If you are concerned about your child’s wellbeing at school, it might be hard to know who to ask for help. Here is a brief ‘Who’s who’ of some key roles in public schools responsible for supporting student inclusion. We encourage you to talk to your school to understand the specific supports available.

Student wellbeing leaders are teachers with expertise in wellbeing and mental health. They can help students with:

• attendance, positive behaviour and learning
• strategies to support positive relationships
• advice about other support services outside school
• support when emergencies or critical situations happen at school.

More info: bit.ly/wellbeingleaders

Autism Inclusion Teachers (AITs) have received extra training to support other teachers to:

• understand how to support autistic students
• promote autistic student voice and agency
• make sensory and environmental adjustments
• access information and training about autism.

More info: bit.ly/AITs

The School Mental Health Service is being rolled out in some high schools, area schools and R-12 schools across the state. It works in partnership with other wellbeing supports. Participating schools have a mental health practitioner with a background in psychology, social work or occupational therapy.

They help to:

• spot student mental health concerns early on
• support students to develop strategies to manage distress and maintain their mental health
• contribute to referral and case management processes for students with more complex mental health presentations
• improve the school community’s understanding of mental health.

More info: bit.ly/schoolmentalhealthservice Participating schools: bit.ly/MHSschools

This story is part of Issue 12 of Caring Together, the Department for Child Protection's newsletter for foster and kinship carers. The entire newsletter, and previous editions, are available here.