In this episode of Dare to Be More, we explore the comprehensive support systems in place at MLC School to help students navigate challenging times. We discuss how these challenges evolve from the junior years through to Year 12 and the collaborative approach taken by the school to ensure every girl feels safe and supported.

In This Episode, You'll Discover:

• Why asking for help is framed as an act of courage rather than a weakness.

• How the school acts as a triage service to provide immediate support and case management.

• The ways in which peer groups can safely support one another when concerns arise.

• How practical tools like break passes and sensory toys are implemented in the school day.

• The importance of the new parent Padlet in providing resources for families at home.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Identifying the different forms of challenges across various age groups.

• Managing the physiological impacts of exam stress and academic pressure.

• The role of external specialists in supporting complex mental health needs.

• Fostering a culture of vulnerability and bravery within the school community.

• Navigating friendship dynamics and social interpretation issues.

#StudentWellbeing #MentalHealth #GirlsEducation #SydneySchools #Resilience #DareToBeMore

About MLC School: MLC School is a leading independent girls' school in Sydney, committed to empowering young women through academic excellence, character development, and innovative education. Our mission is to inspire girls to dare to be more.

Connect With Us:

• Website: mlcsyd.nsw.edu.au
• Instagram: @mlcsydney
• Facebook: @MLCSchoolSydney
• LinkedIn: MLC School

Co-host: Anthony Perl

Produced by: 'Podcasts Done for You'

Supporting students during challenging times.

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Welcome to Dare to Be More, the podcast

from MLC School in Burwood, Sydney.

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Today we're exploring how students are

supported through difficult moments

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with Anna Michaelopoulos, Head of

Counseling and Student Health Services.

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Discover how challenges can look different

from pre-kindergarten through to Year

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12, and how the school works with

students, families, teachers, and external

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professionals to provide thoughtful

care when wellbeing concerns arise.

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You'll hear why asking for help is a sign

of courage, how students can support their

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friends safely, and what it means to dare

to be vulnerable when things feel hard.

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I'm your co-host Anthony Pearl.

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Let's get into today's conversation.

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Well, hello everyone, and welcome to

another episode of Dare to Be More.

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And I have with me again Anna.

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Welcome to the program.

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Anna : Thank you, Anthony.

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Thank you for having me.

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Anthony Perl: And look, I guess for

people who may not have heard you

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on previous episodes, why don't you

introduce yourself to the audience?

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Anna : So my name's Anna Michaelopoulos,

and I am the Head of Counseling and

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Student Health Services at MLC School.

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Anthony Perl: And that is the reason

you're here today, is because we've got

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a very important topic to discuss, and

it's this kind of idea of supporting

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students during challenging times.

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I suppose we have to start by trying to

define what constitutes challenging times.

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Anna : That's, that's a big question.

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And I guess the first thing is that

challenges for girls can look different.

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Going from being a four-year-old to

an 18-year-old, what they find is

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challenging could be something related

with school, could be related to home.

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You know, a year six girl, friendships

may be something they're going through

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and that's challenging for them.

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We are a girls school, so puberty

and hormones may be another

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challenging time for the girls.

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So I think it, it can come in any form,

and it could be related to school only,

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could be related to home, it could

be related to both, and it could be

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things outside of everyone's control

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Anthony Perl: And I guess the answer

is as well challenging, there are

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different degrees of it, isn't there?

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There's, you know, challenging could

be just a challenging day for certain

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things that are going not according to

plan, to much larger, bigger picture

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things that could be going wrong.

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Anna : Absolutely, Anthony.

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Y- you may have someone who has

a bad day or a challenging week.

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I guess it becomes more problematic when

it's quite ongoing, and then it can impact

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on the girl's mental health and wellbeing.

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Anthony Perl: Yeah, and I guess that's

the important thing here, too, isn't it?

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That it's what the potential impact

of something that's challenging has,

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whether it's a short-term impact, might

be a physical injury, for example,

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is can constitute a challenging short

period of time, versus something that

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could have a much longer term impact.

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Anna : Yes.

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And I guess in terms of challenging, it

could be something that may need some

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brief support from a school's perspective.

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It may be something that goes

beyond area of expertise and needs

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more intensive support, and may

need support outside of school.

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So we have to weigh up, um, how much

we can offer at school and whether

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it goes beyond a school support

level, and also area of expertise.

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So, if it is something related to

eating disorders, there are specialists

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in these areas that would need to

take over the, the support role.

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Anthony Perl: And I suppose

it's worth looking at that.

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I mean, you know, I'm sure it's

almost an endless list of what

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these challenging things might be.

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But maybe g- go through some of the

more common ones that you s- have seen.

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Anna : I, I guess one of the most

common challenging times for our girls

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is peer or social friendship issues.

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It seems to be something that

goes from pre-K to, to year 12.

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We do see changes as the girls get older

and they become a bit more mature, and

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the focus then becomes on, on school,

but friendships are a big part of it.

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And there might be misinterpretation

of things that are happening that

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then causes social challenges as well.

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So for, for us as a counseling team,

I, I think we see a lot of the peer

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social relationships cha- be ch-

girls going through challenging times.

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Then I, I guess it can become a bit

more serious and a bit more concerning

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when it does involve eating disorders

and some, some risk of self-harm

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and, and, you know, suicide ideation.

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So it does vary in, in risk, and

those are the, the times that those

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are our priorities, making sure we

can look after the girls who are

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at risk and support them at school.

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Anthony Perl: I suppose the key question

here as well is who seeks you out?

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How is it initiated when

support is required?

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Is it coming from the girls?

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Is it coming from parents?

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Is it coming from teachers, or

is it something that perhaps

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you are even picking up?

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Anna : So it, it, it also depends

on the age of the student.

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So in junior school, parents need to

consent for us to see their girls.

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So even if it's a teacher raising

concerns, parents need to be

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aware and then consent to have

the counseling team support them.

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Um, and then in the senior school,

we like parents to know that their

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girls are seeing us for counseling,

but they can also self-refer as well.

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And then the heads of year have a

big part or role in supporting the

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girls who then refer on to counseling

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Anthony Perl: How confident are

the girls in coming forward of

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themselves and recognizing that

they're having some challenges?

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Anna : I think some girls

are better at it than others.

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I guess it depends on the stigma

of mental health, maybe at home,

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what they see on TV, what they're

exposed to on social media.

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So I think it, it varies on how

much exposure they've had and what

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they know about mental health.

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The girls who have engaged in counseling

and have had good experiences do go

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back and tell their friends that it

was, it was great or it was helpful, and

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that helps them come forward as well.

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Anthony Perl: And, you know, i- is it

something that girls tend to keep to

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themselves about or is it something

that is becoming more open and

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accepted that support is being sought?

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Anna : I, I could see

both of those things.

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I could see girls who internalize and

keep things bottled up and no one knows

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they're not okay, and I've also seen

girls that have, you know, are confident

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in sharing how they're feeling or

may express it in, in different ways.

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A girl may, you know, become angry

or distressed and cry, and that's

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her way of expressing she's not okay.

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So we, we see both here at MLC School.

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Anthony Perl: So tell me what the process

looks like once student is coming forward

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and in a situation where they're with you.

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Is there a standard kind of

way that things begin and what

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you're looking at and assessing

how you navigate moving forward?

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Anna : So when a girl initially

comes to us, we try to ascertain

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and gather information as to what's

been going on and what, why they're

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there and how we can help them.

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And due to the nature of a school

counseling service, there are lots and

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lots of girls that would need our support.

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So what that means is that we,

we're almost like a triage service.

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We, we try to gather as much

information and see how we can

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support the girl short-term.

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And if we feel that the girls

need more support than what we

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can offer, that means, you know,

going down a therapeutic modality.

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If it's a specialized area of concern, we

would then reach out to parents and ex-

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you know, have that conversation about,

"I think this may need more support than

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what we can offer at a school level."

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And then we have communication with

the parents, and then we can support

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what the external referral looks like.

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Anthony Perl: And how much do

you work with those external

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resources should they be needed?

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Anna : I, I personally think that they're

a key part of our support for the girls.

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So even though we may not see them in

a therapeutic model, we then become

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case managers, and part of our role

is in advocating for some of the

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strategies that they may work in

therapy and how we can do, kind of

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implement them into the school system.

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And so that, that's a big

key role that we play.

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Anthony Perl: And what does that

look like in terms of trying

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to implement into the school?

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And obviously you've got a variety of

different things here, but I imagine

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that's liaising with teachers and

parents alike, and looking at what that

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might impact, you know, work that's

being done and different things that

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the girls are undertaking at school.

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Anna : So what that means is we could

offer a student a break pass so that when

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they're feeling overwhelmed, that they

could come to the wellbeing building.

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And in that wellbeing building, we

have a health center where girls can be

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monitored and they have some time out.

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And then from there we can offer

sensory toys and distraction strategies.

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So it's about working with the external

team, whether those would be helpful,

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and then kind of implementing them

through the head of year and making

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sure that the break passes were

organized, the nurses were aware that

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the student needed this amount of time,

and getting them back to class or s-

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in, in, back to, like, class if needed.

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Anthony Perl: Do you see much variation

in the kind of support that girls are

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needing based on the age group and

based on where they are in school?

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Is that varying quite a bit?

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Are there trends in one

space versus the other?

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Anna : So I, I think the need for

therapy, it also depends on, I guess,

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how severe the mental health concern is.

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If someone who may require more support

or more intensive support than someone

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who has a peer friendship area of concern.

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I think that, that the issues around

food become more of a prominent

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issue in the senior school setting.

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I find that friendships go from

very young to, to senior school.

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You know, even year 11 and 12 we still

have that, that theme coming through.

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Um, body image, I think even though it's

more a senior school issue that we deal

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with, younger and younger girls are being

exposed to different bodies and images at

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a younger age, so that it's not prevalent.

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It's not, it's not a common,

but it, it can come through.

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Um, and the biggest, one of the biggest

things we see across both campuses

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is stress, overwhelm, and anxiety.

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They're our biggest issue of presentation

or referral across both campuses.

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Anthony Perl: Are you seeing

changes and shifts in recent years?

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Is what girls are presenting

fairly consistent over, you know,

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over the longer period of time?

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Or are there new things that are causing

more challenges for kids particularly?

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Uh, obviously the, we're in a much

more of a digital age than we were

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previously, so are those sorts of things

starting to become more prevalent?

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Anna : We, we do have … In terms

of trends, that's a really tricky

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one to kind of definitively answer.

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I, I do think anxiety

is our biggest trend.

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Um, we do see there has been an increase

in the last few years of safety concerns.

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We, we track that data, and

there has been an increase.

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The peer and social issues is

always a, a big area of concern

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because friendship groups and

friendship dynamics are ongoing.

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D- doesn't matter at the beginning of the

year, um, it, it's, it's always changing.

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As the s- students get older,

I guess the severity of the

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presentation can become bigger.

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So someone who may be just looking at body

image, image, images or things on social

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media at a younger age may manifest into

an, a full eating disorder in later years.

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So something that, that continuum of

severity can increase as they get older

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Anthony Perl: Yeah, and the pressure

that's on as far as exams and things

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are concerned, that's not got easier

over the years at all either, has it?

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And I imagine that anxiety levels

and even the ability to sit exams

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has become hard for a lot of girls.

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Anna : The pressure to do well and want

to do well for themselves and the people

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that they love can be quite debilitating.

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It can cause physical and

physiological reactions, and we do

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have girls in exam settings that

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Anthony Perl: do

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Anna : experience anxiety to the point

where, you know, they, they, they

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shake or they feel they go blank.

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They, they sweat, their breathing

changes, their heart beats faster, um,

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they overthink everything, and they can

get quite stuck in, in those moments.

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So there is lots of pressure to do

well and to do well in exam settings,

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and remember, they are timed, they

are based on what you put on pen

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and paper in that moment, so it is

extremely challenging for the girls.

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Anthony Perl: And I guess that's the

key here is knowing that there's the

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support there, but also understanding that

there's opportunities there to navigate

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this through the right support, and

that there is not just the understanding

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from your office's point of view, but

that's then going to stretch beyond that.

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You know, when we talked about helping

with staff in the school, but also talking

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with parents, but if a girl is struggling

with some particular challenge, how much

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do you need to educate the other girls

and friends around them to be able to

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support the girl as well, to understand

that she's going through something?

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Is that left to the girl to do that?

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Is that something that the school can

get involved with in helping educate

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fellow students about the challenges

that other students are facing?

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Anna : We would like our girls to come and

tell us that they're worried about their

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friends and that they're concerned about

their wellbeing, and in that moment, we

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would like to take some of that pressure

off those girls, 'cause that's a lot

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that they have to then worry about.

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So in terms of if a, if a peer is

not doing well and they have genuine

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safety concerns, we don't want our

girls to manage that on their own.

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We're encouraging them to tell someone

at school, telling their parents,

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because we would know what to do in a

situation like that, as opposed to a 12 or

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13-year-old worried about their friends.

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In saying that, if it is something that

a 12-year-old can understand or manage,

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then we are happy to support that,

that we can give them psycho-education.

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They have great heads of year

that they could go to, to

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help them help their friends.

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Anthony Perl: I was going to say, I

mean, th- things like anxiety that you

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talk about being so prevalent, that

it's important, isn't it, for fellow

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students to understand that they may

have friends that are suffering with

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anxiety, and they may or may not be

willing to talk about it as well.

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So being just aware that that

is a possibility and how to cope

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with that is also important.

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Anna : Absolutely.

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And if the girl is with us in the

counseling space talking about a

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friend, then we would then support

her on what that's like for her,

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and then we could look at a plan for

her friend and how we can help them.

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You know, not directly, but how we can

support her if that's the only way we can.

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Anthony Perl: So many things

to think about and so much

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support that's available.

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I appreciate you sharing

all of those things.

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I think it's really important for anyone

listening in to this to understand

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that whether you're a parent, whether

you're a teacher, whether you're a

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student, there's an opportunity to come

forth and seek out some help and know

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that the support is there for them.

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Anna : Absolutely.

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We- we've created a parent Padlet, which

has just gone live, where we are putting

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resources on there specifically for

parents, and it does deal with stress.

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It does deal with perfectionism.

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It deals with anxiety, depression.

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It also allows parents

to get their own help.

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Parenting is hard.

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So we've recently created that.

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But I've had parents who have rung

me and asked for, for just general

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support, what direction to go.

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We also have amazing teachers that if

they can't get to us, they can talk

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to their children's teachers, and that

information can then be filtered through

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to a head of year and then to us.

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Anthony Perl: And I imagine, just to

wrap things up, as we like to come back

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to the Dare to Be More, in, in this

context, daring to be more is daring to be

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vulnerable and ask for support, isn't it?

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Anna : Absolutely.

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I think, I think I had previously

mentioned this in my, in my other

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podcast, is that coming forward, being

brave, that's what we want girls to do.

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So dare to be more, dare

to, to ask for help.

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We want them to ask for help,

'cause the help is here.

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Anthony Perl: Fantastic.

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Thank you so much for being

part of the program again, Anna.

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I really appreciate it.

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Anna : Thank you for having me, Anthony.

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Thank you.

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Anthony Perl: Thank you for

joining us on Dare to Be More.

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If you enjoyed this episode, please

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Your likes and comments also

help more families discover

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these valuable conversations.

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For more information about MLC school

and their approach to girls' education,

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visit their website at mlcsyd.nsw.edu.au.

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Check out the show notes

for more information.