety Commission will provide parents and carers with strategies to help young people and their mental health when they are online.

It is designed for parents and carers of young people aged 10–18.

It will cover:

• what do to about accidental exposure to content about suicide, self-harm or eating disorders
• using games, apps and social media to support mental wellbeing
• the pros and cons of digital mental health platforms
• strategies for young people to support friends online.

Click the link below to find out more and to register.

Stoked Surf Therapy

Comedian Dilruk Jayasinha on his Mental Health

Comedian Dilruk Jayasinha shares how he looks after his mental health.

Winners - Instagram Followers @ecwwords4wellbeing

We've drawn our lucky winners who followed our Instagram page before the first day of term!

Yes, you have to watch the video to find out whether you're a lucky owner of a $20 gift voucher!

If you're one of our lucky winners, email us @ wellbeing@emmanuel.vic.edu.au to let us know where you'd like your voucher from.

If you haven't started following us yet, what are you waiting for? @ecwwords4wellbeing

The Lived Experience with Joel Kleber

Joel Kleber is the host and creator of the lived experience podcast, a podcast designed to create more conversations on mental health that go beyond depression and anxiety. There is so much more to mental health!

In this article, Joel shares his experiences growing up with a single mother with Bipolar Disorder 1 and says it was an experience, to say the least!

Always frustrated by the lack of content that there is online regarding this and other mental illnesses, Joel decided to create his own. His show consists of interviews and solo episodes where he recounts experiences to really emphasise the point that you are not alone out there and many people are affected by mental illness in the family unit.

We thank Joel for sharing his story with Words for Wellbeing. It's a raw account of some of the difficulties growing up with a parent with a severe mental illness. We've added some links for some of the things he describes and if this article raises any issues or concerns for you, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at wellbeing@emmanuel.vic.edu.au

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Mental Health is more than anxiety and depression; it affects the whole family unit when a mental illness is involved. There are many great organisations that receive a large majority of the funding; however, they focus mainly on depression and anxiety. I am here to tell you that mental health is so much more!

To be short, Bipolar disorder is associated with episodes of mood swings ranging from depressive lows to manic highs. It also affects everyone differently in terms of its severity. My mother's condition is more severe and has resulted in her being hospitalised in psychiatric wards for extended periods of time. Whilst hospitalised, we would either stay in foster homes, friends, families or relatives later on in the years.

Living with someone who has Bipolar is not an easy experience; you're often exposed to very complex situations from a young age that most others will not experience. For example, being taken to a psychiatric ward to meet your mother, who has just had a round of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), is something that is hard to see at any age—or being told whilst being dropped off at school that your parent was going to kill themselves and to get your own ride home. Sometimes the police would even come to school as my mother had a manic episode, and we had to be taken into care.

These are just some examples of what children all over Australia experience in many households. There will be kids at Emmanuel currently who would have a parent with a severe mental illness, and you couldn't imagine the complex scenarios they face on a daily basis in their household or life.

Whilst it is a colossal challenge growing up in a situation like this, it also has its advantages that you discover as you get older. The main one being is that you develop a level of resilience that many others cannot ever obtain because they don't have your lived experience. It really is an advantage if you flip your perspective from being a victim to accepting it and using it to your advantage.

The other key point is to understand that you are not alone! There are so many people with similar experiences as it is more common than you think. We really need to start sharing our experiences because that is really powerful in helping reduce the stigma around serious mental illness.

Remember that mental health is more than just big brands that focus on depression and anxiety. There are so many smaller organisations that do meaningful work with actual outcomes that significantly impact young peoples lives. I challenge you to find a couple of these online and to get behind them as they need your help. Joel supports the Satellite Foundation, a site filled with useful information and resources.

If you would like to hear in more depth about my experiences, here is a video of the podcast I did with my boss, Jim's Mowing Founder, Jim Penman. 

Or you can reach out to me at www.livedexperiencepodcast.com

Learning Diversity Fornightly Column

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

Welcome back for Term 4. We hope you enjoyed your break.

Our contribution this week is short but sweet…

You Can! Ask That

Let's face it, sometimes we have burning questions that we want to ask but we don't know who to go to. Or, we might feel too embarrassed, ashamed or nervous to ask anyone.

The chances are that you aren't the only one wondering about the answer and we want you to be able to ask any of your questions without any fear of judgement.

You Can! Ask That is especially designed so that even we won't know who is asking the question. But what we can do is ensure you receive accurate, informative information to help you out with whatever it is you're wondering.

Send your anonymous questions to You Can! Ask That and we'll invite special guest services to video their expert opinions to your questions which we'll share in our Words for Wellbeing newsletters.

Scan the QR code or go to the Menti Meter link below and enter the code provided to ask your question.

We can't wait to be able to help you in this way.

Useful Numbers and Websites

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).

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.

Energisers:

Brain Breaks:

Mindful Moments:

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 many different scenarios. 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