27 MAR 2024 Batyr

On the 5 March, Year 11 students were visited by Batyr. Batyr is an organisation who help to share young people’s lived experiences of mental ill-health. They aim to normalise conversations around mental health and provide hope to get through tough times.

Students learnt that 94% of young people turn to their friends or someone close when seeking support. They were provided with five tips to be able to support those around them. These were:

• Look Out – Look out for a change in people’s patterns and behaviours to indicate that things aren’t okay.
• Get Talking- If you see something say something. Ask open ended questions and speak to the changes that you have noticed in the person.
• Listen Up- Help your friend to feel like they’ve been heard, it’s not your job to ‘solve’ or ‘fix’ the problem.
• Reach Out – Encourage the person to reach out to a professional for support. This can be to a school counsellor, Headspace, their doctor, or Lifeline 13 11 14
• Take Charge- Do things to proactively look after your own mental health.

Parents are encouraged to continue to check in and talk to their children about how they are going. For more information parents are encouraged to look at the resources on the Batyr resource hub for parents https://www.batyr.com.au/resource-hub/parents-carers

Annika Ring
Psychologist