Students examine mental health services available within their community.
Year level
7-10
Duration
5 minutes
Type
In class activity
SEL Competencies
Responsible decision-making
Learning intention
Students can identify local services that support their mental health needs.
Key outcomes
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
identify local services available to support their mental health needs
assess the effectiveness of local services in meeting their needs.
Materials needed
Pens and paper
Mapped to
Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education
Plan and implement strategies, using health resources, to enhance their own and others’ health, safety, relationships and wellbeing (AC9HP8P10)
Plan, rehearse and evaluate strategies for managing situations where their own or others’ health, safety or wellbeing may be at risk (AC9HP10P08)
Australian Curriculum: General Capabilities
Personal and Social Capability:
Social awareness
Self-management
Social management
NSW PDHPE Syllabus
Examines and demonstrates the role help-seeking strategies and behaviours play in supporting themselves and others (PD4-2)
Assesses their own and others’ capacity to reflect on and respond positively to challenges (PD5-1)
Researches and appraises the effectiveness of health information and support services available in the community (PD5-2)
Victorian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education
Plan and use strategies and resources to enhance the health, safety and wellbeing of their communities(VCHPEP130)
Evaluate situations and propose appropriate emotional responses and then reflect on possible outcomes of different responses to health and wellbeing (VCHPEP147)
Activity 1
Instructions
5 minutes
Ask students to write down five local services they could access for a mental health issue – e.g. GP, youth service, school counsellor, Headspace.
For each service, rank how likely they would be to access this service using the following colour code:
red: would not use
yellow: might use
green: would use.
Ask students what criteria they used to complete this task – e.g. cost, confidentiality, location.
Ask students, for the services marked red, what would make it more likely for them to access the service.
For more information, check out ‘Support services for depression’.