YEAR 9 YOUTH AWARE OF MENTAL HEALTH

St John’s have been collaborating with the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Wollongong and The Black Dog Institute to support a fantastic school-based peer support and mental health initiative called Youth Aware of Mental Health (YAM) for our Year 9 students. Through lectures, group discussions and role-play sessions, YAM spans five sessions over a 3 week period and aims to promote increased knowledge and awareness about mental health, developing problem-solving skills and emotional intelligence as well as connecting youth to local health services.

The six central themes explored within the YAM program include:

1. What is mental health?
2. Self-help advice
3. Stress and crisis
4. Depression and suicidal thoughts
5. Helping a friend in need
6. Who can I ask for advice?

This term, Year 9 students will engage with YAM in Weeks  8 (17 March), 9 (24 March) and 10 (31 March).

QUESTION, PERSUADE, REFER TRAINING (QPR)

In order to support this initiative staff have completed evidence-based online training; Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) in order to further develop:

• knowledge and skills to identify warning signs that someone may be suicidal
• confidence to talk to that person about suicidal thoughts
• awareness and ability to refer to available supports.

We also strongly encourage parents and carers to engage with the training taking approximately 60 minutes to complete online for the cost of $10 for a license which remains active for 3 years. You can access the training via the Illawarra Shoalhaven Suicide Prevention Collaborative website (www.suicidepreventioncollaborative.org.au/QPR).

If you require any further information on Youth Aware of Mental Health program or QPR, please don’t hesitate to contact the collaborative on 1300 069 002 or Mr James Eirth at our school  on 4423 1666.