Over the past month, Khulisa has been delivering our flagship wellbeing programme, Face It, to students at Haringey Learning Partnership. Our programmes aim to develop young people’s social and emotional skills – these skills are proven to be the biggest predictor of lifelong success. During our sessions with students, we explored values and belief systems, what choice looks and feels like and how we can all build our wellbeing and resilience and develop positive coping skills. Staff and students were lively and engaged, getting involved in role plays, analysing poetry and sharing their own topics to debate.
Alongside expressing thoughts around knife crime, drill music and parenting, students discussed with staff their experience of education, and the impact being listened to, cared for and noticed can have on decision-making and the future. It was powerful stuff.
In last week’s delivery we all stood in a circle with our eyes closed whilst statements were read out. If we had done the act shared, we stepped into the middle, we then all opened our eyes. Some of us shared feeling vulnerable and then comforted when realising we weren’t the only person in the middle – and perhaps a teacher was even next to us!
Our experience of delivering at Haringey Learning Partnership has been incredible, we have been inspired by students and staff’s willingness to share, the continuous rupture and repair that takes place and the unconditional positive regard evident in relationships and the HLP environment. As one of the students put regularly in their check out, we finish HAPPY.