Wellness Wednesday

By Ali Mills, College Counsellor

One in six Australians are currently experiencing depression, anxiety or both. If we look within our community here at Emmanuel, based on these statistics, there are potentially around 60 of our students, at any given time, struggling with their mental health. And I would hazard a guess that in reality, that number is actually higher based on all the challenges that young people are currently facing today, the limitations of reporting, and not to mention a global pandemic…!

Maintaining an optimal level of wellness in our community has never been more important. We have developed a clear plan at Emmanuel to cultivate a culture of wellness to ensure our students are aware that every aspect of their life influences their state of wellbeing.

Our Wellness Week was unfortunately impacted by the Queensland COVID lockdown and so we ‘pivoted’ our plans and scheduled a Wellness Wednesday which was held in the last week of August. The Student Engagement Team and Wing Leader Coordinator organised a number of activities and exercises to promote wellness practices and encourage our students to talk about their wellbeing.

On Wellness Wednesday, students moved their bodies by playing Bubble Soccer in the Quad, started a conversation about nutrition with our student leaders making smoothies at lunch and then explored their identity through a psychosocial session with our College Counsellor.

In an art-based activity the students drew a tree as a metaphor for their life; looking at the past, present and future. By understanding one’s identity, we can gain a greater sense of belonging, clarify values and understand how past experiences can shape our present wellbeing.

* This figure, and all current population figures in this section, has been calculated by extrapolating the current Australian 16-85 year old population from 3101.0 ABS Australian Demographic Statistics, June 2016. The population figure, which is 18,868,720, has then been multiplied by the rate in ABS National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing: Summary of Results, 2007 (2008)