Students practise having conversations to support friends experiencing mental health difficulties.

Year level

7-12

Duration

5 minutes

Type

In class activity

Online learning

SEL Competencies

Self-awareness

Social awareness

Learning intention

Students learn how to ask a friend if they are okay if they have concerns about their mental health.

Key outcomes

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

  • ask a friend if they’re okay

  • know what to do if their friend does or doesn’t want help.

Materials needed

Mapped to

Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education

  • Analyse factors that influence emotional responses and devise strategies to self-manage emotions (AC9HP8P06)

  • 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:

    • Self-management

    • Social awareness

    • 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)

Victorian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education

  • Examine barriers to seeking support and evaluate strategies to overcome these (VCHPEP125)

  • Evaluate situations and propose appropriate emotional responses and then reflect on possible outcomes of different responses to health and wellbeing (VCHPEP147)

Show details

Activity 1

Instructions

5 minutes

  1. Ask students to read ‘How to ask a friend if they’re ok’.

  2. Discuss as a class what you could do if a friend doesn’t want help. Refer students to the article ‘What to do when someone doesn’t want help’.

  3. Discuss with students the barriers they might experience when trying to help a friend and why sharing their concerns could help their friend.

Print

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        We acknowledge the traditional owners of Country throughout Australia. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, and to Elders past and present. We recognise connection to Country as integral to health and wellbeing.

        We acknowledge people with lived experience of mental ill-health and recovery and the experience of people who have been carers, families, or supporters.

        ReachOut values diversity. We are committed to providing a safe, culturally appropriate, and inclusive service for all people, regardless of their ethnicity, faith, disability, sexuality, or gender identity.

              Aboriginal flagTorres Strait islander flagRainbow flagAustralian flag

              We acknowledge the traditional owners of Country throughout Australia. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, and to Elders past and present. We recognise connection to Country as integral to health and wellbeing.

              We acknowledge people with lived experience of mental ill-health and recovery and the experience of people who have been carers, families, or supporters.

              ReachOut values diversity. We are committed to providing a safe, culturally appropriate, and inclusive service for all people, regardless of their ethnicity, faith, disability, sexuality, or gender identity.

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