Lockdown Ramblings Part Five – Homeschooling from an Adopter
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
This blog is not written by me – we have a guest blogger today who is one of our BraveHeart Trainers and a fellow adopter. She posted on our Facebook group for Parents this week about some homeschooling challenges and I wanted to share for two reasons. One, for those teachers who might be wondering […]
Lockdown Ramblings Part three – The loss in lockdown
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
I’ve wrestled with loss either directly or indirectly for many years now. Loss comes in so many different forms – you could say everything involves an element of loss. Of course, for some bereavement comes to mind straight away, for others it may be loss of freedom or rights, for all of us at the […]
Lockdown Ramblings Part Two – I wish I were a dog
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
My dog seems to have such a great life. From the moment he wakes up to when he goes to bed at night, he does what he wants (most of the time). He gets the attention he needs when he wants because he demands it. He gets to play, run around, chew sticks, eat, and […]
Lockdown Ramblings Part One – What am I learning?
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
I’ve been reluctant to write anything during this very weird time in lockdown. I don’t know why. Maybe because it’s just so strange a time? Or there are so many mixed emotions that I can’t make a coherent thought from them? Or that my own bereavement is overshadowing the global and national loss right now? […]
Overwhelmed by overwhelm
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
I don’t know about you, but this year has started with a bang for me. Family health challenges, mental health issues, work stress, pressure to start the year well, etc etc. There never seems to be a let up. My children sometimes question why they should chip in to help around the house and I […]
The Origin of BraveHeart
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
I’ve been challenged today as part of a course I’m doing to write down my story, at least the story of how BraveHeart came to be and why I do what I do now. You may have heard this before but for me it’s important to reflect and look back at the road and see […]
What does your face really say?
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
We all have that friend who whatever they might be saying they just have a miserable looking face. Or maybe it’s that friend who has a dry sense of humour – really funny sayings out of the mouth but a blank facial expression. Then of course, there’s the other friend who grins incessantly even when […]
Outside the Lines
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
I was privileged recently to take part in the first episode of a new podcast that I’d like to introduce to you. The idea behind ‘Outside the Lines’ podcast is a place where people who are raising children they didn’t give birth to can get some support and community. Here’s the link to this episode […]
Focus – What’s important right now?
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
If you’ve been on this journey with me for a few years you will know that every year I choose a word for the year as my kind of goal or intention. It covers my professional and personal life and often pops up throughout the year in different guises. This year as I’ve been reflecting […]
Anxiety in Pre-Schoolers – Guest Blog
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
Dr Andrés Fonseca is a consultant psychiatrist with 16 years of clinical experience. He holds an MSc in psychiatric research methodology from UCL and is honorary lecturer at UCL (division of psychiatry) and University of Roehampton (psychology department). He is co-founder and CEO of Thrive, a company that develops software to improve mental health combining […]
What’s your hierarchy of needs?
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
Abraham Maslow’s theory know as the Hierarchy of needs has been around since 1943, and published in his paper ‘A Theory of Human Motivation’. If you work with children and young people in any capacity, it’s probably a theory you’ve come across time and time again. Basically Maslow believed there are layers of needs, such […]
Naomi’s story of her Mental Health
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
We’ve been focusing on Mental Health for this month and I wanted to end this series with a story from a friend of mine called Naomi. Below you will see a video of Naomi telling her story and also a podcast of an interview she did recently in a Church meeting. Naomi is 31 years […]
Worry Worrits
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
Worrying is not just an adult thing. Many children and young people are showing more signs of anxiety, statistics tell us. In a recent article in the Telegraph it was stated that the number of young patients treated in hospitals for anxiety has increased by 42% over the last year. In 2015/2016 alone there were […]
New Year, New You?
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
This seems to be the phrase going around at the moment and I’m not sure how I feel about it. There are so many things that it conjures up for me. The expectation that as it’s a new year everything that was bad about last year will have miraculously disappeared overnight. Or that the things […]
The mixed emotions of adoption
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
This week is National Adoption Week and as ever it has brought with it very many mixed emotions. I’ve been reading other people’s stories and comments online and my own experiences tell me just how complex this whole world of adoption can be. It is not an ideal situation to be in. No-one wants to […]
Too young to learn yet too old to not know
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
There’s a phenomenon with young people with insecure attachment that has baffled me for years now. It all centres around the ability to learn new things. Mine are all teenagers and there are certain things I expect them to already know – how to tell the time, basics of money, what certain words might mean […]
Survive or thrive?
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
This week’s theme is surviving strategies – what a great theme? One that we ALL need to hear and have probably struggled to find over many years. We’ve been in this world of adoption for about 11 years now – 3 on the process and 8 with our three children. Along this incredible journey there […]
No room at the Inn?
- Lockdown Ramblings Part Eight – Juggling in a pandemic - May 27, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Seven – Relationships count - May 20, 2020
- Lockdown ramblings Part Six – It’s all about me! - May 13, 2020
Our house is pretty full. With three young teenagers, my husband and I, a fish and a bearded dragon. So any more room left? Well after years of saying no to a dog I finally succumbed to the constant nagging from my children (and husband) and we bought a puppy last week. I can’t tell […]