How to unwind during the Christmas holidays

Happy Saturday everyone! Now that it's officially the Christmas holidays, it's also that time of year where I try to do my upmost to just chill out, unwind & focus on the being in the present moment. Especially where the Christmas period is all about spending time with the people you love.

As the above title states, I will be sharing some useful tips on how to unwind during the Christmas holidays, as this is an important time of year to take care of your mind & wellbeing, so you will be able to reset for the new year.

These tips are what personally helps me to unwind during the festive period, so my mind & wellbeing feel refreshed for the next year ahead. For anyone reading who find it difficult to unwind during the festive period, do at least a few of these tips to help you, as you too can feel refreshed & ready to tackle the next year ahead!

Go out for a walk once a day: 

I know I have droned on about this in my past blogs a lot of times a few years back, but walking is genially good for your physical & mental health combined. There is proven evidence that states that you must try to go out on a 30min walk everyday where & when possible, as 30mins will be enough time to get your happy endorphins up to a satisfactory level. I personally like to be out walking for a WHOLE DAY, as this gives me enough time to clear my mind of negative thoughts, as well as numb my mind from all of the negativity. Here are some useful resources: https://www.verywellhealth.com/walking-30-minutes-a-day-8748945 https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/walking-for-health/ 

Make some festive treats:

What better way to contribute to the festive cheer then to make festive treats! I love baking in my down time whenever I get the chance. I especially love baking cakes! It's a good way to occupy your time if you have some free time for a few hours during the daytime. Plus, there's no better rewarding feeling than eating your own treats afterwards!

Have regular communication with friends & family:

Many people will be stuck at home during the festive period, so this would definitely be a good & convenient time to keep in touch regularly with those you care about. Especially if they're working throughout the Christmas break, or if they're finding it hard to cope due to Christmas being their least favourite time of year.

Do something that you enjoy doing:

If you suddenly end up feeling bored, and have no idea what to do with yourself, just do something that that makes you happy. If you happen to have a continuous hobby, go for it for as long as you want to, as utilising your hobbies will help distract your mind from being stuck in the hellish trap, known as "boredom".

Enjoy the present moment:

During this time of year, it is important that you take each day as it comes, and to just simply enjoy the present moment. After all, it is important that you reflect on how you have intended on spending the Christmas break, as it only comes around once a year, and there's personally no better feeling than enjoying every moment on the fantastic things you are doing during the festive period. Especially getting to reflect on how fantastic it went after New Year!

As mentioned before, these are the tips that I personally find helpful on how to cope during the Christmas holidays, and hopefully it'll inspire you to do the same too.

I know that Christmas may not be everyone's favourite time of year, but how YOU choose to spend it by doing the things that YOU love doing, will make all the difference.

With that said, I'd like to take this moment to wish everyone reading this a Happy Christmas, and a Happy New Year, as I won't be back blogging on here until early next year.

If I had to sum up 2025 in just 1 word, it'll definitely be - Monumental.

I say this, as I've done SO many things all within a short space of 12 months. It feels more monumental even just thinking that I've done & achieved so many things within a short space of 12 months too. 

Whilst there may have been some downers in between (Especially over the past 3 months), it still doesn't undermine the fact that 2025 was a year full of successes!

Now, if y'all excuse me, I'm off to enjoy the remainder of this "monumental" year by doing what I enjoy doing, and allowing my mind to reset for the next year ahead. 

Over & out!🤚🏻

*I began this post on the 20/12, but didn't finish it until the 21/12*

5 whole years of Psychology Intake!

Hello everyone! Hope you've all been well, and making the most out of the last 16 days of 2025. I know I am.

As the above title states, my blog is officially 5 years old! (Well, as of the 12th of December). I was supposed to do this blog on the Friday just gone, but I had something on that day, which prevented me from being active on here. Anyway, I got time today, so 3 days late isn't too bad!

In this special blog, I just want to take a moment to reflect on why I wanted to start a blogging site, as well as what my intentions are with being a blogger & the content I create with all things psychology.

What was my reason for creating this blog? 

Back in 2019, I started growing a passionate interest for psychology. As of such, I began reading psychology articles to feed my brain with psychology facts. Fast forward onto 2020, where I had spent a large chunk of my time being at home, I wanted to gain a more deeper knowledge of psychology by doing a few courses on The Open University. 

And my learning thirst didn't stop there... My mind was craving after more psychology articles. By the 12th of December of that year, I plucked up the courage to create my own blogging site based on my growing passion for psychology. So here we are!

Did I want to use psychology towards anything?

Yes, I did. I want to be able to use psychology to work with people & their mental health. Although I wanted to go through a psychology degree at a university. Back then, I had to go through 3 courses at college to get towards studying a psychology degree at university. In other words, I was 3 years away from getting to that stage. During these 3 years, I have learned about the importance of exercising to uplift mental health & wellbeing, conformity, conditioning & Maslow's Needs.

However, 3 months prior to leaving college, all of that changed... I ended up not going the university route to undertake a psychology, as I was told by one of my college tutors that all it will be, is a subject on a piece of paper in a glass frame when I graduate. Instead, I went down a different route...

And that route was getting to work in education, as well as expanding my skills & morals into youth work. All in all, I'd definitely say that me inheriting all of this psychology knowledge & facts was 110% worth it! This is because I get to use it as a superpower to understand young people's behaviour. With that said - Goal achieved!🎉  

The waiting game...

Hello you lovely lot! Hope you're all enjoying you week so far, as we've only got 3 more weeks left of 2025...

As of such, I'm trying my absolute hardest to relax & take it easy for the remainder of this month. This is due to no LSA work coming in now until after New Year. I like to say that it's been easy for some part, but other times, it's been emotionally exhausting & frustrating.

As a consequence, my mind always feels the need to keep busy to prevent me from being bored. This is just another thing I find incredibly frustrating about being an Agency LSA, in case if I've not mentioned that already.

For example: I can get a phone call from an agency on one day about me being available to be needed to work in a school for the next day or so. However, come the next day at precisely 7:30am the next morning, I get no phone calls whatsoever?! At around this time, I'll be calling the agency up to ask them if I'm still needed to work in the school today. But then they don't answer their phone, or I just get told that I'm no longer needed to work at the school anymore. Even though I've made every ounce of effort to be on "standby" just in case.

In my case, this is EXACTLY what has been going on for the past 2 months now, and frustrated would be an understatement to describe how I had felt throughout all of this malarkey. Hence, this blog's title - "The waiting game". And my intention for this post is to share this experience of constantly being put on hold by recruiters from several agencies, when they keep telling you that they will put you in a LSA job the following day('s), but they keep on leaving you out to dry but not contacting you in any way at all.

I get that there is hardly work now in the 3 weeks running up to Christmas, but to not be contacted by any agency to keep me updated on what sort of jobs I can start in the New Year is really grinding my patience down.

Any Agency LSA's reading this, or anyone working in a similar industry, I'd be very interested to hear if you've been through what I've been going through as well over the past 2 months.

Over & out.

A year into working in education...

It's somehow the 1st of December already?! Which can only mean a few things... Christmas is on its way! As is my birthday (the big 25 coming up in 28 days😬), New Year & more importantly, the 5th anniversary of this blog being created! (I'll be sure to do a post on that😉)

Anyway, hope this final month of 2025 has gotten off to a good start for you all, whatever you're doing. I fortunately had the day to myself today, so that means I'll be able to make a post on here.

This was another post I was meant to do a couple of weeks ago, as it marks 1 whole year of me working in education, (8th of November 2024 to be more priciest).

As of such, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on my journey. This also will include what I've learned, what I've enjoyed & the downsides of being an agency LSA, if I've not mentioned them already.

Since I began college, I've always wanted a career where I can work with young people to understand their mindsets. It was there & then that I've wanted to go down a psychology degree route. Although at that stage, I was a few years away from considering about going to university to undertake a psychology degree. 

Fast forward onto March 2023, when I was 3 months away from finishing college, and where I got the job as a Saturday Youth Worker at Challengers, I got talked out of going to university by one of my college tutors. Half of the reason was because he went to university himself, and told me face-to-face that the university experience is really not as people make it out to be. He also added that obtaining a psychology degree would not mean anything by the time I've finished uni. 

Fast forward again onto November 2024, where I've gained over a year's experience of being a Youth Worker to vulnerable young people, I decided to apply to lots of LSA jobs through CV Library. I'll tell you what, I was very impressed with the fact that one agency was very quick at getting back to me within just 24 hours! 

Here I am a year on, and I'm sat here with all of this more in-dept knowledge of some SEN needs that I've never heard of before or not have much experience of working with SEN needs that I do know of. For example, SEMH is definitely one of them. I'm sat here typing this, where I feel like I'm an expert with understanding SEMH, as I've gained so much experience & knowledge of how SEMH impacts a young person. As most of you know by now, I am best known for working at a SEMH school for 6 months, where I've found a fond passion of working with vulnerable young people who have experienced trauma in their early stages of life.

I have also worked in other education settings as well, where I got to put my expertise knowledge of SEMH, ASD & ADHD into good use. However, these have only been a couple of days here & a couple of days there kind of jobs, but it was still an enjoyable experience to get to work with different pupils with a variety of different SEN, as well as learn about how all of those SEN impacts these pupils nonetheless!

For those of you who are interested, here is a FULL list of all of the education settings that I have worked in over the past year:

• Bramley Oak Academy (for 1 day)
• Grafham Grange (now Bramley Grange Academy for 6 months)
• Gosden House (for 1 day)
• Merrist Wood College SEN department (1 week)
• Leith Hill School (3 days)
• Carwarden House (3 days)
• Pond Meadow (1 day)
• Brooklands School (1 day)
• Hollywater School (1 day)
• St Joseph's Trust (2 days)

I will be upfront & honest here by saying that I do find it frustrating that a few agencies I am now registered with, do not give me enough support when it comes to being placed into a school, where I intend to get more permanent work in. Especially if I really get on with the school & its pupils with needs that I have expertise in working with. Another thing I dislike, is where I will be specific to an agency that I do not want to be placed anywhere that I have little experience in. Biggest example would be in a school with non-verbal pupils. But they'll still do it anyway, all because they care about filling in staff gaps just so they can make their money for the day.

On a more positive note, I definitely like to think that I've been really successful in this industry so far! Especially how I've chosen not to go down the university route just for the purpose of getting a paper psychology degree at the end of it that doesn't mean much now in the career route I'm currently going down.

A year into my SEMH journey...

Good evening everyone, just a quick for tonight, as this will be the only time I will get to make an appearance on here this week. This was also a post I was meant to do for this Tuesday, but I had non-work related demands to do throughout that day.

As of this Tuesday (25th of November), it officially marks 1 year that I've been on an SEMH journey! And what a challenging, but fascinating journey it has been for the past 12 months too, as before that, I have had absolutely no idea that the acronym SEMH exists, let alone what SEMH consists of as well within young people I work with during my past year of working in education as well. (I will get round to doing another post about my 1 year journey working in education too, don't you worry!😉)

As a reminder for those of you who are new to my blog, and do not know what SEMH stands for, it stands for social, emotional, mental health. This is a term to describe a young person who experiences difficulties with functioning in social settings due to mental health complications. Along with this, young people with SEMH display challenging behaviours due to some trauma that they have experienced in their early stages of life.

As some of you will already know, as well as for those who are, again. new to my blog, I have spent a good 6 months working at a SEMH school in Surrey, where they cater for SEMH pupils. I started there on the 25/11 of last year - the 23/05 of this year through an education agency. Although my SEMH journey continued from that point on too by working in similar SEMH settings.

During those 6 months, I have learned a hell of a lot about how SEMH impacts a young person's functioning, interactions & how they vision the world. Even though the trauma that comes with SEMH is not something I'd wish on anybody, I am more amazingly baffled of how the creative & determined side of SEMH plays a hugely positive part on an SEMH young person's overall development.

This is due to the fact that SEMH can form a link of best friends to co-occur with it, such as ASD or ADHD.

As I've seen for myself whilst working at Grafham Grange for 6 months, I have come across some very knowledgeable young pupils when it came to having a conversation with them about their hobbies/interests/aspirations. They will go to great lengths to know the ins & outs of something, and they take wonderful pride in sharing that knowledge with us too!

This was also the same case from when I had spend 3 days working at Leith Hill School, as I've had the pleasure of getting to know the pupils there by having conversations with them about things that interest them, as well as seeing them interact with one another who all have the same primary educational need.

In a nutshell, I feel very privileged to obtain all of this in-dept knowledge of SEMH, including getting to work in schools consisting of SEMH pupils. 

Long may it continue.

The pros & cons of being an agency LSA

Hello everyone! Hope you're all doing well. Since I've been an agency LSA for a year now, I thought about doing a post based on everything I have learned about being an agency LSA, as well as talk about the pros & cons of the job.

To be more precise, I first began applying for agency LSA roles on the 3rd of November of last year, and got officially employed into my 1st one on the 8th of November (5 days later). For most part, I'd happily say that I'm enjoying it, as the role itself is genially rewarding by helping young people thrive in education. However, the job itself can be extremely demanding due to the lack of expectations that some school staff won't tell you about before you go into the school('s) to do your job. 

Without further ado, here are the pros & cons of being an agency LSA...

  Pros:

• Meeting new people everyday - One of the things I really love about my job as an agency LSA, is that I get to meet different pupils, and learn many things about them. I never know, I may even learn something from one of them or more!...

• Getting to know how each school's curriculum works - I enjoy absorbing the knowledge of how each I school I've been into is ran, as this will be useful for me to pass onto anyone who wants to know if those school settings should be recommended to their children or children they know. Moreover, different schools have different vibes!

• Seeing familiar faces - Some of the schools I have worked in, I have seen some young people that I know of from Challengers (my Saturday & holiday job). Again, I enjoy absorbing the knowledge of that some young people from most of the Challengers schemes I have worked at attend these school settings. 

Cons:

• Not getting enough time to know the pupils well - Most of the schools I have worked in (with the exception of Grafham Grange) have only been for 1 day here, a few days there & another few days somewhere else. On an honest level, I really love getting to know the pupils I work with well, as this helps me to build a good, positive & trusting relationship with them by understanding how their mind works. Especially when they eventually gain enough trust in me to be their listening ear if they need/want to offload their thoughts.

• Low expectations from teachers - The one thing that really frustrates me the most about being an agency LSA, is that the teachers in the classes I get put into do not explain to me how best to be proactive in the class or how best to engage with each pupil. All this does is not only set me up to fail if I'm doing one or more days of trail shifts, but feel like I'm only present in the class as a "spare part".

• Little - no support from agencies - Another thing that really frustrates me about this line of work, is that some agencies (and I've registered onto about 10 different ones during October) will be very dismissive of your needs/requests. In the case of some agencies I'm with, I say to them that I specifically do not want to be placed into a school where I have to work with screaming non-verbal children, as I do not have much experience of working with them, but they'll still do it anyway when they call me up asking if I am available to work on the day they call me, all simply because for the purpose of the school giving THEM wages when these agencies fill school classes up with agency LSA's to fill in the holes, as well as keep the schools running as normal.

That pretty much wraps up this post. Hope you all find these pros & cons useful just in case you work in this industry to, or even thinking about it. 

I shall be back soon with another post!

*I began this post on the 18/11, but didn't finish it until the 19/11*

The lighter side of SEMH

Hello everyone! Hope your week is getting off to a great start, as well as the first 6 days of October.

From the 1st - 3rd of October, I had the privilege to work 3 days at an independent SEMH school in Dorking. Although I didn't get offered a contract to work at the school, I enjoyed spending time with the pupils, as well as get to learn about how their SEMH needs impact their learning. 

This was where I got to see a more lighter side of SEMH, compared to the other SEMH school I worked at for 6 months.

My main inspiration for doing this post, was how blown away I was by seeing a completely different side of SEMH, as appose to the stereotypical disruptive behaviour, swearing & frequent deregulations.

The different side of SEMH included loads of politeness, wanting to engage in lessons & thriving on consistent routine.

Yes, I have seen very few deregulations whilst I was working there, but those deregulations will always be a part of SEMH kids, as this is their natural response to them being or finding something that is overwhelming them, and need to let out some energy to regulate themselves again. For example, taking a movement break.

I know I have mentioned this in a few previous SEMH posts whilst I was working at Grafham Grange, as I am continually putting this message out there for everyone reading to acknowledge (I suppose you can call me an SEMH activist at this stage).

As this is also an 'independent' school setting, the staff highly or fully expect all of their students to follow the structure & routine without needing any assistance. That being said, a majority of the pupils are capable of doing work on their own.

So, the morale of this post, is to understand that no SEMH person presents with the same behaviour. Especially in different school settings.

How going out travelling gives me a sense of freedom (A personal post)

Hello everyone! Just a random "off the top of my head" kind of post today. 

As the above title states, I want to share something more different, and it's also on a wee bit of a personal level too. Especially when I have to do this on an almost daily basis. 

For what I do in my line of work, I am required to travel to various place across the country. Even on days where I am not traveling, or traveling to anywhere for work related things, I still find the time to go out traveling to places I haven't been to before yet, or just want to revisit somewhere mainly for nostalgia purposes. That being said, I have just come to realise that doing all of this makes me feel lucky to work in such a competitive & growing industry, where I have the privilege to travel to so many different places, which make me feel alive & free.

I'll get on to explaining that...

*The above picture is the view of Leeds, which was taken from the balcony of the room I had my IOPC Youth Panel Conference in*

Even from a very young age, I was constantly moving around different places, I have lived in a total of 6 different places, and went to a school & college that was not located in any of the 6 places I had resided in. Every other weekend, when I was with my dad, we'd always go out somewhere by train or by car.

I remember this where my love for travelling manifested from.

Fast forward to now, where I have a Saturday job that's in a another county, and I travel to different places across the country for industry related meetings or conferences.

On a more personal note, I enjoy nothing more than having the freedom to go out and have a wander, as this helps my mind to adjust into a positive mental state by clearing all of the negative thoughts that are trapped inside it. Especially going on long walks or train journeys that take up the whole day!😂

Sometimes, there have been times where I didn't think I would have the confidence to be able to travel long distances by myself, as I always carry a small fear of: "What's going to happen?" But then I have learned that the more I do these kinds of things, the more confidence I will gain when travelling long distances. Especially that it really helps me to feel more independent as a person.

*I began this post on the 24/9, but didn't finish it until the 25/9*

How a being a youth worker can create heartwarming moments with people

Hello everyone! Hope you're all having a great week so far, whatever you're doing.

Since I have a day to myself, I thought I'd share something that had happened whilst I was helping out at the Challengers Orange Aid event on Saturday. 

On Saturday, (13th of September) I had the privilege to be asked to help out at the 2nd time running annual Challengers' Orange Aid event. 

Me & my friend/colleague were in charge of manning the lego tent for the day, and I'm sure we had at least 10 kids come in to have a good build with them, as well as make one big scattered pile of different assorted legos.😂

That aside, we saw loads of other families thoroughly enjoying themselves too. Which was so lovely to see! Especially how they have such a good relationship with us as a service, and they know how well we support them whenever they need it.

I was sitting out by the lego tent for most of the day, and at one point, there was a boy who I recognised that went to the SEMH school I used to work at for 6 months (Grafham Grange). When he, and the mother were sitting close by our tent, the mother came over to me, and said that the boy recognises me from his school. He remembers my name as well. We both had a friendly chat for a few minutes, then when the mother & boy walked away, the boy said to me in a nice tone & manner: "Have a lovely day, and see you later".

This warmed my heart knowing that kids like him are perfectly capable of showing a kind personality when they are in a community friendly event. Especially when they remember you from their school setting. Fun fact: I had actually worked with this boy in IL before at my old school I used to work at, and I could hardly believe the difference in him when I saw him away from the school. This is purely all down to friendly interaction I had with him there.

Another time, there was another mother & son who approached me, and the son used to attend the previous Challengers scheme I worked at before it got shut down due to financial issues. The mother had a friendly conversation with me to begin with, by talking about how well her son is doing now since he aged out of Challengers 3 months ago.

She then kneeled by me to talk about some personal issues he'd been having over the past year (Won't go into any detail). The last few things she said was how much she appreciates as youth workers being there for the young people, like her son, as we make them feel accepted for who they are for what they are as individuals. She also added how she wants nothing else in the world other than her son to feel safe for who he is.

These are the pure reasons why I still carry on doing what I do as a youth worker, as I get to work closely with different young people by helping them be more confident with interacting with adults, as well as help them to have more confidence in themselves as they get older. The best part is when you know they know it too.🧡

How spending so much time out of an education setting can have a devastating impact on a young person

Hello everyone! How are we in September already?! I feel like this year is coming & going too fast.

Anyway, I have began a new job on Monday (1st of September) in a nearby college, and as the above title states, I want to share something very important that I have seen for myself whilst I was working there. This is all in the hope that other people reading this will find this post as insightful as it was for me having to witness it. Plus, this will give me something to do whilst I'm off work ill today as well.

On my 1st day working at a nearby college, I was working in a class where there was a boy who would not come into class, and had spent the whole day standing outside. This was all because he had been out of education for a WHOLE year. With that said, just spending 1 whole day in an education setting was enough for him to be overwhelmed, as he has unfortunately been so used to not being in one for this long. 

Now, you'll be asking yourself: "Why was this boy out of education for an entire year?" The answer was (according to my colleague) the school was having problems with him, so they couldn't cope with him anymore. This, in my eyes, is nothing other than totally unacceptable for any young person. Let alone for anyone who has special educational needs, like this boy does.

There is proven evidence that being out of any educational setting for a prolonged period of time can have a really devastating impact on young people, as they fills their head with so much uncertainty, and not having any learning in an actual learning environment makes young people feel anxious, because they will be behind everyone else, regardless whether they are neurotypical & non-neurotypical people.

Although it is valid there are loads of educational settings that are struggling to accommodate SEN kids due to a sky high new cases for ASD, ADHD or any other condition, it is NOT valid for young people with SEN to be out of education just because the education system cannot find a way to cater for their needs. This is why so many SEN kids are falling behand in life due to a lack of education. I know things are getting done to improve the statistics, but this simply cannot continue for the foreseeable...

Luckily, Challengers (the part-time organisation I work for) have 2 specialist settings in Guildford & Farnham that run during the weekday where they support people from the ages of 2 - 18 who are currently out of education. Although they are not education settings in any shape or form, they do, however, provide these young people with activities that will become really beneficial for their social & emotional development. They know what it's like when a young person with SEN feels insecure by having their education placement broken down, as well as knowing the ripple effects it has on their families.

To gain a more visualised insight, I have attached a video:

How the power of play is so impactful on young people

Hello everyone! Hope you've all had a good August, I know I have!

I say that, as I was working during the weekday for 3 weeks from the 28th of July - the 19th of August. Not to mention that I got to enjoy myself doing other things over the weekends in between as well. I even had a an enjoyable holiday from the 20th and only got back home yesterday (the 28th).

Since I have downtime for most of today, I thought I'd do a post on here which is inspired by the Challengers' Impact Report of 2025. Especially how my life involves that place at the moment. It will mainly consist of how play is so vitally important to help young people with various disabilities navigate the world.

One of the core values at Challengers, is to NEVER exclude anyone regardless of how complex their needs are. This is done to ensure that they all fit, as well as interact with every other young person on scheme who all have similar needs to them.

Now, let's talk about inclusivity... What do we do at Challengers to ensure every young person feels included on scheme? The answer couldn't be much simpler, we provide a range of activities which are all accessible to suite every young person's need. Even if the activities are not accessible to some young people at first, we will always make every effort to make them accessible to those young people.

This also leads me to the next rhetorical question... How do all of the staff at Challengers let the young people have fun playing on scheme? We (as staff members) undergo regular safeguarding, first aid & crisis drills training to ensure every young person who comes on scheme is in safe hands & well looked after. To this extent, we get visits from Ofsted to check we meet the safeguarding needs that Challengers provides to young people.

And the big rhetorical question... Why are both of these things blended together so vitally important for young people to play on scheme? This is because we are dedicated to bringing laughter & smiles out of these young people despite the challenging behaviour that they present us with. Although in all of the schemes I've worked in, it's some more than others. Allowing challenging young people to play really helps them to become more happier, and they can demonstrate that (verbally or not) by interacting with us, as they rarely get so much of that much needed intensive interaction elsewhere. Some young people are even aware of how well we look after their medical needs, as we will always welcome them with warm arms into our schemes where no other place would due to how complex their medical or behaviour needs are.

To see the evidence for yourselves, I have attached the Impact Report of 2025: https://disability-challengers.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Challengers-Impact-Report-2024-25.pdf

*I began this post on the 29/8, but didn't finish it until the 30/8*