Woombye School is one of three schools that I support as well as being involved in the parent program, MYCP (Managing Young Children Program) at Nambour School. I am at Woombye two days a week, usually Tuesdays and Thursdays. Prior to becoming a guidance officer in 1993 I was a primary teacher. After my guidance training I continued studies and became a registered psychologist in 1994.
My role involves supporting, children, parents and staff. The areas of my focus include:
- Working with the Department of Child Safety in relation to child protection matters
- Supporting children who are in the care of the Department of Child Safety
- Conducting protective behaviours programs
- Assessment and diagnosis of children with an intellectual impairment
- Liaising with specialists, parents and teachers to help identify and support students with disabilities
- Working closely with the Learning Support team and administration to discuss strategies to help students with learning difficulties
- Assessment of intellectual skills to gain in depth information as to factors that may be contributing to learning difficulties
- Counselling children. The approach I use depends on the age of the child. At times I use puppets, drawings, plasticine, and stories. My favourite puppet is Monkey who has been with me for nearly ten years
- Counselling parents particularly in relation to parenting. This is my passion as I believe that the most important relationship children can have is the one with their parents
- Working as part of the District Trauma Response Team
- Referring on to support agencies. Due to time constraints and the nature of my job it is not possible for me to provide regular ongoing support to particular children or parents
I consider myself fortunate to have the opportunity to work with such a great team of dedicated teachers, administrators and support staff whose goal is to help children develop an interest in life long learning.