Importance of creativity Maya Angelou once said, ‘You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.’ We all possess the creative spark, even when we think we don’t. All too often, we (narrowly) define creativity as the ability to paint, draw, sing, write or play an instrument. Creativity has been seen...

Mental health There was a time when no one talked about mental health in the way we do now: Mental health problems were limited to conditions such as clinical depression, what was once called ‘manic depression’ but is now known as bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. If you didn’t suffer from any of those, then you...

Voluntary sector organisation action learning development of organisation and services responding to needs Action Learning describes the process by which a group of learners come together to solve real work issues. Members of the group, known as the action learning ‘set’, identify problems through reflection and questions, and come up with solutions that will have...

Understanding Family dynamics Hands up if you had the experience as an adult of returning to your childhood home, whether for the holiday season, for a family gathering or as a stopgap after university, and finding yourself slipping back into the role you played as a child. One day you’re washing your own clothes and...

How children’s development is impacted by external factors like poverty, violence, bad housing , family breakdown To understand how a child’s development may be impacted by factors such as poverty, violence, bad housing and family breakdown, we must first understand how children develop. On its website, the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty...

Building parental relationships with schools We can safely say that teachers today have a lot on their plate: quite apart from the job of teaching, they have to contend with regular monitoring, meetings, preparing children for SATs, GCSE and ‘A’ Level exams and more recently, dealing with the far-reaching impact of Covid-19 and lockdown. Energy...

4 ways Therapy Helps Create an Inclusive Environment in Schools In recent years, there has been an increased focus on creating inclusive environments in schools. One way this can be achieved is through therapy to address issues that may be preventing students from feeling included. Therapy can help to create a sense of safety and...

Prioritising Emotional, Mental and Physical Well-Being in Schools In recent years, there has been an increased focus on creating inclusive environments in schools. One way this can be achieved is through therapy to address issues that may be preventing students from feeling included. Therapy can help to create a sense of safety and belonging for...

How Implementing Art, Play and Drama Therapy in Schools Can Help Children Succeed In the last two decades, there has been an increasing trend of incorporating art, play, and drama therapy in the UK. It is especially true in the case of schools due to the well-documented implications of these therapies on mental and emotional...