A Wellbeing Angel
Meet the Fraser Coast's newest educator, Maryborough State High School's (MSHS) newest Wellbeing Team Member, Angel. Like all Education Queensland positions of employment, Angel had to meet a strict criteria. We chatted with Angel & Wellbeing Coach/Angel owollschewsky to get the linside story of Angel attending high school. First of all, Angel is only a puppy, but she is quite leggy but at the same time very gentle, ans to pat her is like trying to hold a cloud with your fingertips. She is very reserved and waits to be spoken to, before engaging with you. But once she has your approval, she opens up her warmth and love by edging a little closer and if you are lucky, receiving a little lick. Her breed, labradoodle (cross Labrador & Poodle), purposely selected by Carol for her hypoallergenic benefits, no malting (fur is wool not dog hair) and termperment. Her academic ability and higher than average levels of concentration are a definite plus for her being successful in gaining the posisiton. More on the academic in a moment.
The Wellbeing Coach, Carol Gollschewsky, has a primary focus on reducing stress & anxiety amongst students & staff as there is evidence that as those two negative influences reduce, learning increases. In a nutshell as Carol explained “happy students are learning students and learning students equals happy teachers. Also, happy teachers equals happy students. And the cycle continues.” .
The position of Wellness Superpooch comes with her own office, drinking bowl, array of essential toys for her own self-care. She brings her doggy bag of little & big lunch treats. as the Tuckshop has not yet accommodated for a pooch friendly menu, nor has the uniform been tailored to suit her athletic fury physique. This does not keep a good dog down, no, this does not worry Angel, she is just thrilled to be able to attend to her very important role and be part of the community at MSHS.
The next phase for Angel's roll-out through the school is a literacy program with junnior high school. Research has shown confidence building for students has positive results when they read allowed to animals. Something many students can do at home also.
Putting all the jokes aside and endless “ooh aah” at how cute Angel is, the Wellbeing function in the school community is a role that should not be underestimated or undervalued.
My firsth thought are that I hope creates a precedents for other schools and if it is lucky enough to be funded I only hope the role is not diluted by making it a position with a teaching workload for general subjects in addition to wellness education..
My final thought is that this environment of learning, is a case study that business environments with high stress could consider introducing to work environments with the additional benefit of reduced sick leave. But that is only my thought and I am no expert.
If you would like to find our more about Angel, contact Maryborough State High School.
