Not just for rich schools

By Daisy Turnbull Brown

While politicians bicker over the idea of a “well-being budget”, schools are already spending theirs.

Well-being, mental health, resilience, suicide prevention – call it what you want – schools are running programs that promote student and staff well-being and are doing so without a specific budget.

Yet when Labor’s Jim Chalmers suggested a well-being budget like the New Zealand government has released, he was lambasted by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

We constantly hear about the mental health issues teenagers are dealing with. One in 14 children aged between four and 17 experienced anxiety in 2015. About half of young people with a mental health issue report being embarrassed to discuss it with anyone, or are afraid of what others think.

According to the Productivity Commission’s report on Mental Health, “under-investment in prevention and early intervention” is a key driving factor for the mental health issues we face, meaning that too many people live with mental ill-health for too long.

We are at a turning point for mental health in Australia, especially after the summer bushfires in which thousands of families lost their homes. We are seeing more honesty about the psychological trauma caused by the fires from Transport Minister Andrew Constance than we ever have before.

Chalmers’ argument that the GDP doesn’t “paint the whole picture” of Australia is similar to the argument that HSC results need to be considered in the light of deteriorating student mental health. We cannot have constant economic growth if our population is increasingly depressed and anxious.

Student mental health is fundamental to making Australia stronger, because students who are more resilient and optimistic perform better. It is not about choosing one over the other, it is about developing students of great intellect and character.

At St Catherine’s we track student well-being, as well as alumnae surveys on how prepared they are to manage university and work stress compared to the rest of their cohort. Over 90 per cent of our alumnae see themselves as aware of the benefits of positive psychology elements including mindfulness, growth mindsets and academic resilience.

However, well-being programs should not be the competitive advantage of some independent schools, but standard across all schools.