There are many superheroes at Carmel who quietly go about their day doing amazing things for our students and their families. Alicia Fernando-Lee, our School Psychologist slash specialist in what makes us tick, is absolutely one of those. Now in her tenth year at Carmel, Alicia booked us in between appointments to talk about her decade at Carmel and what came before, as well as what makes her tick.

Born and raised in Singapore of Sinhalese extraction, Alicia noticed early on that the values of a rigidly conservative society didn鈥檛 serve everyone and that many fell between the cracks.

鈥淪ingaporeans value education greatly and there鈥檚 a lot of pressure to attain. I was fortunate to have opportunities and loved school but not all my friends did,鈥� says Alicia who, while at school, investigated becoming an airforce pilot but couldn鈥檛 reach the controls when she sat in the cockpit!

A major motivating factor for Alicia to pursue a career in psychology was watching how primary level streaming tests, which determined whether students were put on a path to university or not in Singapore, negatively affected some children. 鈥淚 had friends who were great at maths and English but couldn鈥檛 pass a second language who were put in a stream with limited options.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 unusual for those children, who were otherwise bright, to go down a very dark path in later years. It was such a waste. I scraped through with my second language, even though I hated it,鈥� she says of the requirement to pass Mandarin, Tamil or Malay in addition to the national language of English. 鈥淭hat some of my friends had the door closed on their opportunities bothered me enough as a child to want to help in some way,鈥� she explains.

The other defining moment to her as an 11-year-old, and which further cemented her desire to study psychology, was the effects of physical abuse on a young person she knew, which, she believes, altered the trajectory of that child鈥檚 life. 鈥淚鈥檝e always enjoyed children鈥檚 innocence. If they mess up, sometimes that鈥檚 because they haven鈥檛 figured everything out yet.

鈥淣ow and again children make choices that aren鈥檛 what the grownups want, but they鈥檙e trying to tell us something. They don鈥檛 yet understand their emotions or have the language to put how they feel into words and so it鈥檚 up to us adults to frame it for them in a 鈥榯ell me why you鈥檙e sad so I can make it better鈥� way,鈥� Alicia explains.

Having seen the current Carmel students through the bulk of their school career - the 2021 Year 12 cohort was in Year 2 when she joined us - Alicia feels privileged to have nurtured these students, a normal group of kids, over the usual ups and downs of childhood and adolescence and is now proud to see them graduate, ready for young adulthood. 鈥淭heir parents might not have been able to see a way through problems their children faced in Year 3, yet here they are having conquered some of their difficulties and on the brink of graduating. Some of them now understand more about how they鈥檙e wired and who to go to for help as they get older.

鈥淐armel provides a level of service that hasn鈥檛 existed in any other school I鈥檝e worked at in either the public or private system. Our level of communication is superb. I know of teachers who often work after hours to contact a child鈥檚 allied health therapists,鈥� she states, 鈥渁nd they understand the issues of privacy and confidentiality, particularly given we are a community school.鈥�

Alicia says her own cultural leanings chime greatly with those of the Jewish faith: the importance of food and grandmothers, the valuing of education and strong family bonds, to name a few, but the wind beneath her wings as Carmel psychologist, she believes, has been the strength of the school鈥檚 leadership. 鈥淪hula, Dean and Debbie have always got my back. We support each other to the benefit of our students, and I鈥檓 so grateful for that. They鈥檙e a fantastic team,鈥� she adds.

Starting off her career in adult disabilities in Singapore, Alicia worked for an NGO that supported individuals with intellectual disabilities and in a private in-patient psychiatric ward, then in the child development unit of the largest children鈥檚 hospital in Singapore.

In Perth, her experience has been extensive. With the Non-Government School Psychology Service, she serviced a myriad of different schools, including Catholic schools, Christian Colleges, Islamic Colleges and St Andrew鈥檚 Grammar School. She then moved to John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School before working as a senior psychologist at Therapy Focus. Spells at the Disability Services Commission and Seton College, as well as intermittent work for her own private practice along the way, followed before she found her niche at Carmel.

When asked how she turns off the stresses of her workday, she trots out the old 鈥榮hoemakers鈥� children don鈥檛 have shoes鈥� saying, admitting that sometimes her kids get the 鈥榞rumpy mum鈥� version of herself, but that she strives to be as present as possible when wearing her 鈥榤um鈥� hat.听 A big weapon in her parenting arsenal, she maintains, is her own parents, who moved over to Perth from Singapore when the first of her two children was born and who are always willing to lend a helping hand.

What does the ideal day off look like for Alicia? While she loves exploring all that Perth has on offer in the way of beaches, national parks and eateries, spending time with her family rules supreme. 鈥淐armel鈥檚 values mirror my own when it comes to the importance of family. My blissful day is being with my family - playing, eating and cuddling; nothing fancy.鈥� 听

Well, we think you鈥檙e pretty fancy, Alicia. Thank you for your wonderfully down-to-earth and bubbly presence and for the caring, kindness and expertise you offer Carmel students every single day!