I’m from Stroud in Gloucestershire. Shortly after my eldest child started school, I became aware of the challenges our littlest people face growing up and navigating their way through the classroom and the playground.

I wanted to do something that could have a positive impact on our children’s mental health and emotional resilience, and I came across the Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) which provided teacher training in evidence and science-based curricula aimed at pre-school aged children, right through to 18. I went on to train to teach all of the MiSP curricula - “dots" for pre-school age to 7-year-olds, “paws b” for 7 to 11-year-olds, “.breathe” for the transition years at ages 9 - 14 and “.b” for 11 to 18-year-olds.

I am also trained to teach the Bounce Forward emotional resilience course for 7 - 14-year-olds. I am always inspired by how interested and engaged children are in how the brain works and how they can train their brain to help them manage their emotions, and how keen they are to try the practices. Even if they don’t use the practices they learn in class on a daily basis, the seed is planted for Mindfulness to help them meet the challenges of life with a toolkit of skills that could last them a lifetime. And who wouldn’t want that for the next generation?

Since then, I have completed training to teach all elements of the 8-week MBSR course for adults at The Mindful Academy in Solterreno. I am forever grateful to Lynsey who started me out on my mindfulness journey and who has been a constant support .