http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/health/Pages/default.aspx 
The Department of Education and Training has provided a list of areas that may be affecting student health and wellbeing. There are links to teach-specific resources and helpful websites in each of these areas, for example: Drug use, Mental and Interpersonal Wellbeing, Homelessness and Out-of-Home Care etc. 

https://www.headspace.com/ 
Australia’s National Youth Mental Health Foundation works to reduce mental health issues and drug/alcohol use in young people. There are centers or the option to download an app that encourages meditation. This may be a useful app to promote to students to deal with stress. 

https://au.reachout.com/
Students or Teachers can utilise this resource. The school-specific link is: https://schools.au.reachout.com/articles/reachout-schools and can be useful for teachers in terms of free curriculum resources, teacher webinars, tools and apps and activities to promote wellbeing across different year levels.

https://www.mindblank.org.au/mind-blank-for-schools/ 
The Mind Blank for Schools program is an initiative that tours schools and promotes mental health scenarios. They encourage conflict resolution and promote the notion of seeking out help through a production. They have various themes that schools may choose to pursue, including those related to student wellbeing and adverse situations. This is a paid program that runs as incursion.  

https://kidshelpline.com.au/grownups/news-research/teacher-resources/ 
The Kids helpline is primarily a resource to refer students for one-on-one counselling. There is a section for young adults between the ages of 13-25 to access advice or help via phone or web-based chat. However, there are also useful resources for teachers, including lesson plans designed to reduce bullying or improve cyber-safety.  The Kids Helpline also offers schools the opportunity to book a counsellor to run incursions within their school. 

https://www.mindmatters.edu.au 

MindMatters provides a vast array of professional learning and support resources that help secondary schools support young people’s mental health. 

Teachers can tap into a variety of learning experiences which support both individual exploration and facilitated group activities. 

Commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Health, beyondblue have led the redevelopment of MindMatters, which now offers blended professional learning that includes online resources, face-to-face events and webinars.

Each of the resources explores the importance of creating and maintaining student inclusion through wellbeing within the classroom. Utilising these resources will create a holistic teaching approach that includes sensitivity to student-teacher relationships, the importance of listening to our students and the significance of promoting a safe learning environment for all students. The integral nature of these approaches is reflected within the Australian Professional Standards for Teaching (AITSL, 2017). However, when these approaches are not achieved, teachers and students alike need to feel encouraged to raise these concerns with teachers, through listening and developing relationships with ‘other human connectors’ (Johnson, 2008, pg. 395). These resources are designed to assist teachers in establishing an inclusive classroom climate through the promotion of student wellbeing. 

References:
Bruce Johnson (2008) Teacher–student relationships which promote resilience at school: a micro-level analysis of students’ views, British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 36:4, 385-398, DOI: 10.1080/03069880802364528
Teacher Standards. (2017). Aitsl.edu.au. Retrieved 10 October 2017, from https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards

Equally concerning is the fact that over a quarter of Year 4-9 students are bullied each term at school and that as victims of bullying they are four times more likely to suffer from depression, loneliness and negative self-esteem” (Cahill et. al, 2014, p.32).

For schools and teachers, for government, for families, for students themselves – these startling statistics put the importance of student wellbeing into perspective.

Fortunately, the importance of student wellbeing has been recognised on a national level, with education policies such as the National Safe Schools Framework (Education Services Australia, 2011) providing guidance on principles to promote student wellbeing and the roll-out of national mental health initiatives for secondary schools such as the MindMatters (beyondblue, 2015). Schools and teachers are now able to access a range of Social and Emotional Learning curriculum materials to build social, emotional and resilience skills in their students (Cahill et. al, 2014). 

One of the key points that teachers can take away from the National Safe Schools Framework is that “student safety and wellbeing are enhanced when students feel connected to their school, have positive and respectful relationships with their peers and teachers, feel confident about their social and emotional skills and satisfied with their learning experiences at school” (Education Services Australia, 2011, p.2).

Is it inclusive?

There are clear links here to the work of Bourdieu (1986) in that students need to be supported to acquire the necessary social and cultural capital to ensure their sense of belonging and wellbeing at school. 

This also connects to the importance of inclusive education, with “respect and support for student diversity in the school’s inclusive actions and structures” (Education Services Australia, 2011, p.8) recognised as a key element in the creation of a positive school environment.

Intro References:
Beyondblue. (n.d.). MindMatters. Retrieved from https://www.mindmatters.edu.au/ 

Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J.E. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of Theory of Research for the Sociology of Education (p241–258). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Cahill, H., Beadle, S., Farrelly, A., Forster, R. and Smith, K. (2014). Building resilience in children and young people: A literature review for the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. Retrieved from http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/department/resiliencelitreview.pdf

Education Services Australia. (2011). National Safe Schools Framework. Carlton South, VIC.: Ministerial Council on Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs.

Lawrence, D., Johnson, S., Hafekost, J., Boterhoven De Haan, K., Sawyer, M., Ainley, J. and Zubrick, S. (2015). The Mental Health of Children and Adolescents. Report on the second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. Department of Health, Canberra.

When considering wellbeing, multiple factors come to mind ranging from student (mis)behaviour to emotional stress. This resource, therefore, offers us the tools and information to appropriately manage the various situations we may find ourselves in, in a way that promotes the wellbeing and resilience of our students. 

Each technique explored within this resource is centred upon professional literature and can be applied to scenarios both inside and outside the classroom. The techniques included are:

Behaviour management (informed by the work of Ramon Lewis)

Listening skills (the various types of listening and how to do it as informed by Robert Bolton)

Positive student-teacher relationships (as explored by Bruce Johnson)

The Skilled Helper Approach (informed by Patrick Nelson) 

Counselling skills (as explored by Peter Lang) 

 

Each of the techniques within the resource interrelate and collaborate in ensuring the inclusiveness and wellbeing of students, and thus, can be read through and explored in any order.