Gladstone student counsellor remedy for career path anxiety
Published on 17 December, 2008
As year 12 students eagerly await their OP scores that are due out this Friday, the CQUniversity Student Counsellor and Equity Officer at the Gladstone campus - Sherie Elliott - is preparing to be called upon.
While many students will receive the OP score that they require to get into their university degree of choice, for some, the reality that they did not quite get there can be devastating.
This could lead to hundreds of intelligent, hard-working kids in the region believing that they are failures thanks to just one very narrow measure - their OP score.
Swinburne University research shows nearly one in five Victorian year 12 students have thought about suicide or self-harm due to school pressures. Psychologist Karen McGraw also found a third of students surveyed were severely depressed and 41 per cent suffered from anxiety. The reality is that high school results are not the only measure of future success, with examples including Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, Paul Simon or Russell Crowe.
Having a diverse professional background (from a defence laboratory, to helping people quit smoking, to teaching and now as a student counsellor) Sherie is able to relate to students' varying needs and interests and she stresses the importance of keeping options open.
CQUniversity Gladstone will be open right up until Christmas but will be closed from Thursday 25 December 2008 - Friday 2 January 2009. If you would like to make an appointment to see Sherie or you simply have a few questions, please call the campus on 4970 7277.
"Many students when they receive their OP and discover that they did not do as well as expected usually give up on the idea of attending University at all instead of considering the alternative options available," Sherie said.
"Others will hastily re-arrange their QTAC preferences without full consideration being given to those other avenues that may be available to enter their desired degree."
Sherie explains that because local high schools are now closed, Year 12 students may not know where to turn to discuss their future career paths.
As Student Counsellor, Sherie is available to talk to any high school student to discuss QTAC Preferences no matter what university they wish to attend. Many students have already used this free service and have benefited from the personal approach.