Emotion Coaching has been developed using the principle that "nurturing and emotionally supportive relationships provide optimal contexts for the promotion of children's outcomes and resilience." (Gottman 1977). Our work using these tools are beneficial when used with both children and adults alike. Further research can be found on the Emotion Coaching UK website. If you're interested in learning more behind behind the tools we're using we've referenced articles below and will be adding over time. Gus, Rose & Gilbert (2015) 'Emotion Coaching: A universal strategy for supporting and promoting sustainable emotional and behavioural well-being', Educational & Child Psychology, 32(13), pp. 31-41. [link here] McCarthy (2016) 'Science of the Heart: An Overview of Research Conducted by the HeartMath Institute' [link here] HeartSmart is a brilliant tool that can be implemented into...
Mental health and wellbeing has jumped to the top of the agenda in almost all organisations, even more so in the wake of the global pandemic. The pandemic has uncovered huge gaps in mental health provision while emotional resilience, at organisational and individual levels, has been tested - often to breaking point. So, just how sustainable is existing wellbeing and mental health provision? Through extensive practice, training and research, we have come to understand that the majority of mental health challenges and the greatest struggle with maintaining a healthy mindset is down to an accumulation of unmet emotional need. Emotions are widely misunderstood as the thing that controls us. In actual fact they are a rich data source which, when harnessed...
Children learn their social cues by mirroring {1}. Just as language is learned through constant exposure, so too is nonverbal communication. We learn to shake hands or smile when someone opens a door for us because it’s what we’ve seen ourselves. Our children are growing up in a new reality where the only full faces they see are those they live with. Strangers are kept at a distance. In the first four years of development, the human brain is in its greatest growth phase. At two years old there’s a significant increase in brain activity {2}. The impact of coronavirus, although only a year or two of disruption, may potentially leave small children with gaps in their neurological development. The...
There’s a strange expectation in society that adults should be able to manage themselves, be resilient and have the ability to get on with the task in hand. Talking about mental health has become much less taboo, yet we’re seeing a rise in the number of people experiencing challenges in this area. Why? Emotions inform mental health. When we don’t pay attention to emotions, mental health suffers. It’s like putting a sticky plaster over an open wound. We need a language around emotions to facilitate an emotionally engaged, healthy, sense of self in individuals starting at birth right the way through into adulthood. When we know what we feel, we know what we need. It is only then we can...
I believe today is the fifty-first day of lockdown. Thinking back, my emotional regulation probably changed about ten days ago and went from feeling intermittently challenging to feeling like it was a REAL struggle. As an emotional health trainer and coach, I know emotions. It occurred to me the other day that even Jesus capped his isolation at forty days, and I think he was onto something because it was around the forty-day mark that the general feeling among my family, friends, and colleagues became that we had unwittingly transitioned into a place of unexplainable emotions. I would find I was switching from feeling like I could conquer the world and have an amazing coaching call, finish another level of...
