The Brauer College performing arts student took part in a communication workshop with Deakin University Warrnambool medical students on Monday.

The teenager was one of 18 secondary students from Years 7 to 12 portraying a fictional adolescent patient for two dozen aspiring doctors hoping to hone their consultation skills.

Deakin University’s Dr Brendan Condon said the three-hour collaboration between college and university students was ideal for learning.

“This is the second year we’ve run these workshops,” he said.

“It’s a really helpful exercise for the students and a great way to practice with the real deal.

“These are issues they’re actually going through.

“Currently we run communication workshops several times per year, each with a different emphasis.

“We’ve covered breaking bad news, dealing with aggressive patients and today our focus is on adolescent issues.

“To aid focussing on communication skills it is ideal for the ‘problems’ to be emotional, psychological and social rather than physical,” he said.

Brauer College student Jazmin Royal played the part of 15 year-old Abbie who was dealing with depression, anxiety and stress.

“It’s been really cool to see how the system works,” she said.

“And how they learn how to engage the patient they’re working with and what questions work and what questions don’t work.

“It was really cool because we got to evolve the story around the patient and we got to make it challenging for the doctor, that was fun.

Third year Deakin medical student Craig Fisher said the exercise was also aimed at making teenagers feel more comfortable talking to their doctor.

“Today’s activity was a great opportunity to navigate the issues that we experienced as teenagers and may have felt uncomfortable with and try to fix those now so we can practice good skills to get around that.

“It’s been a really helpful exercise.”