FLOURISHING EDUCATION - SAFER AND BRAVER SPACE(S) TO BE AND BECOME WELL TOGETHER

This week I have a conversation with the wonderful Ashish Bhatia - a GP (Gentle presence), Tutor at the medical school at the University of Bristol and Founder of the Humble Foundation. We talk about what it takes for human beings to flourish and be humble. Happy listening!

This week I had another conversation with the wonderful Dr Sarah Whyte who with a degree in psychology, a masters in education and a doctorate in emotional intelligence, shared science-backed tools and very practical tips to help us (and our young people) deal with our emotions in these difficult and challenging times. Based in Singapore, she works with organisations,  international schools a...

Today I am really excited to share interview with Kelly Challis a Consultant Teacher at Driver Youth Trust . We talk about education, what it is, what it isn't and how our schooling fits into this notion of education. You can find Kelly on Linked in or on Twitter . I hope you enjoy listening as much as I loved speaking to her. Have a good week and a fantastic weekend.

This week I talk with the wonderful Hayley McDonnell who is supporting school leaders with SMSC and Global collaborations and meaningfully connect with others to create positivity and success. We talk about SMSC - which stands for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Did you know that all schools in England must show how well their pupils develop in SMSC? I loved talking to Hayley -...

This week I share with the wonderful Dr Helen Street , Founder and Chair of The Positive Schools Initiative in Australia which advocates for educational reform to better support equity, motivation and wellbeing in young people. I talk to Helen about contextual well-being which is the title of her book. Such a powerful and insightful conversation. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

My conversation this week was on a very moving and sensitive subject - how to stop men taking their lives ? with the wonderful and inspiring Ben Akers , a filmmaker. A PROBLEM SOLVER AND MENTAL HEALTH campaigner. Co-founder of Talkclub . I hope you will feel as motivated as I am to ask: How are you? Out of 10?

This week I talk with the wonderful Dr Martina Geromin - CEO & Founder of School Beyond Limitations . We talk about their online school - offline and online learning and what it means to take a holistic and whole student approach to teaching and learning. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did. Lots of synergy between my research and what Martina and her school are trying to achieve.

I had the most wonderful conversation with May Ling Thomas about 'unschooling'. If you don't know what it is - worry not! all will be revealed in this episode. May-Ling is a coach and she has been unschooling her two daughters and she tells us what we can learn from this 'home educating' concept. Our conversation really got me thinking and made me question a lot of my approaches. I hope it does th...

This week I had a conversation with the wonderful Dr Sarah Whyte who with a degree in psychology, a masters in education and a doctorate in emotional intelligence, shared science-backed tools to develop emotional wellbeing and resilience with me. Based in Singapore, she works with organisations,  international schools and families across South East Asia to equip people with simple, practical...

“We're only as sick as our secrets ” they say in the AA. Well this week, I am completely honest and share one of my most guarded secrets for over 30 years - my issues with body image and how sugar was my drug of choice. Was? Yes! Now that I have started working with the wonderful Dr Rebecca Hiscutt creator of The Happy Eating Club - things have drastically changed.  In this episode, I have a...

This week I had a fascinating conversation with Dr Louise Younie whose work celebrates human Flourishing through creative enquiry .  We discuss how through creative enquiry medical student are invited to find their personal voice and to share their own experiences when presenting patient cases.  

Today I had a fun and amazing conversation with two wonderful young people - Libby Smerdon and Ben Holmes who used to be respectively Head Girl and Head Boy at Gordano School and whom I met when I organised a focus group with Year 12 and Year 13 to discuss my research.  They provided me with their views on the UK Education system and what they think needs to change. We also discussed the A-le...

Do you suffer from anxiety? Do you sometimes feel that life is not enough and that YOU are not enough. In this episode the wonderful Jen Ramsey , sought-after coach, business strategist and podcaster shares her story and talks about how she dealt with her diagnosis of General Anxiety Disorder (GAD). She gives us specific tips on how to live life from a place of true freedom and peace.  I am s...

I share a conversation I had at the start of the summer holiday with the wonderful Jeanne Fairs who works at Gordano School . She is Assistant Head,  Head of Sixth Form. She is also Mental Health Lead and Head of Careers. She gives us a 'school perspective' of what to expect in September and what we can do as parents to support our children when they go back. I hope you enjoy this episode as...

Round 3 and such a powerful conversation with Adam Dacey , my mindfulness teacher.  We talk about 'stepping off' the treadmill and why it took me so long to relax and 'switch off'. Am really grateful for his insights. If you too have experienced or experience this 'busyness' too - I would really recommend listening to Adam and his amazing insights.

Round 2 - a new conversation with Adam Dacey my mindfulness teacher - Director of Mindspace and we discuss the power of a regular contemplation of the impermanence of life (and the power of a meditation on death).  That's a bit morbid! Listen here to find out why we both feel that the absolute opposite is true. A wonderful opportunity to challenge YOUR TRUTH.

Another amazing and powerful conversation with the wonderful Gareth Hughes, Psychotherapist, Research Lead - Student Wellbeing, PFHEA, University of Derby, Human Givens College. He is also a campaigner for student wellbeing and an educationalist.  We talk about young people and how they are not weak or 'snowflakes' but are in fact extraordinary as they are called to deal with the unique and c...

In today's episode, I have a fascinating conversation with Professor Mike Higton who is Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Durham. I contacted him because I thoroughly enjoyed one of his books, Vulnerable Learning - Thinking Theologically about Higher Education . We discuss why we are all life-long learners and why he might not write the book in the same way...

In this episode, I talk with Dr Dominique Thompson, Director of Buzz Consulting about why we decided to write a book together and what we can do as parents and educators to best support our young people over the summer and post Covid as we enter the new normal. I am sure you will enjoy this as much as I did. To join the private Facebook community click here https://www.facebook.com/groups/growinga...

This week I have another powerful and wonderful conversation. This time with the talented and amazing Elaine Halligan, London Director of The Parent Practice  (links to connect with Elaine and Melissa below). Elaine is author of My Child's Different - I highly recommend it! We talk about raising a neurodiverse child and how as parents we can best support our children and young people. How can...

In this episode I have a second conversation with Fiona Spargo-Mabbs. In our first recording, she shared her son Daniel's story with me and we talked all about drugs and the work she is currently doing through the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation. In today's session we talk about our role as parents and teachers - what type of role model are we?  Do you model all the helpful and positive habits...

In this episode, I speak with Vikki Hill (Senior Fellow of the HEA) who is an Educational Developer in the Attainment Team in the Teaching, Learning and Employability Exchange at University of the Arts London (UAL). We talk about inequalities in outcomes at University and what we can do to remove inequitable outcomes in Higher Education Settings (and in lower educational levels). Vikki has over 20...

Want to know more about diversity and inclusion? How do we make our environment inclusive for ALL pupils and staff? In this episode, I talk with Trystan Williams - Principle of Venturers' Academy and Executive Leads Primary Schools in the Venturers' Trust. We discuss the needs of ALL young people and how we can help them cope with the way the world has changed so rapidly and quickly. I am sure you...

Do you tend to want to change the external conditions? What if we had a lot more power than we realised? In this episode, I have an extremely powerful conversation with the amazing Caroline Ferguson, Mindset trainer. As a Mindset Trainer and cognitive behavioural hypnotherapist, Caroline helps business leaders overcome wellbeing issues like stress, imposter syndrome, limiting beliefs and low self...

Are you worried about what is going to happen when our children go back to school? Are you worried about going back to work? In this second conversation with Elizabeth Gillies - Educational psychologist based in London we talk tips and advice on how to handle transition back to work and school effectively - we discuss 'cultural agility' as a great tool for our 'tool box'. What it is and how it can...