“There’s only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve; the fear of failure” Paulo Coelho de Souza What protects a child from fear of failure? It’s being able to see the way ahead with realistic optimism, building the sense of security that comes from meeting challenges on the way and overcoming them, knowing that they’ll happen and knowing they’ll be temporary. What […]

It’s the start of another school day. A ten year-old boy gets to the school door but on this day he just can’t go in, it’s simply too much. He does everything he can to stop it happening, hitting himself on the wall, refusing help, clearly in distress, not running away or hurting anyone else. Family and staff are at a loss as to what […]

I watched the Panorama programme ‘Mental health: Young lives in crisis’ last night. It struck me on one hand as a message of hope over experience, on the other as a story of people reaching out in desperation as they struggle to stay afloat, treading water with a mass of others in the same condition. The rate of probable mental health conditions among 6 to […]