Published on: May 28, 2024
Staff at Compass Phoenix delivered a live resilience workshop to more than 4,000 pupils in 76 primary schools at the same time across North Yorkshire.
A total of 4,006 children and 230 staff took part in the two 30-minute sessions, entitled titled ‘Ready & Resilient’, which were part of the North Yorkshire Healthy Schools Virtual Event.
Children in a further 10 schools which attended the event were able to watch the recording of the workshop later.
Feedback from the schools and organisers was very positive.
Clare Barrowman Senior Health and Wellbeing Adviser for the North Yorkshire Council and one of the main organisers of the event emailed her appreciation.
She wrote: “Thank you so much for all of the workshops you ran at the pupils online event today. We could see from the positive feedback how much the schools enjoyed and benefitted from the sessions.”
Compass Phoenix had been approached to provide a workshop on resilience for school children aged 7–11 at the virtual event.
Clare Smith, a Training and Consultation Worker at Compass Phoenix, said: “We got straight to work and as a team devised a workshop which involved the children creating a wellbeing toolkit, sharing ideas about resilience, watching an animated video about a puppy who shows great resilience to become a guide dog and looking at inspirational figures such as Marcus Rashford to help us overcome challenges.”
She said the interactive session ensured the children went away with more skills to equip them through their lives. But the pupils made it clear they wanted more guidance too from future workshops.
Clare said: “The children said they would like more help with bullying, being a better friend, positive relationships, general wellbeing, being brave and being calm – so we have plenty to think about for future events we offer.”
And she said: “The whole event links with the values of Compass especially being solution focused. We responded flexibly and adapted quickly to the needs of the children and the event as a whole.”
Working with Clare on the presentation were Compass Phoenix Team Leader, Rachael Askew and fellow Training & Consultation Worker, Alice Sotirchos.
Following on from the success of the event, Compass Phoenix has been invited to deliver a face to face ‘Wellbeing Warrior’ workshop in Harlow Carr in Harrogate on the 19th June.
Dr Gill Kelly, a Consultant who works in Public Health North Yorkshire, attended the session and gave super verbal feedback during the event about the workshop. She particularly enjoyed the story of the puppy, which celebrated his resilience.
Resilience workshop snippet
Thinking about how a battery can be drained (the red bit of the battery) or charged up (the green bit),
We’d like you to think about :
– What drains your battery
– And what you do to recharge
For example – if I’m stuck in on a rainy day I can feel quite drained but if I listen to some of my favourite music or get my coat on and brave the rain I can feel really recharged.
What about you? What drains you and what recharges you again?
You can write your thoughts on a white board or you could use the mood battery sheet we sent out or just use a piece of paper and a pencil either by yourself or in a group.
We’d love you to share your ideas with the other schools so please write your thoughts in the chat and be ready to share some with us.
You’ve got 5 minutes to do this so take your time.
Our Clare’s reflections
“It was such a fun project to work on with Rachael and Alice. I’m new to Compass having started in December and feel really privileged to be part of this huge event with such a positive, adaptable and forward thinking team.
“The children were so receptive to the event and seemed to enjoy the practical elements of the workshop we created. We loved hearing their ideas about what helps them to be resilient.
“The children shared ideas which included doing origami, brushing a horse or eating doughnuts as ways to improve their wellbeing and recharge their batteries. They were happy to share their thoughts about people who inspire them to be the best they can be too, which included Gandhi, friends, family and their pets. Hopefully they will use the toolkits they created.”