27 Jan new mental health tool launched to prepare your teen for High School

ReachOut’s new student mental health tool, funded by the Telstra Foundation, launched to help thousands of young Aussies starting high school next week

With thousands of Year 7 students commencing high school across the country from next week, Australia’s most accessed youth mental health service ReachOut has launched a new student wellbeing tool which will make the transition from primary school to high school easier and less challenging for students.

Student Snapshot is a free and easy-to-use online survey tool for teachers that covers a range of questions about mental health and wellbeing. The surveys are quick for teachers to set up and simple for students to complete. Teachers can choose a survey to help build relationships with individual students or another focused on the wellbeing of the whole cohort – or both to maximise impact.

Once students have completed the survey, the teacher receives a report about what is going on for their students and links matching them to the most relevant ReachOut classroom resources, helping teachers to focus on wellbeing topics that best meet their students’ needs.

Ashley de Silva, CEO of ReachOut, said that Student Snapshot is an important new tool when it comes to students’ mental health and wellbeing.

“This is an exciting time for thousands of students across the country as they get ready for the first day of Year 7 next week. However, we know that the transition to high school is not always easy. Adjusting to new environments, different routines and meeting new people can have a significant impact on students’ wellbeing and mental health.

“The new Student Snapshot tool has been co-designed with both teachers and young people to ensure that it is simple, effective and engaging. Our focus has been on creating something that is easy to use, provides useful insights to guide support and also maintains the privacy of students,” Claire Goodall, ReachOut Schools Manager says.

The launch of Student Snapshot is accompanied by the release of a new package of articles and videos for students and their parents on the topic of transitioning into Year 7, including a video for young people about starting high school and an article for parents on Helping your teenager prepare for high school (more links provided below).