Former teachers who’ve made children’s wellbeing their business

TWO counsellors have opened a wellbeing hub in Studley to help tackle anxiety and mental health issues in schoolchildren.

Joanne Hanson and Lucy Sedgwick launched Hanson & Sedgwick, a dedicated counselling and wellbeing space for the local community, two weeks ago.

They offer private therapy for children, adolescents, teens and adults, and training around mental health for local schools and businesses.

Former teachers, they met while on the four-year training course to become counsellors.

After qualifying two years ago, they worked at charities and both go into schools, as counsellors, one morning a week.

Former special needs teacher Lucy, 32, specialises in stress, education and learning disabilities and neuro-divergence, with expertise in ADHD, autism, Asperger’s syndrome, anxiety and self-harming.

Joanne, 40, started as a primary school teacher, before leaving to raise her two daughters.

Following the screening of Netflix drama Adolescence, which portrays a 13-year-old boy affected by toxic masculinity, plus a series of harrowing self-harm, eating disorder and suicide cases fuelled by social media, schools and parents are more aware of mental health issues.

Joanne said: “We see a lot of anxiety and depression out there and there’s also a lot of isolation around not really knowing where to turn.

“We want to provide a service that tells people they're not alone.”

Speaking about the issues tackled in Adolescence, Lucy said: “There’s something going on with adolescent girls and boys in this current society.

“It must be a very scary time to be a parent and a very scary time to be a teenager, particularly a teenage boy as they're at such a vulnerable time in their life, and unfortunately, a lot of people are taking advantage of that.”

“It [Adolescence] took away the blame and was a really good representation of how life isn't simple or black and white.

“One person didn’t do something wrong in that child’s life to create that, it’s a perfect storm of everything.

She added: “The most important thing is to talk and have these conversations with your kids and within schools – make it open and easy to sort out.”

Social media is one of the main things fuelling rising anxiety and depression among youngsters, the pair agree.

Joanne said: “TikTok and What’sApp are already a topic of conversation at primary school age – it is a big problem.”

Lucy added: “A lot of children have semi- or unregulated access to this stuff and can find things at the click of a button whenever they want.

“And there’s the effect it has on brain development and the way it affects your dopamine and your sleep – it’s a huge problem.”

Pre-social media, bullying usually stopped at the school gates, but that has all changed. Joanne pointed out: “Now, it’s continual, it’s evenings, it’s weekends, it never ends.

“That’s where we come in, as counsellors, helping people to live their most real, authentic lives and be their authentic selves.”

But Lucy warned: “A lot of people want a fix, for you to wave a magic wand and make their life great and happy and that's not what we do.

“It’s accepting who you are and that, whether people class feelings as good or bad, they’re all acceptable.”

The wellbeing hub includes bookable group space and counselling rooms to rent and eventually they plan to run workshops for all ages. Lucy said: “We want to share our knowledge, understanding and skills with people.

“Not everyone can afford weekly therapy, that’s a luxury, so we want to be able to offer something people can access wherever they are, by making it accessible.”

The pair recognised each other as “kindred spirits” and when they picked up the keys to the building in Marble Alley six months ago, they tackled the DIY themselves, describing it as “the biggest renovation project of our lives”.

Their aim was to make it feel like “walking into a home”, “relaxed and comfortable” and “the polar opposite of the clinical setting you expect when going to get therapy”.