EDUCATION
A whole school approach to mental health and well-being creates a culture and ethos in which all stakeholders
are empowered and equipped to look after themselves and others, which builds secure foundations for all areas
of school development and achievement.
WHY LIVE WELL CONSULTANCY?
Sarah's background is in education, in different roles, including classroom assistant, class teacher, middle and senior leader and headteacher. Having over twenty years in schools, Sarah offers the credibility of having 'walked the walk', having a deep knowledge, understanding and experiences and the challenges and joys of teaching and leading which builds authenticity and trust in the support she offers.
Through Live Well, Sarah works with a range of different Trusts and schools, just completing two years of Opportunity Area programmes to over eighty primary, secondary and special schools and colleges across Doncaster and Bradford. An overarching positive from all feedback and impact evaluation is that all support and training is bespoke and tailored to every school's needs and priorities - 'one size does not fit all!'
As with all best practice, all training and supporting is evidence and research based, including EEF, Public Health England, Anna Fraud, NFER.
WHAT CAN LIVE WELL OFFER YOUR SCHOOL OR COLLEGE?
Bespoke support and training - all tailored to your exact needs and priorities whether that is an individual school, college, trust or organisation
An initial call or meeting - which is free - to discuss your needs and priorities and what support and / or training would work for you (no obligation). We are aware of budgets so it's always a two-way conversation to make this work
staff meetings - inset days - on-going support - bespoke courses & training
working with
Headteachers / Leaders
Staff
Governors
Children / Young People
Parents / Families
Education Conference Speaker - delivering speeches, keynotes and workshops
Open courses run regularly both face-to-face and virtual - see ' Contacts and Booking' page or contact Sarah
Below are some examples of what Live Well can provide - we can always develop support and training specifically for you
For more information or for a free initial consultation - email Sarah or call
sarah@livewellconsultancy.org 07745 351262
(There will be no pressure to commit - it's important to build trust, rapport and ensure we are right for each other!)
WHOLE SCHOOL TRAINING AND SUPPORT
DEVELOPING MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING POLICY AND PRACTICE: A WHOLE SCHOOL APPROACH
Developing a whole school culture and approach which embeds sustainable and authentic well-being as the 'golden thread' that encompasses and supports the whole school community.
Focusing on elements that build a whole school approach, which includes all stakeholders, this provides schools with the tools to evaluate current practice and strengths, structures and practices to plan, develop and monitor impact of a graduated approach.
WELL-BEING REVIEWS
Whole school Well-being / SEMH reviews identify key strengths and set out recommendations to embed a whole school apporach to health and well-being. It is a very supportive, shared review process, fully informed by discussions and evidence.
The review involves a pre-review call, a day(s) in school working with all stakeholders, followed by a comprehensive report.
GOVERNOR TRAINING
Supporting Governors to understand the importance between well-being (staff, children and families) and children's ability to achive in school, along with the risk and protective factors to the well-being of leaders, staff and children.
Using PHE's Eight Principles, this session provides Governors with relevant information to all aspects of Mental Health and Well-being and how to apply this to your school.
POSITIVE PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT: DEVELOPING PRACTICE AND STRATEGY
This explores the difference between parental involvement and engagement, and key areas which support these, including 'hard-to-reach families. Developing a tailored strategy which identify what current practice and priorities are within your school, and actions to meet these priorities, which may include children's SEMH, attendance, behaviour and academic achievement.
POSITIVE PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT: WHOLE SCHOOL TRAINING (examples of training - session(s) will be tailored to school)
- Whole staff meeting - understanding parental engagement / involvement: developing the vision and practices as a whole team
- Whole staff meeting - communicating and collaborating with parents: developing understanding, knowledge and skills - building
and sustaining a supportive culture with parents
- Parent Involvement Worker / Learning Mentor training - working directly with parents
Building an empowering coaching culture with parents
Supporting parents with their child's SEMH / behaviour
"I feel the impact of this programme is clearly evident in school, and we have gained so much professionally from Sarah's support. Our school has been left in a stronger and more empowered position and I would recommend it to anyone. A huge thank you to Sarah" Doncaster Headteacher
STAFF WELL-BEING
Research and statistics highlight the levels of stress, depression and anxiety within the education profession and therefore proactively prioritising the well-being of all staff is inherently important.
Empowering staff to look after themselves, handle stress more effectively, build resilience and life balance, supports the retention of a high-quality team and outcomes for children's well-being and academic achievement.
STAFF WELL-BEING CHARTER
Developing and embedding a 'live' Charter which is developed by all staff, for all staff, encourages a collegiate, sustainable and authentic culture to well-being.
Focusing on five key areas that impact on staff well-being, the Charter is developed in line with your staff values, enables current strengths and practices to be recognised and further embedded and developmental areas to be identified and actioned.
As a working document, it informs and empowers all staff, supports engagement, attendance and retention, as well as providing essential information for recruitment and induction of new staff, and external agencies.
POSITIVE WELL-BEING SESSIONS FOR STAFF (Inset days, twilights, staff meetings)
Giving staff time to pause and reflect on their own well-being, identify stressors, and build personalised plans to build balance, resilience and self-care.
Examples of sessions: (tailored to individual trusts / schools)
Positive Well-being
Building Balance and Resilience
Self-care
Handling Stress and Pressure
Sleep and Rest
Mindfulness
Menopause
Mental Health Awareness
Positive Workplace Culture
Handling Difficult Situations
POSITIVE WELL-BEING AND RESILIENCE FOR EARLY CAREER TEACHERS AND INITIAL TEACHER TRAINEES
Supporting ECT's and ITT's to understand the importance of prioritising their well-being in the short and long term. These sessions give the time and space to reflect and understand stress and pressure and their own triggers and strategies, and build their own personalised toolkit / habits / mindset that will enable them to build and sustain their well-being and resilience in their teaching career.
COACHING AND SUPERVISION
It may feel a little self-indulgent to spend time on yourself especially when schools are such busy places. However, it is actually an investment in you, your well-being and development which in turn benefits everyone else.
Coaching and Supervision gives leaders and staff the time and space to take a pause, to reflect on and question their current situations, priorities and challenges to gain clarity and perspective. It supports well-being, resilience, energy, enables you to function more effectively and make better informed choices.
COACHING
Coaching is a highly valuable and powerful resource to support and develop you as an individual and professional.
- It provides a safe space to talk about and explore any issues and developmental areas in a confidential environment
- It enables you to recognise and develop personal tools and strategies so you can look after your own well-being as well
as well as capacity to support the people around you
- It challenges you to identify your goals and priorities and action these, as well as recognising your strengths and how
these can be maximised
- It increases your confidence for managing others, and handling difficult situations and conversations
One-to-one coaching: an initial call to establish rapport, focus of the coaching programme and number and length of sessions
Team coaching: as above but usually sessions are longer
SUPERVISION
Supervision provides a framework for discussing challenging situations, for process and reflection, giving time to consider and discuss different options.
- It is a safe space to question, challenge and affirm; it is restorative both professionally and personally
- It supports the development of knowledge, competence and confidence in everyday practice
One-to-one supervision: usually one-hour sessions; sessions are on-going
PEER GROUP SUPERVISION TRAINING
Explaining what peer supervision is and how it works in an educational setting, the session then focuses on the seven factors for effective peer supervision to provide the tools and knowledge to set up and run peer group supervision within school, equipping staff to embed this self-sustaining practice.
MIDDLE / SENIOR LEADER TRAINING: SUPPORTING YOURSELF AND YOUR TEAM
Delivered as two aspects: Aspect one focuses on the well-being and resilience of the leaders; aspect two focuses on developing the skills, understanding and mindset to enable leaders to support and develop the people in their team and their team culture.
ADULT MENTAL HEALTH: MH First Aid, MH Champions, MH Awareness, MH Refresher (see separate page on website)
Staff Well-being Charter Development - delivery for Wakefield Traded Services
"Sarah was fantastic! Her knowledge, delivery and quality of resources, suggestions and next steps were great. Exactly what I was looking for" Wakefield Headteacher
"Course content was excellent and relevance of information fantastic" Wakefield Deputy Head
"Lots of interaction and quick paced, leading to real outcomes" Wakefield Headteacher
"The coaching has been one of the most invaluable experiences professionally and can only say how much I have enjoyed working with Sarah" Doncaster Headteacher
WELL-BEING FOR CHILDREN
Prioritising the well-being of children has never been more needed and embedding a graduated approach to SEMH practice is the foundation from which every child will thrive and flourish
personally, socially, emotionally and academically.
It enables children to develop self-awareness and self-worth, recognise and handle emotions effectively, build and maintain healthy relationships, persevere and engage positively with challenges. It enhances their academic performance rather than distracting from it, and also improves behaviour, attendance, attitudes and staff well-being.
POSITIVE WELL-BEING FOR CHILDREN: A PROACTIVE APPROACH (available for Early Years, Primary and Secondary)
Building on current practice, this focuses on developed a graduated approach to well-being / SEMH. As the foundation, the universal approach is developed to create an emotionally and physically safe environment to nurture children's emotionally and academic engagement, resilience and growth mindset. From that, further need is identified and met through targeted and specialist support.
Based on latest research, it provides many practical strategies and tools to support children
DEVELOPING A MINDFUL SCHOOL (Mindfulness for staff available too)
Research demonstrates the power of Mindfulness practice in supporting children's well-being. This training introduces Mindfulness practice to the adults then develops and tailors practices to use with children throughout your school.
Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) is available
'Paws b' is a classroom-based mindfulness curriculum
for children aged 7-11which can be delivered to your
classes or groups of children
KNOWING ME: AN EIGHT-WEEK WELL-BEING PROGRAMME FOR CHILDREN
An eight session programme for children (KS2/3) focusing on developing self-awareness and self-worth through understanding their brain and mind, emotions, choices, mindsets, resilience, relationships and character strengths.
This can be delivered to whole classes or groups
EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUE (available for staff as well as children)
This is a very effective self-help technique to equip children to handle a range of situations and emotions. It is quite often known as 'tapping' and involves using the fingers to gently tap on the body's acupressure points. It relieves negativity and balances the mind and body. Children can be taught to use this independently.
This is available as staff training to enable staff to use this technique with children or as direct work with children. This is also a very effective technique for staff to learn and use as part of their own well-being strategies.
YOUTH / CHILDREN MENTAL HEALTH: Mental Health First Aid (see separate page on website)
"This programme has really enhanced and improved our SEMH provision which is having a huge positive impact on our children" Bradford School
DELIVERY
Training and support are always delivered with enthusiasm, energy and passion, and are personalised and interactive, with the aim of high engagement and thinking.
Balancing practical activities, discussion and reflection times which enable participants to extend their understanding of their own well-being and empower them to build new and increased insights and perspectives, and gain practical tools and techniques.
Sarah is a true believer of active learning, with collaboration and co-creation of ideas to facilitate change, and to nurture the team and whole staff culture and capacity.
Emphasis is always on making a sustainable and lasting difference.
ASSOCIATES
Sarah always leads the consultations with trusts and schools to create the programme of support and training. She also
delivers the majority of support and training. Three associates are available where Sarah and the Trust / School agree to use their expertise.
As with Sarah, all the associates are qualified teachers, with shared experience of early years, primary, secondary and special schools, and colleges, and leaders / headship. Between them they have a wealth of expertise in both education and well-being, including coaching, supervision, counselling and training.
"The approach to the training was really positive and encouraging. Sarah ensured we were all involved and participating fully which I appreciated as I felt I learnt so much more.
The content was very informative and Sarah was very knowledgeable. The pace was quite fast and a lot of content was covered but this was balanced with reflection time and opportunities to share within the group. Lots of support was given with what you can do next and how to move forward with mental health and well-being"
Wakefield Governor
Doncaster Opportunity Area
Staff Retention Programme for Schools
Phase 1 - Oct 20-July 21
Phase 2 - Oct 21-July 22
Total number of school in programme
- 69
(including Primary, Secondary, Special & Colleges)
Total number of school staff supported
-2609
Number of Mental Health First Aiders trained
- 252
Impact Evaluation
(qualitative & quantitative data)
Quality of programme
100% Excellent / good
Impact of programme
91% Excellent / good
(other factors, such as Covid, hindered impact in some cases)
Quality & Impact of Coaching programmes
100% Excellent
"The programme has be invaluable in providing well-being support to school and in providing leaders with the tools to develop a strong programme of well-being.
It has been instrumental to rapid change within school. I am whole-heartedly grateful to Sarah for helping us to change the culture of the school"
"As a leader, the support from Sarah has been invaluable. She has given focus and guidance on how to raise the profile of mental health and to develop a Staff Well-being Charter."
"The supervision for senior leaders has substantially helped"
"Staff have been able to create a better work life balance and manage better at school. They have learnt how to cope in stressful situations and come up with strategies themselves"
"It has given me much more confidence as a subject leader and I now view situations more positively and with determination"
"Thank you Sarah for your support, coaching and advice to help our school with well-being during some very challenging times"
Mental Health First Aid training
"This was one of the most useful and informative courses I have been on. It gave me a more in-depth insight into what I thought I already knew about mental health. The delivery and pitch were just right and I know that my input was valued"
"Wow! What a wealth of practical information received! I naively thought this was a course about raising awareness of mental health, but it was so much more than that. I feel empowered to support people who may need my help and have a much greater knowledge of how to provide them with the first aid at times when they really need it."
"Sarah created such a safe space and warm environment for us to work in, even virtually! It was a credit to her that people felt so comfortable to open up and share. Excellent CPD, thank you"
Children / Youth MHFA
"Great to explore and understand more about children and young people's mental health. Really enjoyed the opportunity to share in the richness of conversations and gain practical ideas to support children"