Time to Shine
Inspiring and Empowering Mentoring for Young People
Twenty percent of primary school children suffer from a low sense of wellbeing*.
The Well-being Programme Primary delivers 8 weeks of weekly mentoring and coaching sessions. The sessions are tailored towards children in a primary setting and result in:
- Increased confidence
- Increased self-belief
- Stress management techniques
- Increased wellbeing
- Better mental health and tools to help
- Better academic performance
- An understanding of emotional health and emotional intelligence
- Building relationships and support with other children in the group
- A lighter load after offloading problems
- Disclosing of problems and issues that can be communicated to the school
- Spotting mental health issues
- More confidence speaking in groups
In a UNICEF survey in 2007,
the UK ranked at the bottom on
children’s wellbeing compared
with North America and
18 European countries.
A safe space is created with a focus on thought provoking and empowering story books, discussion, group counselling, Neuro Linguistic Programming techniques, coaching techniques, games, stress management, emotional intelligence, mental health understanding exercises, relaxation and meditation and self-governance of the group. Children are given real tools to help build inner resilience and are inspired to a more empowering way of thinking and acting which increases their self-belief. These tools can be used for life and the children are encouraged to use them wherever possible.
I model the very tools the children are learning and is able to share big events from my childhood such as divorce, bereavement, lack of self-confidence and self-belief, sibling rivalry, being bullied, bullying others, exam stress, changing schools, friendships and preparing for university in an honest language which the young people can relate to; and with an awareness of how these impact emotional health, thoughts and behaviour. I am able to describe how I turned around my thinking and feeling regarding many of those events using the tools I am teaching.
In an average classroom, 10 will
have witnessed their parents separate,
8 will have experienced severe physical
violence, sexual abuse or neglect, 1 will
have experienced the death of a parent
and 7 will be bullied.
(Faulkner J, 2011)
Some children feel they can trust me and turn to me with problems and issues that I am then able to communicate to the Safeguarding Officer or teacher, creating a trusting supportive relationship between the child and the school along the way.
I have experience working with vulnerable children with medical issues, who are witnessing violence in the home, who have experienced abuse, who have experienced neglect, who are dealing with bereavement, who are experiencing divorce, who are being bullied, who are cared for children and those who have mental health issues. Trained as a Youth Mental Health First Aider, I am equipped with knowledge regarding mental health issues that young people experience and am aware of signs to look out for.
10% of children and young
people aged 5 to 16 suffer
from a diagnosable
mental health disorder.
(Green, H., McGinnity A.,
Meltzer, H., et al 2005)
The results of the Well-being Programme Primary are that the children’s inner reserves of self-confidence, self-belief and self-awareness are increased. This increased confidence and self-belief ripples through the child’s life, affecting every area positively and has a positive effect on the child’s academic performance.
Many of the children I have worked with ask their teachers for me to return – even a year after the programme is completed, – as they benefitted greatly from the sessions.
*Morrison-Gutman et al, 2008.
