Work, study, life – they all need balance. This juggle of priorities never goes away and is often faced for the first time during the Higher School Certificate (HSC).
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To learn stress management Taree High School youth outreach worker Briony Stockdale organised a workshop for students with yoga teacher Phoebe Kirkwood of Nectar Creative Therapies and myself Laura Polson, a certified laughter yoga instructor.
I shared my own HSC story with the group of 10 year 12 students. To put it simply – I struggled during my HSC with stress and I didn’t seek support until I was nearly finished the year. I thought I would be stronger if I handled things silently. But delaying dealing with or understanding where the stress came from, only made things worse.
My message to the students was to find things that make you focus away from the study – things that you enjoy and allow you to take a break. To communicate this we did a 20-minute laughter yoga session – the ‘silliness’ of doing laughter exercises brought the students into the moment.
Phoebe taught the group different breathing exercises and postures they can do to cope with or avoid stress. She also encouraged the idea of taking a quick break, even a short walk, when struggling to concentrate.
Workshop organiser Briony said the students enjoyed the session and reinforcement of the message that the HSC is not the life-defining moment that it is often made out to be. Briony said the HSC can put “extreme pressure” on students.
“It is the culmination of a 13-year school career and students are juggling exams, multiple assessments, as well as trying to figure out what the rest of their lives might look like,” Briony said.
“It can be an intimidating time. Many students also work outside of school and are dealing with interpersonal issues that go along with late adolescence.”
“Many studies have shown the negative impact stress has on the brain's ability to absorb and retain information so I think that stress management should form at least some part of students' preparation for the HSC. The offering of stress management classes is a simple way we can show our students that we recognise the pressure that they are under, and it is a practical way of supporting them through that. As long as the interest is there, it is something we will continue.”
