Mental health practitioners in Victorian schools make a positive impact

https://player.vimeo.com/video/693303513

Danielle Derkson - Principle, Eaglehawk Secondary College: The difference the mental health practitioners made in our school is having another member of the team, and the more diverse we can have our team, the better equipped we are at meeting the needs, whether it’s triaging young people and consulting with staff on what the best supports are available, is just having another resource that can be utilised to meet the needs of our young people.

Pray Dhairyawan - Mental Health Practitioner, Parkdale Secondary College: The Mental Health Practitioner role is quite unique because it’s a combination where you’re providing mental health interventions at different tier levels. So it could be tier one, which is whole-school approaches, and tier two where you’re working, sort of, with a small group of teachers that are supporting a particular student, and then you also have complex case management.

Chiara Ercoli - Student Wellbeing Coordinator, Newcomb Secondary College: The absolute benefit of having a mental health practitioner in our school is to have someone with that expertise be able to sit within the college so that students that are referred are able to see that practitioner at school rather than having to leave the college, take time out of their teaching and their learning.

Student 1: Like, actually having someone there who can talk to you just about mental health, means that we, kind of, take more notice at it, and we actually look at our mental health and actually make sure that we are okay.

Colette Davis - Mental Health Coordinator, Parkdale Secondary College: So to be a mental health practitioner, you need to be a fully-qualified psychologist,a fully-qualified social worker, mental health nurse, or an OT, which is an occupational therapist. You also need to have significant amount of experience in mental health. So, yes, it’s the qualification, but it’s also the experience in mental health and working with young people. Mental Health Practitioner role is employed directly by the school as an education support staff member, but we’re part of a bigger organisation, so we’re part of Department of Education.

Amanda Davis - Mental Health Practitioner, Newcomb Secondary College: There are so many things that I enjoy about working in the school. I suppose, the opportunity to work with young people, to support their wellbeing is an absolute privilege, it’s not something that I take lightly.

Ben Omizzolo - Assistant Principal, Whittlesea Secondary College: There’s been two main areas that our mental health practitioner has really promoted here at the school, and that’s overall health promotion here at the college, especially with mental health, and also breaking the stigma of being able to access wellbeing and wellbeing support, particularly in the mental health area here at the college.

Student 2: Personally, it’s helped me a lot ‘cause usually I’m not really open about my feelings. I usually just carry them on my shoulders and I don’t open up to anyone. They’ve helped me a lot more than I could ever imagine. And it’s just the benefits in my learning and outside of school and everything.

Kate Taylor - Mental Health Coordinator, Loddon Campaspe Area: So there’s a lot of professional support that is provided to the mental health practitioners, they’re linked within the area team with the other mental health practitioners, they also have access to the Mental Health Resource Hub, where they have discussion boards, and resources, and professional learning on there, across the whole state. There’s also small-group peer-reflection community of practice that is set up for small group of mental health practitioners to provide peer support and guidance,and reflection on particular cases or scenarios that they’re working on.

Amanda Davis - Mental Health Practitioner, Newcomb Secondary College: It’s something that I really value, being able to build relationships with students, to support their wellbeing, to also get to work with families as well. June Sainsbery - Assistant Principle, Parkdale Secondary College Priya’s been able to help us to explicitly teach our young people about emotional regulation and therefore enabling them to have some control over their own mental health, which in term, lets them manage that, at the end of the day helps to reduce the number of mental health presentations we’re having at the school.

Adam Johnson - Mental Health Practitioner, Eaglehawk Secondary College: What attracted me to the school setting was that it is that period in a person’s life where you can have a real impact and provide early intervention. Just being able to get in and help them at that key point in their life can sometimes help set up good habits and routines that’ll take them forward into adulthood.

Amanda Davis - Mental Health Practitioner, Newcomb Secondary College: I think schools are really inspiring places, so you get to, I suppose, see students work towards their goals and to reach their potential.

Student 3: I was never confident in myself, I’ve always put myself down but now I’ve got my confidence and I’m happy. I’m positive going into the classroom, I’m positive talking to the teachers, the other students. I always think to myself, how lucky I am to, like, have that support in my life.

Updated 23 March 2023

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Mental health practitioners in Victorian schools make a positive impact

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