Thank you for calming the storms in Lochlan’s life

Posted in Chaplaincy / School life / SU QLD

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When Chappy Beck first met Lochlan, he was the new kid in Year 6 “whose name you’d say 100 times a day”.

Little did she know the huge role she’d play in helping him turn his life around – from explosive and combative, to calmer, happier, and focused in class. You helped make that possible.

“Lochlan is a reactor,” Chappy Beck says.

“He will admit himself that he overreacts to things. He’ll go from zero-to-100 in a second but he’s a really awesome kid.

“Even the staff could see his heart and they could see that he’d just overreact.”

Chappy Beck started working with Lochlan, along with the support team at Undurba State School, to help him control his emotions. Through this process, Chappy Beck and the family got to know each other more. Then Lochlan’s mum shared that they were “in a time of need”.

As a director of Mapleton Adventure Camp, Chappy Beck asked if she’d like Lochlan and his sister to go along.  Thanks to a local church’s youth group fundraiser, both were able to go.

“Mum was just so appreciative. She said ‘I have never had anyone be so generous to me before. It’s given me so much hope for the good in the world’,” Chappy Beck recalls.

Mapleton Adventure Camp was a time of huge transformation for Lochlan, and brought a spark of life and hope where there had been little before.

Chappy Beck said everyone at school noticed a positive change in Lochlan when he got back from camp.

“(School staff) noticed the sense of calmness he had. He still had his moments but the staff kept saying how well he was going. And the Behaviour Support teacher who works very intensively with him, she noticed a difference. They all just had so much praise for him,” she says.

Lochlan is also quick to praise his chappy.

“Having a chaplain means a lot to me because she has looked after me and she cares for me,” Lochlan says.

“Chappy Beck has helped me in ways that other people haven’t been able to. I have been able to learn to try and control my anger and to not retaliate. I have learned what it means to be more than a conqueror.”

Chappy Beck now knows it was all part of God’s plan.

“Seeing the transformation in Lochlan was such a huge blessing, and to see God’s hand in his life. I’m excited now for his future,” says Chappy Beck.

You can help chaplains like Beck continue to have a powerful impact in our young people’s lives. Visit suqld.org.au/donate

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