Perspectives on MindMatters

Themes in this story

Loss and grief
Trust and safety
Student empowerment

Questions for discussion

The Principal at Sunshine College mentions that staff feel more confident in dealing with loss and grief after completing MindMatters training that included looking at the Loss and Grief booklet.

Pat Buckskin talks about the importance of schools understanding what loss and grief means to Aboriginal people. What strategies do you think your school could put in place to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students experiencing loss and grief?
What are some of the issues in talking about loss and grief in the classroom? How can you address these?

What things could you put in place to support students and families experiencing loss and grief?
Every culture has its own way of grieving. How would you teach subjects such as loss and grief to students of varied cultures?
What steps can be taken to support staff experiencing loss and grief?
What aspects of loss and grief are important for young people to understand?
What are some practical ways to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their families who are away from school attending funeral obligations? Think about ways to help students catch up on work they may have missed and ways of acknowledging that, when they return, they may still be experiencing feelings of loss.
What could be some of the feelings experienced by the students when they return to the school environment? Think about not only the feelings of loss, but also the feeling of being overwhelmed that comes with being away from home and trying to catch up on work missed.

Refer to the Loss and Grief booklet for information and activities focusing on loss and grief.

The CommunityMatters booklet looks at loss and grief issues for particular groups of students (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, rural and remote, disability, same-sex attraction and non-English-speaking backgrounds). Refer to pages 33-67.

Trust and safety

Trust_safety We see the school nurse educating students about bullying and harassment behaviours through using the MindMatters bully body activity (see Dealing with Bullying and Harassment booklet, pages 23-26).

How effective would this activity be with your students in raising their awareness of bullying and harassment?
What particular strategies have worked well in your school in terms of reducing bullying and harassment?
Read through the instructions for bully bodies and undertake it as a group. What are the most common bullying methods in your school? What are the most effective methods for coping with these?
What are the most effective strategies for combatting racism in your school? Refer to the 'Bullying. No Way' and 'Racism. No Way' websites and Dealing with Bullying for assistance.
Provide copies to each group of the empathy, trust building and resilience exercises from the Dealing with Bullying and Harassment booklet, pages 30-31, 42-44 and 46-49.
Ask the group to demonstrate how the exercise works, then ask how they thought the activity went.

Student empowerment

The Principal and staff at Liverpool Girls' High School identified a need to support the cultural needs of their Pacific Islander students through the Polyfest.

What was the positive spin-off for the students in having their cultural needs both recognised and acknowledged?
What role modelling took place amongst the girls?
The school's approach with the Islander students resulted in spontaneous positive feedback from the parents. In what other ways could this relationship between the school, the Islander students and their families be strengthened?
What groups in your school could benefit from a flexible approach?

Further activity

When considering the role modelling and mentoring taking place amongst the Pacific Islander students, refer also to the segment on The Wiltja Story (which sees boys wanting to be role models for their communities) and The Iwantja Indulkana Anangu Story (in which Yanyi acts as a role model for the students at the school).