In my coaching sessions this week I will be building awareness, donating money and assisting as many people as possible in learning more about Autism as part of World Autism Awareness Week (27 March – 2 April 2017)

The National Autistic Society states that at least 1 in 100 people in the UK have autism. Indifference and hostility towards autistic people and their families can lead to social isolation, mental illness and unhappy lives. Helping young people – and teachers – to understand autism will equip them to accept and empathise with autistic people.

In working with different education establishments, I hear regularly that staff have little or no specific training around autism and for me this is quite shocking. As our ability to diagnose autism spectrum conditions improves then perhaps autism training needs to be included as part of teacher training. If autism awareness and understanding was developed early on then new teaching staff would be better prepared for their classroom environment.

So many of my students with autism state that teachers, assistants and pupils do not understand them and think they are rude or weird.  Just getting people to understand, that eye contact is not easy and sensitivity around sound and noise levels can be disturbing, would be a start. Socialising, integrating into friendship groups and sensory perception are other areas that need to be developed so that young people with autism can experience a happier school life.

If you know of somebody that is struggling in school and would benefit from coaching/mentoring then please contact me.

And if you can, please get involved with World Autism Awareness Week.

I was interested to see the article in The Guardian this week about a new initiative from M&S regarding mental health and their cafes https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/14/m-and-s-mental-health-ruby-wax–marks-and-spencer-frazzled-cafes

Having worked with young people and mental health over the last three years it is fantastic to see that more people are listening and getting involved in making a difference to those that are struggling.

I am passionate about coaching people to have a more confident, happy and successful life.  In my school work I see so many young people struggling with their mental health and well being who feel they are unable to talk about it or that nobody wants to listen.

I am pleased to see that large organisations like M&S want to get involved by offering opportunities for people to open up about their mental health and well being. If using celebrities like Ruby Wax raises the profile around mental health then surely it cannot be a bad thing.

If you know someone that is anxious or struggling in life and would benefit from life coaching then please contact me.

Last week I received some fantastic feedback from a group of school students who had completed my Exam Anxiety Workshop. The comments were very positive and constructive and all the participants took something away that they felt would enable them to manage their stress levels in the run up to exams.

Some of the positive benefits reported back were:

• Increasing their knowledge of anxiety and how it affects the human body
• Identifying their specific triggers and symptoms
• Receiving useful tips on things to do when anxious
• Learning about distraction techniques
• Finding out how to stay calm as pressure builds
• Having music in the background whilst completing exercises
• Getting different perspectives around anxiety
• Having a workbook to take away and refer back to
• Creating a support network and how to use it
• Working collaboratively and sharing experiences

Finding out that they thought the  workshop was calming, relaxing and fun and that it was delivered in a friendly and interesting way is amazing feedback for me.  I also noted some very useful suggestions on how I can continue to improve the content, which I am currently implementing before my next workshop in the coming week.

As exam pressures and mental health issues increase it is parents and education providers that are constantly challenged to find more help and support for young people.  This is not an easy job especially with the reduction of government funding for schools that  is currently happening.

If you know a young person struggling with anxiety or you are part of an education establishment that would like me to come in to deliver my workshop then please contact me.