Penrhos Full Circle: an initiative from Penrhos College Psychologists

An initiative from Penrhos College Psychologists

by Tracy Hart Psychologist, Penrhos Full Circle

Raising children and young adults has never been more complex. Our girls have full and sometimes hectic daily schedules, ready access to an online ‘village’ and they often experience intense and 24/7 connected friendships. So how do we best support our girls of all ages, and the adults that care for them, in building the capacities to navigate the complexities of life in the 2020s and then beyond?

Schools have always had an important role to play in developing the social and emotional skills that enhance resilience. Like all schools, Penrhos offers ‘inward’ looking programs that teach skills and provide opportunities for skill development. To complement this, we have a supportive community and opportunities to connect with the school and to each other. But we want to do more. We know that partnering with parents is so crucial in providing security, consistency and a shared language to support our girls. And so the idea of a more ‘outward’ looking service was born – connecting with our caregivers to offer best practice psychological skills and understandings, to support our girls as they grow and develop, in an ever-changing landscape.

COVID-19 has provided an interesting platform to launch Full Circle. We have all — adults and girls alike — had an opportunity to focus on our wellbeing and no doubt discovered capacities in ourselves, our families and communities that we didn’t know we had. Some of us have experienced anxiety and sadness, perhaps grief. Many of our girls and families experienced a loss of contact with family and a sadness at the sudden disconnect from activities that have brought so much joy

Artwork by Little Sketchy

and meaning to daily life. Many families have reflected on the strengths of their frameworks for coping. In many ways COVID-19 has highlighted the strengths and capacities that our community already has.

I have spent some time talking with our families about what might be helpful to them from Penrhos Full Circle. These conversations have consolidated our ideas: that parents want connection and conversation, with the school and with each other; they are concerned about online access to the global village; they are keen to enhance their skills in order to support their daughters in a world that 2020 brings. I want to sincerely thank all the caregivers who have given of their time so generously to help us to understand what would be helpful to you.

Many parents and caregivers have taken advantage of the online resources prepared specifically for our community — including frameworks for conversations about mental health, emotions and friendships. Many parents have asked for ideas around managing internet use and social media, and we will be offering seminars with our Pastoral and Information Technology teams in this regard. We will be offering workshops to support our early learning parents in developing emotional regulation and responding to challenging behaviours. Supporting our parents of pre-teens and young teens to navigate complex years will also be a focus for Term 3.

Our Full Circle Psychologists look forward to establishing a suite of offerings for our community, to support the pastoral care roadmap for our girls from Kindergarten to Year 12.