Working with Dr Pooky Knightsmith from the Charlie Waller Memorial Fund (CWMT)

I had an exciting opportunity recently to collaborate with my fabulous colleague Clare Arnold (Art Therapist from Brighton and Hove) to deliver a workshop to Learning Mentors from Brighton and Hove Primary Schools. We explored the benefits of using creativity in their work with children to explore and express feelings. This event was part of the CWMT’s commitment to support staff working with young people to develop their ability to recognise and manage mental health issues (www.inourhands.com/cwmt/).

Pooky directs the children, young people and schools programme at the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust, which is a charity providing fully-funded mental health training to schools. She is a passionate ambassador for mental health who loves to research, write, speak, teach and share all manner of ideas about mental health, wellbeing and PSHE. Her enthusiasm is backed up both by a PhD in child and adolescent mental health and her own lived experience of anorexia, self-harm, anxiety and depression.

Yoga for Teenagers

After Easter I will be offering Yoga sessions in Brighton for teenagers; either one to one or in small groups. If you are interested in finding out more please contact me (saskianeary@yahoo.com). You can also have a look on my new web page for more info about Yoga for Teenagers.

I trained with Charlotta Martinus from Teen Yoga  which is fully accredited by Yoga Alliance UK and Independent Yoga Network (www.teenyoga.co.uk). Teen Yoga supports the charity TeenYoga Foundation, whose aim is to support optimal mental and physical well-being in young people.

Yoga is a fantastic tool for young people to deal with stress, anxiety and to cope better with emotions and the everyday pressures that so many face. Yoga can help to bring emotional balance. I am also really looking forward to developing innovative work with young people that includes both Yoga and Art Therapy.

Yoga can give young people (and indeed the rest of us!) new tools to support their own emotional wellbeing and good mental health by listening inwards to their bodies, thoughts and ideas (see Ingunn Hargen & Usha S. Nayar, Yoga for children and young people’s mental health and well-being: research review and reflections on the mental health potentials of yoga, Frontiers in Psychiatry, 02, April,2014).

Dragonfly Wellbeing Collective

I have recently joined ranks with the Dragonfly Wellbeing Collective which was set up last year by two very dynamic, skilled and committed individuals; Paula Goldsmith and Margot Uden.

We are planning to work collaboratively on various exciting projects over the coming year which I will tell you more about in my next post. In the meantime have a look at their website to find out more.