For Information

R U OK? Day

R U OK? is a public health promotion charity that encourages people to stay connected and have conversations that can help others through difficult times in their lives.

The work of the foundation focuses on building the motivation, confidence and skills of the help-giver – the person who can have a meaningful conversation with someone who is struggling with life.

R U OK? contributes to suicide prevention efforts by encouraging people to invest more time in their personal relationships and building the capacity of informal support networks – friends, family and colleagues - to be alert to those around them, have a conversation if they identify signs of distress or difficulty and connect someone to appropriate support, long before they're in crisis.

This week students have engaged with activities around the four steps of 'checking in' to see if a friend or loved one is ok. The steps are as follows:

1. Ask ‘R U OK?’

2. Listen

3. Encourage action

4. Check in

More information can be found at: https://www.ruok.org.au/

Thursday the 13th of September is the official date named for R U OK? Day for 2023. We encourage everyone to check in with those around them and ask R U OK?

Mrs Fiona Hayward

Leader of Inclusion

Lismore Mediates

In our busy world, children are bombarded at an early age with noises, stimuli, and a message to keep busy. As a result, our consistent fast pace can detract from our ability to be still and silent with God. One of the ways to regain this is by teaching students the practice of Christian Meditation. Christian Meditation is a simple way of silent prayer practised by Christians as early as the fourth century.

Although students regularly participate in short meditations as part of their classroom prayer routines, every year, the staff and students of St Joseph’s gather to participate in Lismore Mediates. Lismore Mediates is an initiative launched several years ago encouraging schools within the Lismore Diocese to set aside some time to come together to mediate. We chose Tuesday the 12th of September to participate in this event before the Year 5/6 school camp and to coincide with the planned R U OK? Day activities. The whole meditation experience ran for fifteen minutes and was a beautiful way to start our day.

Mrs Fiona Hayward

Leader of Inclusion