The Mental Health of Young People
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Matthew 16:25
Dear Students, Parents and Carers
It is a sad paradox that, although the Western World has never been more affluent, its young people have never been, so far as we can tell, so unhappy. This malaise affects all the Anglosphere. It has an impact on our Shore community, mitigated in terms of numbers and proportions by so much excellent parenting. The disjuncture between material wealth and happiness is a stark feature of this moment in history.
When travelling 20 years ago to an international Heads of Schools conference, I was struck by the combination of relative poverty and satisfaction in Ghana. They had very little, yet they seemed to thrive. It is reminiscent of the great classic 100 years ago by Gershwin, in the lyrics of Porgy and Bess, “Oh, I got plenty o’ nuttin’, An’ nuttin’s plenty fo’ me, I got no car, got no mule, I got no misery, De folks wid plenty o’ plenty, Got a lock an dey door.” Perhaps consumerism and the unhappiness of always wanting more is part of the cause. Perhaps the self-focus of teenagers, as encouraged by so much marketing and social media activity, actually works against life satisfaction. Jesus himself said that it is better to give than to receive, encouraging a focus away from ourselves to serving others. In fact, he said, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:25) Perhaps hedonism, i.e. the unrestricted pursuit of pleasure, does not deliver. Jesus’ approach is consistent with recent research which indicates that those who show gratitude, with a disposition of thankfulness, and those who serve others boost their own sense of wellbeing and are more content.
What are the causes? What are the dynamics? What can we as adults do? How can we help lift some of our young people from this malaise and prevent others falling into this pit? These questions have led us to invite Professor Patrick McGorry, Australia’s best known adolescent psychiatrist, to address a parent meeting here at Shore. Professor McGorry has been very invested in these questions and his vast contribution led him to being named a recent Australian of the Year. This is a one-off opportunity (he lives in Melbourne) to provide what could be life changing insights for our young people, to those best equipped to assist, i.e. parents and staff. Professor McGorry will address us from 6.00pm – 7.00pm on Thursday 16 November 2023, in the Library (or in the Playfair Hall if attendance is too large for a Library setting). I do urge parents of teenagers who are well adjusted to not be complacent about this matter. Even if it does not apply to one’s own children, or, at least, not now, the insights may be helpful for nephews, nieces and other youth in regular contact. I hope it will be of interest to ELC and Prep parents whose children soon enough will be in the late primary and teenage phase. More information can be found on Lampada.
On another matter entirely, every three years the Old Boys’ Union (OBU) elect five of their number to our School Council (which has 17 members). The ballot, which is conducted by an external agency in order to provide a watertight guarantee of propriety, is open to around 8,000 Old Boys who are currently financial members. The ballot has just been declared and the successful candidates have been named as (listed alphabetically): Mr Doug Ferguson, Mr David Lloyd, Mr Malcolm Nutt, Mr David Scammell and Mr Stephen Woodhill. All are current or recent parents of the School whose knowledge of Shore is certainly up to date. We, the School management and staff, are delighted to welcome those prepared to generously give their time to governance out of their deep interest in Shore and its people. Mr Ferguson is returning to Council, while the other four so elected are new to our School Council. We should all be very grateful to those who are leaving Council, due to a range of reasons, the chief one of which is ongoing pressure of work: Dr Gregg Burrow, Mr David Chapman, Mr Sean Docker (just announced as a “silk”, i.e. an SC, Senior Barrister) and Mr Bay Warburton. Mr Warburton has kindly occupied the very demanding role of Chair but, as most of our community are aware, finds himself needing to prioritise supporting his wife after she has received a very challenging medical diagnosis. There will be opportunities before the end of the year to thank Mr Warburton and other departing Council Members for their faithful service.
As of this week, the Chair has been assumed by Ms Jennifer Lambert, a long-standing member of our Council who is also Chair of Council’s Finance Committee. She is a recent ex-parent. I would think we are all grateful to her for her willingness to assume this critical role, which requires a great deal of reading and exercising of judgement and many, many meetings.
Dr John Collier
Headmaster
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and not every critique should be taken literally.