Mental Health Strategy
By working together, we can create a supportive and thriving community where every student can reach their full potential.
Our world has become a more challenging place for our young people in recent years, which has led to an increase in the awareness of the need to build positive mental health at school but in partnership with parents. While some parents will be very familiar with our strategy, we encourage our new families to familiarise themselves. At Santa Maria College, we believe in empowering our students to manage their wellbeing and thrive both in school and in life.
Our Mental Health Strategy
Our Mental Health Strategy (MHS) is designed to do just that. Through this initiative, we aim to equip our students with the knowledge, skills, and support they need to tackle challenges and embrace their full potential. Our MHS focuses on four key areas: Culture and Values, Knowledge, Skills, and Support. By addressing these areas, we hope to create a supportive environment where every student can flourish.
The programs being delivered have been tailored for our girls’ needs and have, where suitable, incorporated research obtained when developing the MHS.
Key People Driving the MHS
We are shifting our focus to being preventative rather than reactive. This does not mean we are stopping providing support where needed. Our goal is to enable more girls at the College to access our Mental Health Team for support. A priority is that the team will work more widely with girls in a proactive and preventative way, for example, through existing group programs and during our Pastoral Care Time sessions. The programs being delivered have been tailored to our girls’ needs and have, where suitable, incorporated research obtained when developing the MHS.
The key people who drive this strategy include:
- Director of Pastoral Care (Danielle Spark oversees the care of all students and the delivery of our MHS)
- Psychologists
- Nurses
- Wellbeing Captain
- Mental Health Student Ambassadors
Student Voice and Parent Partnership Critical
Our students’ voice is crucial for the success of our MHS. Our students need to be heard as they are the ones directly affected. They are key to the successful implementation of our strategy.
Equally important is the partnership with our parents. We believe if we partner with our parents to:
- build a positive school culture,
- develop knowledge and skills within our students, and
- ensure support structures are known to students and parents, we can make a positive difference in many young people’s lives.
Please help us make the difference.