The beginning of this school year sees us rolling out our One Good School plan which was formulated from a whole school survey carried out in March 2022.Also in March Catherine Kay and Brian McDermott, our parent reps on the OGS Team, facilitated an online parent information session to inform Moville Community College parents about the program and encourage participation. It certainly worked as the response rate to the survey exceeded our expectations. Here is an outline of the plan in relation to each group within our school community.
Students
All students have completed a 1 hour course - Let’s Talk, Sure Why Not? The aim of this course is to break the self stigma around mental health and encourage help seeking behaviour. Feedback to date has been positive and encouraging.
6th Year Students, in addition to this course, will take part in a face to face 2 hour Jigsaw Workshop in November - My Mental Health, What Helps? They will also complete an Exam Stress workshop in January 2023.
Transition Year students will have the opportunity to train with Jigsaw as Peer Educators in January 2023 and subsequently will educate Junior Cycle students on topics around mental health eg.Coping with Change or Friendships
Staff
School staff have completed two 1 hour courses:
Mental Health and Wellbeing: A good school approach ( May 2022) The aim of this course is to enable staff to promote and support youth mental health and wellbeing.
Understanding Anxiety in the Classroom ( August 2022). The aim of this course is to help staff understand the experience of anxiety and enable them to support a young person within their role.
All staff will continue to be offered the opportunity to take part in Cluster Meetings with other schools where different themes will be explored eg Self Care and members of school management will attend 3 Leadership Webinars throughout this school year.
Parents
Parents are offered a mix of online webinars and self directed courses.
Mental Health Awareness for Parents Webinar - ( April & May 2022 and will re-run this year). The aim of this webinar is to raise awareness about young people’s mental health and identify strategies to support young people.
Mental Health Awareness for Parents Course ( November 2022 ). Participants will explore the definition of mental health and what hurts and helps mental health in this self directed course. They will learn practical strategies for supporting the mental health of young people and where young people can go for further help if they need it.
Additional webinars will be offered to parents throughout the year on topics such as Friendships and Transitions.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their enthusiasm, teamwork and participation to date. We look forward to the year ahead, working together to promote and support the mental health of our young people. Please feel free to contact Sinead McCarron if you have any questions regarding the program - email: sineadmccarron@donegaletb.ie
MCC Jigsaw One Good School Team: Fionnan McIvor, Odhran Laffterty, Barry Curran, Fiona McCafferty, Catherine Kay, Brian McDermott, Caroline Doherty, Anthony Doogan & Sinead McCarron