Wellbeing Team

Our College offers a highly skilled and approachable Wellbeing Team who manage and oversee referrals to other services and agencies, as well as coordinate and run events and programs that support our students’ mental health and wellbeing. The Wellbeing Team includes an Assistant Principal, a Student Wellbeing Leader, a Chaplain, an Adolescent Health Nurse, a psychologist, a Mental Health Practitioner, a Wellbeing administrator and various support workers from the Department of Education Student Support Services.

We are a part of the ‘Doctors in Schools’ initiative and have a GP and trained nurse on site once a week, in addition to our school First Aid nurse. The Wellbeing Team work closely with the Student Engagement Leaders across the school in order to provide a coordinated approach to student support.


Luke Ventieri
Assistant Principal - Wellbeing

Mohiene Deo
Wellbeing Leader
I believe in empowering students to achieve their best possible outcome. This best outcome is achieved by taking a holistic approach to students' wellbeing where the student, their parent/guardian, and the college work together. I have been working in student wellbeing for over ten years and am passionate about working with adolescents. I like to spend my spare time making plans to travel and listening to true crime podcasts.

Tamara Magrath

Adolescent Health Nurse

I am a registered Nurse with a graduate certificate in mental health.

I started my career working in acute mental health which I really enjoyed, but I quickly realised that if we supported people with their mental health earlier in life it would lessen the impact of illness. For this reason, I decided to work with young people and I have been in the role as a Secondary School Nurse for the past 20 years.

As a Secondary School Nurse, I have had the pleasure of working at Melba College for 5 years and in that time I have supported students in a number of ways, including:

I provide health education and information to students either individually or within classes
I run health promotion activities where I raise school community awareness about different health and wellbeing topics
I provide assessment and referral support to students who are experiencing a range of health and wellbeing concerns
I work with the wellbeing team to identify areas of concern and plan ways to address them.

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless"

Mother Teresa

Kate Gibney

Counsellor

Hi, I am Kate. I am a counsellor at Melba.

My studies are primarily in Law and Criminology; however, I have a passion for mental health. I have studied counselling and am now completing post graduate study in mental health for education. I feel privileged to work with so many resilient young students. I have also completed study in gender equity, alcohol and other drugs, community services, justice, family violence and pathology.

I work with students, school staff and families to support the students. I do counselling, help run wellbeing programs, and make pancakes for the breakfasts in schools 3 times a week.

Outside of school I enjoy learning and studying, reading, watching movies, cooking, and going for walks. I also have 4 beautiful ragdoll cats which I love spending time with.

Some quotes that resonate with me, and are applicable to wellbeing are:

The simple things are sometimes the most significant — Anon.
"If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way." —Martin Luther King, Jr.

Zach Vaughn

College Chaplain

Hi everyone!

My name is Zach and I am the school chaplain here at Melba College. It is my pleasure to work with students, staff and families to improve their wellbeing and to support them on their life journeys. I

'm at school on Thursdays and Fridays, where I help out with breakfast program, chatting with students and generally working as part of the wellbeing team.

I have been working and volunteering with teenagers for over 5 years and couldn’t be more passionate about the work.

When not at school I love to hang out with my wife and son, watch movies and have as much fun as I can.

I love working with teenagers and people to see them succeed and live an amazing quality of life.

I look forward to meeting you!

Kristina Toleman

Mental Health Practitioner

My name is Tina and I am the Mental Health Practitioner here at Melba College. I am immensely proud to be a part of this amazing wellbeing team and feel honoured to connect with students and support them in their pursuit of better mental health.

I am a Registered Counsellor with a degree in Psychology and Master of Counselling. I have worked with children, teenagers and their families in childcare settings, schools, football clubs and private practice, for over 20 years and have loved having a positive impact on so many people.

I am happily married and a proud mother of some amazing young adults, who I still love to spend time with, especially when we are holidaying, playing competitive games or going to the rugby.

I believe people need to feel seen and heard and therefore I listen to truly understand their experiences and their needs.

Gaylene Layton

Psychologist

I am an Educational and Developmental Psychologist. I have been working with children and adolescents for over 30 years. Since 2010 I have been working in Education, and in 2020 I joined the team at Melba College. Working within the context of a mutually respectful relationship, using evidence based interventions, is really important to me and I feel privileged to be able to work in this way with young people.

“Psychologists are just people who weren’t smart enough to be psychics”.

Gina Linetti, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Referrals to the wellbeing team can be made through the Year Level Leaders or by contacting the team directly via the college reception.