A-OKNZSCHOOLS

Life-Supporting Schools puts the wellbeing of its students and staff at the centre of everything it does. students and your staff are imperative to the schools success.  Health and wellness initiatives need continuous improvement and attention. 

Building a life-supporting culture in your workplace requires everyone to be involved including, students, whanau, teaching staff, support staff, coaching staff, Board of Trustees to ensure the messages are consistent throughout the school structure. The more people with a sense of alertness, skill, courage to connect and check in, the sooner people will get the support they need. 

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Why are life-supporting conversation important in the schools?

We understand the high workloads school staff have to manage on a normal school day, we also understand the pressures of adding to the 'teaching role' or 'skill base' of each staff member.  We also know that most teachers if not all, want to at least be able to connect, know what to say and what to listen out for and who to connect their concerned student to. We recommend Safetalk for everyone in the school from teachers to student leaders.  You may have to use these skills on your colleagues and our own families as well.

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Student Help-seeking skills is needed

It is common to hear 'they just don't say anything'. Could it be that they find it very difficult to say anything let alone reach out?  We have come to understand that our young people need skills to know how to reach out, know how to be self aware, know who their connectors are, know what to say, know which family member is best to start this conversation with.  We recommend the your students participate in the  Hope Heroes program

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Support staff

When teachers are able to recognise a student who reaching out for help, your school needs to have people who are trained to continue the conversation from identifying risk to identifying safety and ongoing support. Here we recommend that your Deans, Nurses, Counsellors, Social Workers, Support Staff attend the Suicide First Aid or the ASIST training.

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Whanau / Families

Whanau and families need to be a part of this training. We also offer 1-2 hour whanau information session for whanau to be understand the need for safe conversations to ensure their tamariki is safe from the risk of self harm / suicide.

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