A NEW online program will provide teachers with resources so they can better support their students' mental health.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
La Trobe University education lecturer and child trauma expert Dr Anne Southall developed the six-week program after speaking to principals and teachers in regional Victoria.
While the program's development started before the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Southall said this year of remote learning had affected students and school staff.
Read other news:
"Everything has been magnified and it has really accelerated because it isn't just the mental health and wellbeing of students," she said.
"It's the mental health and wellbeing of whole school communities, families, and teachers. We need to really start responding in ways that will support the mental health and wellbeing of our school communities.
"Universities are well-placed to be supporting them with knowledge, understanding, and with a framework going forward of how they can address this."
Dr Southall said the program would cover topics like student anxiety and depression, the impact of trauma on brain development, and developing resilience in students.
"It's a very large problem and a six-week program isn't going to fix it," she said.
"But what we will give is a deeper understanding of what is going on and what is contributing to this, and a lot of resources on how to deal with this and respond to it more effectively."
Marist College Bendigo principal Darren McGregor said over the past five years, mental health had become the number one issue in schools.
Read more:
"I think one of the big issues is overall anxiety," he said. "The most important part about it is the connection between how a child feels safe and well, and how they learn.
"So when we say a child is coming to school anxious, that means that child is not going to learn well today. When we say a child is feeling depressed, they're not going to learn well.
"When a child is feeling lonely and they don't know how to relate to other people, they're not going to learn well. So if we're going to do learning well, we have to do mental health well."
Mr McGregor said the new La Trobe program was exciting.
"Our educators know they need to be involved in young people's mental health," he said. "They want to be involved.
"But they haven't got time to go and do a masters in it. They haven't got time to do a graduate diploma.
"So our educators want something that is professional, that is over a short period of time, and is going to help them work with young people."
Dr Southall said the online program would be open to primary and secondary educators from February next year.
She said more information about the course could be found at latrobe.edu.au/courses/short-courses/mental-health-and-wellbeing-in-schools
Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.