In early 2020 our son was struggling emotionally with a ‘lack of self-worth’ and anxiety issues, so when the  coronavirus national lockdown was enforced in March the situation was just compounded. Every day the whole family were ‘walking on egg shells’ to prevent the next ‘melt down’.  Six months prior to the lockdown our son attended a number of ‘whole class sessions’ at school with Paddy.  Paddy’s open, engaging and entertaining method of delivery soon became the favourite lesson of the week.  The discussions about positive mental attitudes along with coping strategies certainly improved our son's outlook on life.  It was therefore natural that we would contact Paddy when things started to get  tough.  Over the course of several Zoom sessions Paddy was able to once again get our son to have a more positive view of himself and how others saw him.   Paddy was a great help in getting him in the right mindset for returning to school, and the unknown, after many months of isolation from friends and family. Paddy’s coping strategies have also gone on to help him through a successful transition from Junior to High School.

As a staff we found the talk very thought provoking and the staff room was buzzing after you left. It certainly will change the way we approach some aspects of school life

After unsuccessfully trying to resolve bullying of a child in a classroom, and exhausting many of our usual approaches, we asked Paddy to run a bullying intervention for the children involved. Paddy immediately engaged with the children and they respected his views and opinions. After the first session the class teacher reported that all instances of bullying had stopped. In the subsequent weeks, the class teacher noticed that the children were beginning to show more empathy and understanding for the victim. The weekly session write ups were insightful and showed a deep understanding of the children's emotional development and own self-esteem issues. As a result of his work, all children are much happier and able to focus on their learning in class. The school has now asked Paddy to run mentoring sessions for additional children with differing emotional needs.

Activ8 causes children to realise things about themselves and boosts self esteem. Several children who are normally quiet  showed increased confidence after Activ8.

N BARWICK  (Teacher)

Mrs Watts  (Treacher)

My son benefitted enormously from your help and is now able to reflect on situations that occur at school and at home, and is using strategies that you’ve given him to talk about and use when he’s stressed or upset.  We’re really pleased that he has been given this input and would like to thank you for helping him cope much better with his emotional needs.

PARENT of child with anger management issues