Children's Mental Health Week - #FindYourBrave
This week from 3 - 9 February, is Children's Mental Health Week, run by Place2Be, one of the UK's leading charities for improving children's mental health in schools. The awareness week is now in its 6th year, and this year the theme is Find Your Brave.
On their website, Place2Be describes how bravery looks different for everyone. It can be about showing vulnerability and asking for help, sharing worries, trying something new or pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. This can be really difficult for adults, never mind children so it's fantastic that there's a focus on what bravery means, as it's different for everyone at different times in life.
Over the past 12 months, I've had numerous opportunities to find my own bravery. Last year, I wrote about the work I've been doing with Rites for Girls CIC on our company intranet. The training programme for becoming a Facilitator to run Girls Journeying Together groups has been both challenging and inspiring, and I've certainly had to #findmybrave on many occasions!
To work with children in any capacity is a privilege, and at Rites for Girls we are encouraged and supported to deal with our own unfinished business from our childhoods and/or teenage years before stepping into the role of Facilitator. This is so that we can be the best mentors possible for them, and not bring our own 'stuff' into Girls Group, which is so important when working with pre-teens to help them find their own voices.
It's taken me almost a year, including three 9-day residentials, assignments, my own counselling sessions, peer group work, arranging a public talk at a local school, and giving a BBC radio interview, but I'm now at the point where I'll be starting to run my first Girl's Group this spring. I'm nervous and excited in equal measure, and will need to once again step out of my comfort zone and findmybrave when I run my first session, but I know I'll be fine. This is because, during the course of my training, I've discovered:
- It's okay to show vulnerability and ask for help;
- I have a group of people around me to support me - I'm not doing this alone;
- I don't have to be perfect - mistakes are good and where I do my best learning;
- I know I'm well-equipped to support the girls (and by extension, their mothers) in my Girls Journeying Together group as I know the power of these groups to help build confidence, self-esteem and resilience. I've experienced it through my training and it's phenomenally powerful.
I can't wait to meet the girls and their Mums in March and get started!
Where do you #findyourbrave? What's taking you out of your comfort zone this year?
About the author
Lisa James is a founding member of the Pearson Well UK Group, championing staff physical and mental health across Pearson UK. She is a certified Mental Health First Aider and a Regional Sales Manager on our UK Schools 5-19 Team.