Out and About - Winter 2021

Out & About wellbeing

EDUCATION The festive season is a time of celebration, but can also bring extra stresses. AMANDA BAILEY says acknowledge these emotions and learn how to let them go and respond positively

P eople often ask me what qualifications I have as creator of Be. My background is in education, specifically more than 25 years working as a SENCo working

space to enable us to be our authentic selves. Use the breath – relax the face, particularly the jaw by moving the bottom teeth away from the top teeth and softening the tongue, take a moment to settle, feeling the body relax, letting the breath come and go. Accept your emotion: Use this helpful mantra, be kind to yourself, ‘Notice, Don’t Judge’. When calm and reconnected to your true self, consider your next steps. When things don’t go as planned or expected, the most common response is reactive. Accept that everything won’t go according to plan, breathe, pause and acknowledge your emotions. For your own emotional well-being, it is essential to recognise that we cannot control other people, we can only control ourselves. Sometimes we can forgive, letting go of negative emotions, at other times this is not so easy. Visualisation is a useful tool in releasing our self from the grip of emotions. Imagine attaching the thought to a balloon, which you are holding with a piece of string and cutting it with a pair of scissors so the balloon/thought drifts away. During the festive season and at any stressful time, remember you can choose how to respond.

with pupils with social, emotional and mental health difficulties. A SENCo is there to

actively engage and listen to everyone, break down barriers and help devise plans to support a pupil’s needs as fully as possible. I have formal qualifications, but of equal importance are the lessons I have learned from the ‘university of life’. I have experienced the good and the bad and, yes, at times, the downright ugly, but have used the new knowledge gained to help understand and manage the next step of the journey. In his autobiography One , goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel shares the highs and lows of his 10- year professional career, including the ‘hairdryer treatment’ – Sir Alex Ferguson’s close-range barrages towards players at half-time. Schmeichel said: ‘I don’t think there’s ever been a better manager...It’s the communication, the clarity you’re never in doubt about anything, you’re never threatened.....working for him in that environment, the messages were clear, your job was clear and nothing was held against you.”

While a professional football team’s changing roommotivational tactics may not be for everyone – and it is essential to protect your emotional well-being and speak out if someone’s behaviour is not OK – the benefits of clear communication between people is something that everyone could aspire to. Increasingly, professional sporting stars are talking openly about struggles with depression and other mental health issues as they strive to stay at the top, the positive (probably unintended) consequence is that it is helping to tackle the stigma associated with mental health struggles and encourages others to have a proactive approach to improving their mental health every day. Most people aspire to be courteous, polite and respectful. We make judgements in the moment

within a social situation, sometimes authentically saying what we think, but often not saying how we feel; many find sharing their true feelings incredibly discomforting. Sometimes we try to block something from our mind – resist and it persists. Suppressing a thought takes lots of energy and as many will have discovered we are especially at risk of blurting that thought out when stressed or anxious. The festive season is often represented as a time for togetherness, but many experience mixed emotions and some find it a source of stress and anxiety. Meeting everyone’s expectations, disagreements and personality clashes are all stressful. Anxiety or heightened feelings mean we will not be thinking clearly. The key goal is to create a quieter, calmer mental

O&A WINTER 2021 Amanda Bailey offers a number of bespoke and group courses to help children, young adults and families reduce anxiety and increase calmness. Visit www.beberkshire.co.uk or email amanda@beberkshire.co.uk or call 07909502667 23