Head of Wellbeing - Edition 9 - 2022

There are three things I wanted to share will you in this eNews:

1. A parent information session
2. The latest parent presentation from The Resilience Project, and
3. A podcast I listened to recently, and highly recommend for all parents, and indeed, all people.

Parent Information Session with Dr Tessa Opie
Wednesday 27 July (Week 1, Term 3), MMC, 7.00 - 8.30 pm

This session will not be recorded but will be live-streamed for those who are unable to be physically present on the night. I encourage you to make it a priority to attend this session as a way of gaining insight into helping your young person navigate healthy and respectful relationships. Students in Years 7-12 will be participating in seminars on Tuesday 9 Aug (Week 3) run by Tessa’s colleague, Jana Gomes.

Overview of parent session: Young people are not satisfied with school-based sex education, citing it as simplistic, risk-focused, sex-negative, and irrelevant. Instead, young people have voiced their preference for practical information about navigating respectful intimate relationships, particularly with respect to consent and communication skills.

Dr Tessa Opie, the founder of inyourskin®, is dedicated to exploring these matters from a positive and pragmatic perspective. Specifically, inyourskin® aims to empower young people to:

• develop healthy relationship skills
• identify personal values and relationship needs
• determine boundaries around preferred sexual activity
• communicate and negotiate sexual activity
• understand and identify coercion
• understand, express, and recognise consent

Working from an evidence-based approach, Tessa is an advocate for healthy and consenting relationships and has a particular interest in the prevention of sexual violence among young people. Accordingly, Westminster school has invited Tessa to speak to parents about the world of relationships that our young people are attempting to navigate. She will explore with us the impact of the media, including online pornography, on our children's psychosexual development. She will also discuss what we can do, as parents, caregivers, and role models, to positively encourage our young people to develop a healthy and realistic sense of self and 'other'.

Presentation from The Resilience Project - Mindfulness

Mindfulness is our ability to be calm and present at any given moment. We practise this by slowing down and concentrating on one thing at a time.

Thousands of studies have proven benefits include reduced stress, reduced rumination, increased memory, increased cognitive function and physical health benefits through improved immunity.

View Part 4 of the series here - Mindfulness https://theresilienceproject.com.au/parent-and-carer-hub-hugh/

Mindfulness can be practised through meditation, yoga, flow-states and daily activities such as cooking.

Source: UC Berkeley, Greater Good Science, American Psychological Association

For mental health resources and support information, visit The Resilience Project’s Support Page.

‘The Imperfects’ Podcast

‘The Imperfects’ Podcast is presented by The Resilience Project’s Hugh van Cuylenburg, and Ryan Shelton. All the episodes are great, but a recent one where they interviewed Lael Stone (who came to speak to us at Westminster last year) is particularly relevant for all parents (and all people!). I strongly encourage you to check it out - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2fPjHLpwXNcHfbcxsPTr4n?si=CT1Vnqr9Q5-YdtCtptaqwg

Liz Collins
Head of Wellbeing
Email
T: 08 8276 0395