The people you can't recruit are already on their way: A wellbeing placement student program at a rural secondary college

Rural schools have a wellbeing capacity problem: increasing wellbeing need, high expectations, and a reactive wellbeing loop where most of the available time is spent responding to crises, disclosures and concerns. Compounding this, the workforce pipeline for the critical work of supporting student wellbeing outcomes in relationship with learning does not obviously exist. This article shares the story of a rural secondary school that used innovative partnerships with tertiary institutions to develop a viable wellbeing practitioner workforce pipeline. The initiative included eight separate university partnerships over two years, using a hybrid placement–paid-employment model to host, train, supervise and support robust allied health and wellbeing professional placement experiences at Cobram Secondary College in Victoria. Outcomes have been considerable, including more proactive, early intervention and prevention wellbeing work occurring every day at school; more students checked in on when concerns were flagged; more students fed; more students connected to one another and with an advocate for them at school. Staff workload decreased across key roles in student management and, in target areas such as Year 9 attendance, placement students improved data by working diligently on re-imagined attendance follow-up processes. The model is replicable, with a low cost to schools, the main commitments being staff time, buy-in and organisational structures that support it properly. Starting small, with one student, one university and one wellbeing problem area, launches a journey for any school ready to increase its wellbeing capacity to match demand.