Finding Help & Support

This lesson is a discovery lesson with students working online to research organisations that support young people with a range of issues.

Learning intentions:

  • Recognise support services in your local area 
  • Understand the barriers for young people in seeking help and support
  • Develop skills to seek help for a range of issues faced by young people

Digital Educator: Chloe

  • 12-30 learners

    Class size
  • 8+

    Year Level
  • 40-60 minutes

    Course duration
  • Two

    Student Handouts

    Preparing for the lesson

    Information
    Resources

    ACHPE Objectives

    UNESCO Objectives

    Safety & Wellbeing

    Sequence
    Extension
    In this Finding Help & Support lesson, students will be introduced to the concept of health literacy.

    They will begin by knowledge sharing on the meaning of health literacy. Students will work in small groups for the remainder of the lesson, researching organisations available in their local area, before applying that knowledge to a series of real world scenarios. 

    Each lesson ends with a consolidation activity, inviting students to list 1 thing they have learnt from the lesson, 1 thing they already knew, 1 piece of advice they would share with a friend, and 1 adult or organisation that would be helpful in relation to the lesson topic.  

    Facilitator Printouts

    Student Printouts

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    Additional Student Resources

    AC9HP8P08: Refine protective behaviours and evaluate community resources to seek help for themselves and others.
    • Exploring different strategies they can use, and resources or help sites they can access or refer others to, if they are experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression.
    • Exploring strategies for dealing with online abuse and bullying when there is an imbalance of power, such as grooming, image based abuse or negative social interactions, and reporting the situation to appropriate authorities, trusted adults and through online tools.
    • Exploring help-seeking scenarios young people may encounter and sharing strategies for dealing with each situation, including situations linked to substance use, mental health issues, safety and risk-taking, and sexual health.
    Key Concept 5: Skills for Health and Wellbeing
    5.5 Finding Help and Support
    • Key idea: It’s important to assess sources of help and support, including services and media sources, in order to access quality information and services.
    • Students in your class may already be struggling with the issues in the scenarios or accessing the services. Be prepared to use protective interrupting if students are disclosing information that is very personal and do not out students that you may be aware of by asking them to share about their experiences with an organisation.
    • There is benefit to young people hearing from their peers about issues and help seeking. This can normalise accessing support. If students are a close group and are sharing with more of a focus on the experience of accessing a service as opposed to the details of why they were accessing it you should allow the students to share. 
    1. Plan a Health & Wellbeing Expo and invite local services to visit the school and give a short presentation to the year level.
    2.  Students can research and design best practice services that meet a set of criteria such as trauma informed and culturally safe. An example of a global model for youth service provision is the Foyer Model (or Youth Foyers). 

    Ideally, you will have scope to deliver all of the lessons in your program. However we understand that many schools have limited capacity to do so. Should you find yourself having to implement part of this program, we have provided a suggested sequence of lessons within the broader skills and knowledge categories of relationship, consent, gender, and health & legal literacy. We recommend delivering at least one lesson from each category.

    1. Group Agreements & Pod Mapping should be the first lesson as per best practice.
    2. Puberty & Reproduction: A Refresher should be delivered early in the program to ensure students have an understanding of the physical, emotional, and social changes of puberty including menstruation and sperm production.