School counselling staff are members of the school learning and support team.
A teacher may recommend the service by referring a student to the school’s learning and support team. As a parent or carer, you may refer your child directly to the school counselling service. Students can also self-refer to the service.
The school counselling service can:
- support students who are worrying about school work, friends, getting in trouble at school or feeling down
- help parents and carers make decisions about your child’s education
- assess a student’s learning and behaviour
- help teachers and students identify and address disabilities that may affect learning
- liaise with other agencies regarding student wellbeing.
School counselling is confidential.
For more information about learning and support teams and the school counselling service, please contact your school.
School Counsellor
Swansea High is lucky to have the services of Louise Theissen as our School Counsellor.
Louise is in attendance three days per week and students may self-refer or may be referred by their parents or carers as well as teachers.
Louise is a registered psychologist and experienced counsellor who has helped many students.
What students and their families tell the School Counsellor is treated in a confidential manner. School Counsellors support individual students as they deal with their problems, assist them to learn new skills such as controlling anger or managing conflict, liaise with teachers and families to support student needs, assess learning concerns and facilitate contact with outside agencies. Often a School Counsellor may refer students to external agencies such as Headspace or Community Adolescent Mental Health Services when further support is needed.
To make an appointment you can contact Louise directly or ask at the school office.
School Youth Worker
Meet Prue Hughes, the new Youth Woker at Swansea High School. Prue follows in the esteemed footsteps of James Norman who has recently departed from Swansea High. The position Prue fills is a valuable part of the school's overall Wellbeing Program. Prue brings a wealth of experience in behaviour modification and support and will run a number of programs for a variety of the school's students including Rage and Scream (Anger Management Programs), Peer Mediation (students trained to assist other students to resolve conflicts peacefully) and Shine (a self esteem program)
The Youth Worker is also provides another positive influence and caring adult for students.
Prue is employed by Community Activities Lake Macquarie Inc. (CALM), a community based organisation that works with families and young people in Lake Macquarie. For more information regarding CALM, visit their website on: http://www.calm.org.au.
Acknowledgement
This project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education under the National School Chaplaincy and Student Welfare Program.
More Information
For more information on the National School Chaplaincy and Student Welfare Program, please visit the website at: http://www.education.gov.au/national-school-chaplaincy-and-student-welfare-program
We also have another Youth Worker, Chantelle Baglin, from the Eastlake Youth Centre who provides an outreach support service for students at Swansea High. Chantelle is on site on Wednesday mornings and supports students who need additional support. Chantelle also provides support for families where needed.
Peer mediators
Our Chaplain also runs a Peer Mediation program where students in years 10 and 11 train to be mediators to enable them to assist students in years 7 - 9 in mediating conflicts.
The program started in 2013 with 8 passionate students trained as Peer Mediators and has grown to include another 16 students in 2014. In addition to training Peer Mediators and facilitating mediations, the Chaplain also runs a one period general information session to facilitate discussion on conflict and positive ways of dealing with it. This information session runs throughout the year for students in years 7 - 9, and provides an opportunity to promote the Peer Mediation Program and find students interested in becoming Peer Mediators.