Issue 9 09 Sept 2024

Doctors in Secondary Schools

Mental illness in younger people

Like all of us, teenagers can feel a bit down sometimes. Everyday frustrations, disappointments, problems at school or family troubles can cause this feeling. If the sadness or worry go on for more than two weeks and start to affect their daily life, though, this may be a symptom of a mental illness which needs medical assessment and treatment.

Please scan the QR code for more information or visit:

https://www.sane.org/information-and-resources/facts-and-guides/mental-illness-in-younger-people

This health content is brought to you by Doctors in Secondary School (DiSS).

For further discussions about this topic, or to make an appointment please contact the DiSS GP and Nurse at your school.

Upcoming days:

R U OK Day: will be celebrated at NGSC on Thurs 12^th September. This year’s theme is “Ask R U OK? Any Day” and encourages us all to start conversations about mental health, not just on R U OK Day, but every day.

Students are welcome to join Student Wellbeing and the SRC for food and activities at lunchtime to recognise this important day.

Secondary School Nurses

Secondary School Nurses support the school community in addressing contemporary health and social issues facing young people and their families. This is achieved through focusing on the following health priority areas:

• Physical Activity & Movement
• Prevention of Smoking, Vaping, Alcohol and Other Drugs
• Sexual Health & Wellbeing
• Healthy Eating & Oral Health
• Mental Health & Wellbeing
• Safe Environments

Secondary School Nurses focus on preventative health by using a whole-school approach and partnering with the school, families and community-based health services, to support the health and wellbeing of the school community. A Secondary School Nurse is allocated to North Geelong Secondary College for two days a week.

Days of Work:

• Tuesday - Student Wellbeing Hub
• Thursday - Junior Sub School Office

We are committing to health and wellbeing by joining the Achievement Program

We really care about health and wellbeing at our school and have signed up to work through the Achievement Program. The Achievement Program is a free State Government initiative that helps schools create healthier environments that benefit students, teachers, staff and families. The program looks at different health areas, including Healthy Eating and Oral Health; Physical Activity and Movement; Mental Health and Wellbeing; and more.

We are excited to start the program and will keep you updated with our progress. If you would like to read more, further information about the program can be found here.

Vaping Prevention:

Parents, carers, schools, and community all play an important role in protecting children and young people from, and educating them about, the harmful effects of smoking and vaping.

Research from the Royal Children’s Hospital shows many parents and carers are not aware of the harmful effects or how their views about smoking and vaping can impact the likelihood of a young person taking up smoking or vaping.

The Department of Education has developed resources to help you learn more about the health risks of smoking and vaping. The resources include advice about how to talk to children and young people about vaping, and where to get support. To access the resources, go to https://www.vic.gov.au/smoking-and-vaping-advice-parents

You can also view this video on smoking and vaping from experts at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne for health advice and tips for starting a conversation with young people.

The ‘smoking and vaping: advice for parents’ document is also available in different languages:

Active Schools:

North Geelong Secondary College is proud to be an Active School. The evidence is clear, active adolescents are happy, healthy and resilient adolescents. Active adolescents are also active learners. An active school encourages physical activity through a whole-school approach that goes beyond traditional physical education and sport to promote physical activity at every opportunity.

The core of the framework acknowledges the importance of schools, family and community as influences of a student's level of physical activity. Families and communities are crucial in supporting students to continue their participation in physical activity beyond the school environment.

The priorities of an active school are:

• quality physical education
• quality school sport
• active classrooms
• active travel
• active recreation

We will explore the key priorities of the Active Schools framework in more depth over the next few months. Click on the link for more information about Active schools | vic.gov.au (www.vic.gov.au)

Cultura Geelong has created "Let's Get Active Geelong" video clips in various languages. These videos aim to motivate women to adopt a healthier lifestyle by incorporating simple, daily physical activities and explore local areas for exercise and recreation. Click the links below to watch the video clips:

• Let's Get Active - Multilanguage + English subtitles (youtube.com)
• Let's Get Active - Arabic (youtube.com)
• Let's Get Active - Dari (youtube.com)
• Let's Get Active - Karen (youtube.com)
• Let's Get Active - Karenni (youtube.com)

Wear It Purple Day

On Wednesday, August 28th, North Geelong Secondary College celebrated WEAR IT PURPLE Day. ‘Wear It Purple’ aims to create supportive, safe, and inclusive environments for young people in the LGBTQIA+ community. The day empowers LGBTQIA+ youth to dream big and embrace "Your Passion, Your Pride". By wearing purple, staff and students showed their support for rainbow young people, letting them know that they are celebrated and respected. At North Geelong Secondary College we acknowledge that everyone has the right to be proud of who they are and who they are becoming.

We partnered with GASP (City of Greater Geelong), QHub (Drummond Street Services) and The Geelong Project to offer some fantastic Wear It Purple Day activities for our school community.

We would like to thank the Skittles Squad, SRC and Beauty students for working together to create an incredible, inclusive event.

The ‘Skittles Squad’ catches up every Tuesday at lunchtime in the Wellbeing area. We welcome all LGBTIQA+ students, staff and allies to attend this supportive and inclusive group.

Click on the links below for information about supporting a young person with diverse sexuality, as well as some translated information about understanding sexuality and sexual identity:

• How to support a young person with a diverse sexuality | headspace
• Punjabi - Understanding your sexuality and sexual identity (for young people)
• Vietnamese - Understanding your sexuality and sexual identity (for young people)