There are great new things happening in mental health. Finally even governments are realising that money invested in teaching good mind management skills reaps rewards long term and improves Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Here's something new and something I am very proud of...
The Fusion Foundation
Mission statement
'To promote happiness and resilience in children and young people by teaching them proven and effective mind management skills so they can feel their best, be their best and live their best lives.'
It's generally accepted that counsellors are good at listening, supporting and empathising while coaches are great at motivation, focusing on goals and raising self-esteem. But when you combine the tools of coaching with the skills of counselling, something new, something more effective is created.
I trained originally as a counsellor, then as a psychotherapist and a coach.
In fact, over the years, I've accumulated more than 30,000 hours of working practice and have seen clients from every walk of life, from age 6 to 90, from homeless people to affluent, multi-home owners. I've worked in prisons and in executive boardrooms too.
One thing I've discovered along the way is that people are people.
We all need different kinds of support at different times in our life. Sometimes we're flying high. Everything is going well and we just want someone to help firm up our dreams and goals. Then we might seek out a coach.
Sometimes things are not going so well, we need real help with resolving problems, traumas, fears and anxieties. Then we might want to work with a counsellor.
But often, it's a mixture of both. Let's face it, life has its ups and downs. We're all trying to be more happy and we all want to be more resilient. So wouldn't it be ideal if we had access to a wellbeing practitioner who could offer the appropriate support, no matter where we are on our journey through life?
We can learn good mind management skills at any time but, if we learn younger, these skills can have a really positive effect on helping us feel our best, be our best and work towards living our very best lives.
The Government now agrees.
The following quotations have been taken from Lord Layard's 2015 report on mental health and well-being in children
'There is a massive problem.
Around 10% of the worlds children today are suffering from a diagnosable mental health problem.
A central aim of any society should be that it's children and young people enjoy their lives and acquire the skills necessary to become happy functioning adults.
Mental health affects physical health. Depression reduces life expectancy as much as smoking does. It has a more disabling effect and arthritis, diabetes, angina or asthma.
A fundamental principle is that it is better to intervene earlier… But the principle of early intervention also applies to prevention.
The brain's plasticity is highest in young children… They are most vulnerable to bad influences and most receptive to good ones.
If children are happier, that is also good for their intellectual development. For example in a survey of 200 school based programs to promote the social and emotional skills, it was found that children taking these programs gained around 10 percentile points in emotional well-being and behaviour but also in academic achievement…
So schools should make the well-being of their children a major objective.'
Like the Government, I believe strongly that our children deserve more from us as a society, so I have created The Fusion Foundation to get effective mental health, happiness and resilience training and support into our schools.
And I'm backing it with my own money.
I've sponsored the first therapeutic coach who will soon start work at a Bedfordshire school.I hope more will follow soon.
If you want to support in the important mission to help our children, please contact me via the contact form.
I will be very happy to hear from you....
Frances Masters MBACP GHGI FRTC
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