SchoolTV is an excellent resource designed for parents and schools to assist in raising happy, well and resilient youth.

Wellbeing cannot exist just in your own head. Well-being is a combination of feeling good as well as actually having meaning, good relationships and accomplishment.

Dr. Martin Seligman

SchoolTV is an online resource designed to inform, educate and empower parents, teachers and other community members about some of the challenges around raising safe, happy and resilient young people. It is a fresh approach to the growing issues and pressures faced by Australian youth.

The features of SchoolTV include video based content and leading youth research and strategies on topics such as digital reputation, sexting, screen addiction, cyberbullying, youth anxiety and self harm. Some of Australia’s leading academics, specialists and authorities in youth health and wellbeing contribute to SchoolTV, with changes to their focus monthly.

Trauma Recovery

Current edition of SchoolTV

Trauma in children significantly disturbs their sense of safety and normalcy, leading to substantial emotional and behavioural changes. Such disturbances often result from exposure to traumatic events, which may be exacerbated by continuous media coverage. This exposure can trigger stress, anxiety, and trauma, with varying recovery timelines due to the unpredictable nature of trauma’s impact. Observing young people grappling with these effects can be highly distressing for parents and caregivers.

It’s important to establish a nurturing environment to help restore a child’s sense of security to help promote resilience. Active involvement in their recovery is essential, as is recognising the unique, personalised needs of each child in responding to trauma. Depending on their age, children may present with different symptoms, such as regressive behaviours in younger ones or withdrawal and agitation in older children and teens. It is important to monitor and manage the type of information children may access to reduce their emotional distress.

The brain stores traumatic events as powerful emotional memories, influencing behaviour through mechanisms beyond a child’s conscious awareness. By providing young people with support and equipping them with coping mechanisms to handle uncertainty, parents and carers can greatly enhance a child’s capacity to recover and build long-term emotional resilience.

This Special Report of SchoolTV will help you identify a child experiencing trauma and how you can support them to overcome it. If this raises any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the College or seek medical or professional help.

Resources

You can access all previous SchoolTV topics from the archives.

Dr Jodi Richardson – drjodirichardson.com.au (author of Anxious Kids)
Professor Lea Waters – www.leawaters.com/blog
Beyond Blue – beyondblue.org.au