Student Wellbeing Team

Student Wellbeing Team

The team has changed members and has also operated differently this year. A range of students from years 7–12 have comprised the team: Tom Martin (Year 5), Nick Paspaliaris (Year 6), Ben O’Shea and Nick Byrden (Year 7), Will Mackie (year 9), and Hayden McKertish (Year 12). These students have assisted with parent evenings and have spoken both publicly and personally to assembled parents. Their frankness, openness, public speaking skills and time have been appreciated by many. The core of what these boys presented has been uploaded to Moodle via the Student Wellbeing link. Parent Education Evenings

Three parent education evenings were offered this year. The first, for parents new to De La Salle, dealt with the obvious issue of “transition”. The second on the topic of “resilience” attempted to present to parents just how important it is to constantly ask not “what can I change to assist my son”, but “how can I assist my son to change”. The third evening was conducted in partnership with the Cybersafety Committee and featured Susan McLean, an ex-police officer of 27 years’ standing, and a well known expert in the area of cybersafety and young people. She presented a potent message and provided parents and students a greater understanding of how to keep safe online and how they can make wise decisions when online. Many of the topics that I have addressed over the years have been compiled into a book published recently: “Boys and the f-word” — essentially, a book for parents of teenage boys. Counselling

We welcomed Maree Keel this year, working at the Kinnoull Campus three days per week. Individual counselling on both campuses saw boys present with issues such as family Mr Pascal Rohan and Maree Keel dysfunction, the death of loved ones, social discomfort, anger management, trauma, anxiety, esteem issues and mood disorders. The service is well used and there is rarely an un-booked period for counsellors. Group-work

Whilst the greater number of appointments are individual appointments, there is an amount of group work done where four or five boys gather with the counsellor. In such cases, boys undergoing similar life experiences are offered the support and insights of fellow students — and this is indeed part of the therapy. The groups running in 2012 included four social skills groups and a diabetes support group. Medussa and Abla

Medussa is a fifteen-year-old female and Abla is a ten-year -old female. They are snakes and live in my office (indeed, both have spent their entire lives in my office). They play an important part in counselling — these calm and gracious reptiles can be therapeutic (and they add a good deal of hilarity to interactions with parents and staff members!). … and

I am always delighted and inspired by the courage of the many boys and young men who present for counselling. Counselling is not an easy process/experience. It requires a great deal of honesty, transparency and trust. This, of course, means that the student leaves himself vulnerable … and we all know just how awkward and exposing vulnerability feels. And so those who present for counselling are “gutsy”. It is heartening to see boys confront that which binds them, and to move from a position of debilitation to a more empowered way of being. The growth that some of our boys experience is to be honoured and commended. In this I am reminded of the words of the great writer, essayist and social critic, Henry David Thoreau: “How significant that the rich, black mud of our dead stream produces the water-lily, — out of that fertile slime springs this spotless purity! It is remarkable that those flowers which are most emblematic of purity should grow in the mud.” To all our counselling boys and young men I say: “Stand tall … take a bow”.

Mr Pascal Rohan Director of Student Wellbeing