"Children are not just our future; they are our present, our joy, and our responsibility."

I want to share this because I fully know if NLP had been available to me when I was a growing up I would have understood my feelings so much more, and understanding why you behave the way you do, or feel the way you do, is just so important.

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Back when I was young I knew I often behaved differently from my friends, I was outwardly highly emotional and sensitive to people and things around me (now my superpower!) on top of that I was extremely anxious. I grew up in the 80’s during the ‘just get on with it’ and ‘man up!’ era, which made this quite a hard time to navigate, especially for me. Don't get me wrong my parents were amazing, but I wasn't easy because I had no idea why I felt the way I did, I didn't have the words or ability to explain it. I can remember the anxious emotions and constant nervous feelings so clearly still. I really struggled with going to school, being away from home, and I would cry ALL day. Sunday evenings were just awful with the Monday school dread.

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As I headed into puberty I remember thinking I can’t go on like this! I had to make a change otherwise I was going to be a nervous wreck for the rest of time. So I learnt to ‘just get on with it’ I began to mask my anxiety, heading to the toilets for a private cry if I felt too overwhelmed, and essentially faked it until I made it! And I did make it, I began to feel myself coming out of my shell more and more, even began to rebel a bit during those early teens (unsurprisingly) and when I tell people now that I was a very nervous, shy, anxious child they often laugh at the thought! I really don’t mind that, I feel really quite proud that I managed to do this for myself.

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It came as no surprise to anyone who knew me that I took a path down the childcare route, I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do I just knew it had to be with children, and ended up working as a nanny for many many years which I absolutely loved!

After I had my first child I trained as a Sleep Consultant and have spent since 2015 helping, supporting and guiding families to get better sleep. It’s such a rewarding job, I have loved making such a difference to families lives and will continue to do so. As I say above I knew I had to do more to help and NLP made sense to me, especially when reading about the fundamental beliefs of NLP and seeing ‘we all have the skills we need within us to change’ we just need to find them and harness these skills right? Like I did! But ideally not like I did; not faking it, but really truly believing it. I have learnt some truly incredible techniques and exercises through using play and art therapy combined with the NLP beliefs to help children learn how to understand, makes sense of, and cope with overwhelming, negative, angry, sad, depressed or confused out of control feelings, any feelings! in whatever way they may be experiencing them. 

I am married with two children, both girls, who were born in 2015 and 2019 (yes just before lockdown) so I too am in the thick of harnessing and building confidence and self esteem with my own little people.