John Quinn – creating a culture of wellbeing F or College’s mental skills and high-performance specialist, John Quinn, wellbeing “is not a subject – it’s a culture”. importance, along with some of the
tools and character strengths, through to having a growth
As the inaugural Director of the Centre for Wellbeing & Positive Education at Christ’s College, John has spent nearly six years working to establish and build an innovative wellbeing programme that encompasses students,
mindset and mindfulness and how we embed that in day-to-day lives. Our wellbeing programme is now in place. Caroline Black, who is taking the helm as the new Director of Wellbeing Education, can drive that focus. I think that’s the key part – it’s how we teach it and embed it.” John believes wellbeing is central to “character success”, underlining the aspirations of the College Graduate. It focuses on developing character attributes – such as compassion and empathy, courage and resilience, and personal excellence – that enable leavers to flourish. “We know our school has a very strong academic base, so we know our young men will have very good qualifications. However, it’s also about having the life skills to manage outside school. That’s where the College Graduate becomes very important. “Those are the qualities that we want our young men to have. “Everyone has different levels of academic success, but they can
staff, and community. “Wellbeing is important
all have similar levels of character success.” John, who has been involved in education and high-performance sport for more than 20 years, holds university qualifications in sociology, social work and counselling. “I focused on sport psychology following my master’s degree in counselling, which prompted an interest in top-level performance,” he explains. In tandem with his high- performance focus, John has worked as a school counsellor before taking the reins as Director of the Centre for Wellbeing & Positive Education. He believes that College is a great community, and the Centre for Wellbeing & Positive Education has played an integral role. “While College is a place of change, and change brings challenges, everyone is committed to bringing the best to the boys.”
everywhere, even more so in Christchurch. Our young ones have had a challenging 10 to 12 years – from the 2010/2011 earthquakes to the Mosque shootings and Covid-19. Our ability to cope with what life throws at us is crucial,” he says. “With the support and vision of the Board of Governors and Executive Principal Garth Wynne, the Centre for Wellbeing & Positive Education has created more awareness of wellbeing. Now we can get everyone to put a value on wellbeing for themselves and within the school community.” John, who has moved on from College to a bigger role with High Performance Sport New Zealand, believes that the programme has taken a strong step in the right direction since its inception in 2017 but more must be done to embed ‘wellbeing’ in everyday life. “We spent a few years creating awareness of wellbeing and its
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