Articles & Resources

Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Find the feelings

Feelings  A step of emotional literacy development is being able to recognise what our emotions are. Many children can find it challenging to be able to recognise, identify and respond to their emotions, particularly the more subtle feelings. A great first step, is to encourage children to reflect on their feelings, so that they can

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Parenting
Nicky Edwards

Why children cannot regulate their tech use

In my work, I am often asked about how to regulate children’s technology use and screen time. This subject always leaves people divided into two camps: Camp 1 – The belief that children should be able to regulate their tech use Camp 2 – Feeling lost as to how to regulate it without meltdowns So,

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Journal Prompts for Self-esteem

Journal Prompts Journalling can help us to calm our minds by structuring our thoughts. Journal prompts help us to explore different aspects of our lives and develop a deeper understanding of them. By taking time to deeply think about different concepts, we can find peace, solutions or identify areas for support. Journal prompts are questions

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Child Mental Health
Nicky Edwards

The influence of our environment

We often talk about environment, considering nature and the role of sleep and organisation in mental health. However, in this article, I want to instead explore the role environment can have on our belief systems, limiting beliefs and feelings. Our environment has many components, but for this article, I want to consider our senses: So,

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: When I feel…

How do you feel? We often ask children how they feel, however many children have a small stock of responses that they can give us. Something we can commonly see, is the difficulty pulling apart the differences. Such as, the difference between sad and bored, excited and anxious, happy and content. Many feel that they

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Adult Mental Health
Nicky Edwards

What we focus on – grows.

A challenge that we can all experience, is where we place our attention. As the saying goes, ‘what we focus on, grows’. Perhaps, if you close your eyes, you can take yourself back and think of a time when life felt ‘great’. Think now, what were you thinking about at this time? What did you

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Sadness Maps

Sadness Sadness is an overwhelming emotion associated with the sense of loss, affecting us both physically (heavy eye lids, dropped mouth, lethargy) , psychologically (mood, emotions, distraction), physiologically (heart rate, skin temperature)and behaviourally (withdrawal, isolation). It can be triggered by the loss of connections, such as friendships or routines. The loss of loved ones, including

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Neurodiversity
Nicky Edwards

Why we need to stop saying ‘we are all on the spectrum’

I’m sure we have all heard someone make the comment ‘well, we’re all on the spectrum aren’t we?’ in a conversation around neurodivergent traits, but the understanding of what this means can be misleading. Neurodivergence is a non-medical term which acts as an umbrella for a range of different functionalities and conditions. It describes individuals

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Growing Self-compassion

Self-compassion relates to the action of treating ourselves with warmth, understanding and kindness, especially when we are struggling, fail, feel that we are not good enough or are in emotional or physical discomfort. It is the act of choosing to treat ourselves as though we are our best friend, instead of opting to be unkind,

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Child Mental Health
Nicky Edwards

We get confidence backwards….

Have you ever noticed yourself saying: We so often use the concept of ‘confidence’ as a means to begin taking action, and can so frequently find that months later we are still waiting for it to materialise. So, what is confidence? Confidence is referred to as ‘the feeling or belief that one can have faith

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Mandala

Download our free therapeutic colouring sheet: Free Activity So, this week, our free activity is a downloadable mandala colouring sheet, so you can unwind together. Why not make it a family affair and all have a go…. Want to learn more?  Are you looking for a deeper understanding of child mental health? Our Level 4

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Neurodiversity
Nicky Edwards

The Superpowers of ADHD

Whilst many children become frustrated at their ADHD traits, they also hold many positive qualities and abilities due to their brain’s unique patterns and reactions. Children and adolescents with ADHD have higher levels of energy and awareness than their peers. At the bottom of this, is an aversion to boredom. Simply, when bored their brains

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Recognising my Value

Self-esteem Self-esteem refers to understanding and recognising our own value, outside of others. When we have high self-esteem it is a protector for mental health, whilst poor self-esteem makes us more vulnerable. Can you recognise your own worth? value? personality traits? skills and talents? Free Download Download here  Next steps Download the worksheet here  Consider

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Child Mental Health
Nicky Edwards

Do we expect too much logic from children?

When you were younger, did you ever have an adult say to you: ‘Why didn’t you think this through?’  ‘Didn’t you think about that happening?’  ‘Why didn’t you consider the consequences?’  Having worked with children for over 25 years, I frequently reflect back on how much things have changed in our understanding of working with

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Self-love

Self-love When we take good care of ourselves, it improves our mood, mindset and our connections with friends and family. Taking care of ourselves means that we are talking to ourselves and treating ourselves with love and care.  This can include:  The way we talk to ourselves The way we treat ourselves (food, drink, sleep,

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Emotions & Feelings
Nicky Edwards

8 ways to reduce overwhelm at Christmas

Christmas and Fear Whilst Christmas is often a magical and exciting time of year, for many children it can quickly become overwhelming. It’s interesting that not all children perceive the sense of excitement as exciting, and for many children I have worked with over the years, excitement is categorised for them as fear or dread.

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Gratitude

The Power of Gratitude It has been found that practicing gratitude has a positive impact on our sense of happiness and well-being. When we practice gratitude consistently, and over time, we can train our brain to focus on what is going well, and develop a sense of optimism. It has been found, that gratitude boosts

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Neurodiversity
Nicky Edwards

What is interoception?

Interoception is the ability to identify, understand and respond to the state of the inside of our body. It involves the awareness that we have of our internal bodily signals, and whether we can interpret what these mean. This includes aspects such as hunger, thirst, heart rate, body temperature, breathing rate, emotions and our digestive

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