This past year I have been mentoring a student, meeting with them at least once (often twice or three times) a week, to support them with their studies and help them work through the various stresses and anxieties that were proving to be barriers to confidence and success. It has been an incredibly rewarding process, [...]
Category: Work with young people
Rediscovering Why
Earlier this week, I got up at the unholy hour of 5am and drove through bright morning sunshine, driving wind and rain, and even snow, to attend the HLTA North conference in Stockton-on-Tees. I am not a morning person so this was a big ask but it was completely worth it because the conference [...]
What Are We Doing?
I am disheartened by the state of the world. When I find myself explaining to 11 year olds why rape is not funny, or why it worries me that they are joking about drunkenness and drug use, I begin to truly wonder what on earth we are doing? How do children think these serious issues [...]
Battling the Cloud
Image found here. I was so saddened to hear the news of Robin Williams death. Aladdin's Genie, Peter Pan all grown up, and the brilliant, funny, talented man who was Robin himself sadly gone from us. Almost a year ago one of the brilliant young volunteers I worked with also had his life stolen by [...]
Why I Jumped on the #nomakeup Bandwagon
So I finally decided that I would in fact respond to my #nomakeup selfie nomination, because in spite of the controversy it has caused it has in fact encouraged people to donate, share stories and raise awareness. This is a good thing. The fact that the campaign has caused some controversy actually makes it even [...]
In Defence of Youth: Quick Activity
I have been working with young people in various paid and voluntary roles for about eight years now, and there are countless issues I've been faced with and resources I've used. I also know there are countless issues I'm yet to face and resources I don't even know exist! I always intended to share some [...]
Organised Chaos
This is what my desk looked like today. In fact this seems to be what it looks like most days at the moment. I would like to think it is organised chaos. It's not. At the moment I work in a big secondary school, in a pastoral support role, and boy is it hectic. I like [...]
Thrive In Chaos 