Pastoral Care
Welcome back to Term 4!
We trust that you and your family had a restful break with renewed energy for all that is ahead to finish the year well.
A question I was asked recently is, “What is the most important partnership in your work?”
For me personally it’s definitely the partnerships I have with parents and students. When we work together as part of the same team, using our different but significant insights into a situation, it can lend itself to effective outcomes. As we move towards the end of another great year, I want to remind you of the great resource you have in your child’s school, teacher, support staff etc. We can help your child to finish the year strong and to continue to grow towards their potential. The Pastoral Care Team is also here to help, so please don’t hesitate to contact us.
We are praying for you and your children that you will know the blessing and protection of our God as we finish 2019.
Louise Klar
Head of Pastoral Care and Growth / College Counsellor
What’s been happening in Pastoral Care?
It was a busy end to the term last month!
Last month, we were very fortunate to have Karen Young and Michelle Mitchell present their seminar, “Building Brave: The impact one caring adult can have on anxiety and resilience”. It was a full house in the Performance Theatre, filled with parents and carers keen to learn new strategies that could help them to better understand and support their children.
Karen spoke about how the brain is wired to protect us from harm but sometimes our brain can perceive that there is danger when there is none. Karen helped to normalise anxiety and encouraged parents to help their children to move towards the things they are anxious about rather than avoid them. She spoke about the importance of strong deep breaths to calm an anxious mind. Karen also suggested for parents to remain calm when their children are in a highly anxious state and to let their children know that they believe they can get through whatever challenge they are facing. All of these actions over time can help our children’s brains to, in a sense, “rewire” and overcome the sense of threat that it may be perceiving and move towards “brave”.
Michelle spoke about resilience. She suggested for a parent to consider themselves their children’s very own resilience coach where they validated their children’s feelings, rather than provide answers by helping to change their children’s language from, “What if…?” to “Even if…”. Michelle also gave some useful suggestions to help children to feel a sense of belonging, as this has been shown to be the biggest fear in young people. The way that parents can help their children to feel a sense of belonging is to develop a weekly ritual where they do a mutually enjoyable activity together, which can provide a foundation of belonging. Michelle also suggested for parents to encourage their children to build a ‘”back-up tribe” of friends outside of school that they feel connected to for when they may hit challenges at school and vice versa. For more tips from Michelle on resilience, check out her new book, “Everyday Resilience” and the “Everyday Resilience Journal” for children and teenagers.
More information and Resources from Karen Young can be found at:
More information and resources from Michelle Mitchell can be found at:
Parenting Fact Sheets
In other news, we have together a number of parenting fact sheets on topics that your child may be struggling with, including:
- Anger
- Anxiety
- Body image issues
- Depression
- Disengagement from school
- Family conflict
- Self-harm
- Sleep
- Stress
- Study problems
- What is “normal” teenage behaviour?
There is also a resource list which contains books and articles about specific issues. This information can be found on Parent Lounge under “School Links” > “Family Resources” and is also available on our website.
If you would like to speak to anyone in the Pastoral Care team about any concerns you have for your child’s wellbeing, please contact us – pastoral@genesis.qld.edu.au
Julie McGovern
College Counsellor / Assistant to Pastoral Care
