A different way of doing Haven…

As many of you will be aware Haven is a course which helps students take control of their anxiety when it has become problematic for them. Step has run this course in schools for a number of years now right from its creation. Normally we run this course with Yr9 or Yr10 students (and sometimes even Yr7). However last Friday I ran the course with six wonderful Yr13 students who opted on the course when I offered it as an option at the beginning of the academic year. 

It came to my attention in the summer term that some previous sixth-form students had been so overwhelmed with anxiety during the year it had affected their attendance through the year. It made me consider that some young people may not have experienced problematic anxiety during their earlier school years only to have it creep up on them during the pressures of sixth-form. It made me sad to think young people I’d seen through their entire school journey were struggling with something that Step has access to the perfect resource to help them with. 

But it wasn’t as simple as it first seemed! We may have the resource but there a precious few times sixth-formers are all free at the same time each week, let alone for six weeks in a row. Thankfully there was a brilliant solution on offer! The Yr13’s had two free periods back to back every other Friday. Which means instead of six weeks for an hour a week we can run the course for them in three weeks instead (albeit with a week gap in-between each session).

I wasn’t sure if any students would go for it when I offered but it turned out to be the perfect option for some of the students in the year group and six signed up to gain some tools to help control their anxiety rather than allow it to control them. We ran session one and two back to back which really seemed to work for them as they have the capacity to comfortably take on the information. It seems knowing that within just three double sessions was the perfect solution for them. 

Helena