After completing a degree in Education Studies and an MA in Social Work, I went on to take a variety of management and support roles in the local community across education and social care settings.
I discovered mindfulness on this journey, which today has become a key aspect of my practice, both personally to reduce the impact of stress and to support children and families.
My varied experiences have given me insight into the many challenges that families can face: everyone, at some time may need support. Vitally, how we face, cope and overcome difficulties, big and small, is strongly connected to our mental health. Supporting our emotional wellbeing and building relationships helps boost our response to adversity. I was fortunate to be able to explore this in-depth through my MA dissertation which researched ‘resilience to stress in social work.’
I am passionate that resilience is something we can all build, we can all strengthen and develop positive ways of coping. Human beings are all creatures of habit, but brain science has shown that we can change! We are all capable of building new neurological pathways in our brains, ultimately creating new habits. It takes time and lots of practice, but we can all do this. Importantly, introducing children to some vital skills early on in their lives will help build their ongoing resilience to challenges, and support them to flourish.