This month I wanted to share something I saw on the change.org website which is written by a London teacher called Eleanor Rudd.  It perfectly explains what a lot of our young people are experiencing and how schools are setting our young people to struggle.  Please share your comments below.

“I think that more thorough Mental Health education and practical support methods need to be taught in schools and colleges. Student resilience is at its lowest I have noticed in some of my cohorts before. They are facing challenging circumstances: they may not ever go to university despite a a recent historical educational pressure to choose that option and if they do, they take on a huge financial burden, many just to attend school or college are in financial difficulty requiring school/college bursaries which rarely actually cover their travel needs, many are not educated adequately regarding banking, budgeting, benefits, taxes, voter registration and democracy, volunteering, sexual health, how to sign up to a GP or appropriately use the health service, how to seek support re housing, loans etc. Our education system is failing our young people in so many ways to not prepare them for real life, as well as pre employment – it should be no surprise that mental health is becoming such a big issue for our students. It is evident in the high numbers of people 30 and under who are suffering with depression and anxiety (plus others) as these issues re education are nothing new. However, we have now been living in a society of cuts and debt and very few wage increases for a larger part of these students lives as well, so the impact is apparent for them at a younger age as well.

Mental health education must be included on the syllabus. Teachers must be trained to recognise symptoms, to know how to react and not stigmatise! How to support a student who self harms, as well as make an appropriate support referral. These to me are as integral as the student having their English gcse. What is the point of having their English gcse if they cannot deal with their mental health appropriately and are not job ready in that respect??”

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes (as written by author of Walking on Sunshine, Rachel Kelly)

For many of us, life revolves around a series of big decisions, which anchor the hundreds of smaller decisions we make each day. Which A-levels to take? Which university offers to accept? Which jobs to apply to and which opportunities to seize? We often navigate these decisions motivated by the harmful misconception that there is such a thing as a good decision and a bad decision; that we are playing for failure or success.  But life is more complicated than that. Good ideas can have bad results and supposedly bad ideas can lead to something good. Perceived mistakes and failures can be the stepping-stones to something wonderful if we have the right attitude. The ‘how’ is more important than the ‘what’.

Walking on Sunshine: 52 Small Steps to Happiness is published by Short Books and is available for purchase on Amazon. For more information please follow Rachel on Twitter @RachelKellyNet or visit www.rachel-kelly.net.  

Rachel Kelly is also speaking in conversation with Jane Garvey from BBC’s Women’s Hour about her experience of depression on Wednesday 10th February at Conway Hall, Holborn, 7pm.  Further details on this can be found on the Action for Happiness website.

UEL Alumni Network Magazine Now & Then, Issue 17

We had the honour of having an article written up about Find Your Spark and the work we do as part of the Good Business column.  The Good Business column catches up with people who are leading social change. It is created in collaboration with Impact Hub Islington, a co-working and business incubation space in London for socially-minded entrepreneurs.  To read the article in its entirety, click here.

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This month we had the joy of interviewing, Michael Pritchard, our founder’s namesake and an inspirational American stand-up comedian, youth counselor, and advocate of social emotional learning so very much in keeping with Find Your Spark (although whether Michelle could be considered a stand up comedian, remains to be seen! 😉

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Updated Ofsted (September 2015)

This month, we will be looking at the updated Ofsted judgements and how this affects PSHE.  

Ofsted requirements have stated that:

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Michelle Pritchard was recently featured in an article by Margaret Barr in the popular Coaching magazine, Coaching at Work.  This was based on the presentation she gave in November 2014 with Liz Robson at the Special Group of Coaching Psychology Conference and is based on her soon to be published Masters Research Thesis.

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Find Your Spark has begun delivering their group training programmes to professionals who work with young people.  

The University of East London’s support staff were among the first to experience this training and these trainings were met with much success and positive feedback.