Counselling & Mental Health

Counselling & Mental Health Awareness

Recognising "It's OK not to be OK"

There are times in all our lives when things are not OK. Some of us deal with them, some of us run, some of us hide and some us try and distract ourselves. We believe it is important to teach children to recognise that it is ok to not be ok and to learn how to manage their emotions and feelings, not to hide them, deny them or ignore them. So thanks to charitable funding from the John Lyon Trust, we have an in-school counselling service for children but also parents and staff. Life is stressful at times so having support in place for when you need it is so important.

The Space

Our Counselling Manager (also know by the children as "The Space Lady"!) Roxy, is in every Tuesday and Wednesday to meet children to talk through anything they want that is on their mind. Sometimes they do not want to talk to parents or teachers, so talking to a "neutral" gives them the "Space" to manage whatever they are feeling. It is a brilliant service and well used by Priestmead children. Roxy also meets parents and staff who value her confidential time and support.

MINDFULNESS RESOURCES

MINDFULNESS RESOURCES

Over the last couple of years you may have heard the word “Mindfulness” a lot. In bookshops you will be seeing colouring books, mindfulness books but what does sit mean??

We live in a frantic world, with many stresses and our minds constantly busy with a seemingly never ending list of things to do.

Mindfulness is a practice which allows you to calm your mind, bringing your attention to the present moment in the mind, body and external environment, with an attitude of curiosity and kindness.

This is done by a range of simple meditation practices, which aim to bring a greater awareness of thinking, feeling and behaviour patterns, and to develop the capacity to manage these with greater skill and compassion. Evidence is showing that a mindful practice can lead to a capacity to manage thoughts and feelings better resulting in greater clarity and focus.

The benefits of this practice are being seen in health, education, the workplace and the criminal justice system as a result the government have commissioned a study “Mindful Nation” which has a number of recommendations around the use of mindfulness across all of these sectors.

Many major companies including Google, Facebook, Intel and Goldman Sachs have seen the benefit of mindfulness on both productivity and the happiness of their staff, as a result they offer training programmes to everyone who works for them.

If you are interested in learning more, here are a few recommendations to get you started: