A REVOLUTIONARY new scheme aimed at helping school children with day-to-day stress and improving their emotional and spiritual wellbeing is being piloted in Barnt Green.
‘Stressbox’ is a six-week course being run by life coach Liam Blackwood for 20 pupils at at St Andrew’s First School.
He has been going in on a weekly basis and taking the sessions which teach the children about physical and mental stress and lead them through meditation and mindfulness techniques to help them cope with everyday emotions they experience.
Over the six weeks, as well as helping the youngsters, he has been altering his approach so it is more tailor-made to the children’s needs.
The sessions have also coincided with Children’s Mental Health Week which ran from February 6 to 12.
Liam told The Standard: “It’s been a learning curve for us all but it has been really successful – the feedback has been really good.”
He said when the children got to each session they were very excited because it was PE so he calmed them down with some mindfulness and meditation and then used exercise, including boxing with pads, to release any build-ups of stress and energy.
“It’s also about getting them to recognise negative emotions and frustrations they have in their day-to-day lives – most children if you ask them will say they don’t like school.
“But I get them to look at aspects they do like about it and be thankful for the opportunities they have – I call it the ‘gratitude attitude’.
“I’ve found after discussions the children realise there is a lot they do like about school – being around their friends, playing in the playground and their teachers.
“There are a lot of pressures and expectation on children today and those things aren’t going anywhere so it is about teaching them how to deal with those emotions and building their self-belief so they have the confidence to address them themselves.”
He said being in the school environment had also helped him remember what that time of his life was like so he could hone the course to the aspects which needed tackling.
And he added, following the success of this scheme, he hoped he could take the sessions into other schools in the area.
Liam already held a Stressbox session at Holywell Primary School with the teachers so this was the first one with the children.
The scheme came about after Liam mentioned it to Craig Nicholls, a teaching assistant at St Andrew’s First School and a sports co-ordinator.
Craig said there was a lot of talk recently about the mental health and wellbeing of children at the moment and schemes like Stressbox could have a key role to play in addressing the issues.
“We can definitely see more of a focus and more relaxation among the pupils after the sessions as they have used up their burst of energy during the session.
“They are also starting to think more before reacting to situations, which is a good thing.
“Children go through a lot of stress at school – from daily pressures with things like spellings and times tables to the transition from first to middle school, which hopefully this will help them with.”
Schools, groups and other organisations can call Liam on 07885 274990, visit www.stressbox.org or email Liam at [email protected] for more on Stressbox.
