Feb. 18, 2026

Children Lead the Way C.I.C - Lets Talk to Local businesses

What if the classroom that finally works isn’t a room at all, but a quiet clearing in the woods? We sit down with Stacy, founder of Children Lead the Way CIC in Cheltenham, to uncover how a forest-based, trauma-informed community helps anxious and neurodivergent children feel safe, reconnect with learning, and rebuild trust—one hammock swing, tree net bounce, and woodwork project at a time.

Stacy’s journey began at home when her son hit severe separation anxiety and burnout at four. Traditional strategies failed, but nature didn’t. In the forest, the nervous system found cues of safety and regulation. That insight became a child-led model where behaviour is seen as communication, not defiance; safety is the foundation, not a reward; and play, choice, and attuned adults do the heavy lifting. We explore how sessions actually run, why the first 30 minutes often focus on settling and co-regulation, and how parallel play gradually turns into authentic friendship when pressure lifts and predictability rises.

We also dig into support for families and schools. Parents stay on site, build community, and shed the self-blame that often comes with school refusal or emotional-based school distress. On the education side, Stacy’s team collaborates with teachers on practical, psychology-informed adjustments that reduce overwhelm and increase connection—through their Seen Herd Supported training, EHCP guidance, and thoughtful environmental tweaks. Growth has been rapid: from seven families to dozens, with plans for secondary sessions and a pioneering GCSE in Nature and Wellbeing that recognises diverse ways to achieve and thrive.

This conversation is a blueprint for inclusive education across Gloucestershire: not a replacement for school, but a partner that widens the path. If you care about SEND support, trauma-informed practice, sensory regulation, or simply want to see children fall back in love with learning, you’ll find hope and concrete ideas here. Subscribe, share with someone who needs it, and leave a review to help more families and schools find this story.

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00:00 - Meet Stacy And The Mission

01:10 - Founding A Forest Community Space

02:33 - Why Nature Regulates And Calms

06:49 - Child-Led, Trauma-Informed Philosophy

10:57 - Ages, Ofsted, And Growing Demand

13:20 - What A Session Looks Like

18:00 - From Parallel Play To Friendship

21:10 - Trust, Confidence, And Reframing Behaviour

25:12 - One-To-One Support For Complex Needs

28:15 - Parents, Isolation, And Building Community

32:45 - Guilt, Growth, And Self-Compassion

35:30 - The Bigger Mission: Inclusive Education

38:00 - Training Schools: Seen Herd Supported

41:00 - Partnerships And County-Wide Change

WEBVTT

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Hello and welcome to Let's Talk with Local Businesses, the podcast where I sit down with local businesses here in Cheltenham to chat about what they do and their story.

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I'm Reg, and today I'm really pleased to welcome Stacy from Children Lead the Way CIC.

00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:19.359
So welcome Stacy.

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Thank you for giving us your time.

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Thank you, Reg.

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It's brilliant to be here and we love what you're doing.

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Thank you so much.

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I do hope it's really nice to get some support and some praise.

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It's really nice.

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Especially when people actually answer my emails.

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But a lot of people don't.

00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:40.000
Um, okay, the obvious question first is what is children lead the way?

00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:42.079
Yeah, it's a good question.

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So Children Lead the Way is a not-for-profit community centre that I set up about 18 months ago.

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And we support children and families and even schools with um children that are facing kind of emotional distress, anxiety, disabilities, or trauma that creates barriers to their education journeys.

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Um, it's really a passion project from mine, born from personal experience.

00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:18.560
Um, we started quite small with just seven families.

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I found a wild forest and was determined and vowed that I would do what I could to make a difference, a positive difference, to these families and these children that are facing incredibly hard circumstances.

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And I went and did it.

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I found a forest and I 12 weeks through the nights built my own outdoor centre and it started from there.

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Okay, you've now got me intrigued completely.

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You built you didn't build a forest, you found a forest, you then built a center.

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What goes on?

00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:04.560
I mean, do you do do you do sort of you know camping and and lighting fires and and what what exactly do you do?

00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:11.759
I mean, if you have a let's say we have a group of school children you know, we won't say families, but let's say school ten school children there.

00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:14.800
What what's a general day like?

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I mean, is it a full day?

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Do you stay there overnight or is it just you just travel there each day?

00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:23.680
No, so we run part-time and we do sessions.

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So our sessions run uh in the kind of spring to the autumn time, two hours, and in the winter time we're on a reduced kind of 90-minute sessions.

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And each session is completely different.

00:02:35.919 --> 00:03:02.400
So the kind of philosophy behind Children Need the Way started really before I built the centre, and it was a personal response to my son who faced chronic separation anxiety, um, and he consequently hit burnout at four, and it was due to go into the education system, mainstream education, and he couldn't.

00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:05.840
Um, it was the hardest time of my life.

00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.919
Um, I faced massive kind of isolation overwhelm.

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Um, and I thought I need to find our way through this to his recovery.

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Um, and it started with really kind of better understanding his needs and better understanding how he was able to kind of learn and the things he needed.

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So I deliberately created a space that would have the right environment and very trusting, trauma-informed relationships with a staff, with a team of supporters, um, to help them navigate kind of social situations with others.

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And the reason it's in a forest was because at that time, the one space that was much easier for him to access, having a disability, uh, was an outdoor nature-based space because it's more of a regulation for his nervous system.

00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:16.240
Um, and I think when he was, I was already working as a special educational needs tutor, and I still do that now also.

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Um, and I started to meet loads of families across Gloucestershire who were going through similar situations with their children.

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Children who'd been excluded from school, children who were really struggling to attend school from anxiety or emotional distress, and they just physically couldn't go to school.

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And I was working on uh kind of supporting the family with their educational needs and building trust and connection with these children again.

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Um, and through those two experiences, I really saw that there was a need for this space for children to be able to go to to build trusting relationships and learn in ways that was meaningful for them.

00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:05.759
That's absolutely amazing.

00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:13.839
So sometimes these things do, you know, they they start from your own experience, and in your case it really did.

00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:21.600
Um and you were talking about he your son he felt more relaxed and comfortable in the forest.

00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:25.519
And he knows I I imagine he probably felt the same if he was in a field.

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Because they say it's the green, the colour green is very smoothing to start with, I believe.

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And so in the forest, it's nature, it's the brain naturally knows it.

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It it's uh an automatic, it's probably from history from thousands of years ago.

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We we just we know that situation, we know where we are, even though we don't know where we are maybe physically, we reach relate not reach, relate to forest, wildlife, nature, it's it's just it's a calming influence.

00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:02.480
I mean when I had an allotment until recently, and I could be so wound up.

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Well, I got my allotment, I'd spend half an hour there, I'd sit do some work, sit down, have a cup of tea, and it would just go completely away, and I'd be absolutely fine.

00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:15.680
And everyone fight people why's my garden so so therapeutic.

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It's because of you're in nature, you're mixing with people don't realise how being in contact with the ground, being in contact with nature can smooth you down, and then obviously that's when you're at your side of the teaching and learning and showing how to do things now.

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I don't know what you do, obviously, but that's where you've already got them at a level playing field, which helps.

00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:42.480
Where if they're at school, there's lots of noise, lots of things going on, and it's like, nope, can't handle that, can't handle that.

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I'm assuming I'm guessing that's the kind of thing that works.

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Am I somewhere on the right line?

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You are on the right lines, yeah.

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It's very much about that massive open space for them, um, the the soothing nature elements, and I think it's also about children can't learn or thrive until they feel emotionally safe.

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And safe is the foundation, safety is the foundation for everything.

00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:26.079
Um, and I think a big part about children need the way, and that's probably where the name comes from, is about kind of tuning in to those children and really hearing them, seeing them, listening to them and supporting them.

00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:29.120
And we're a hundred percent child-led centre.

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So one of my passions was this deep belief and trust in children, that children do know what they need and the ways are meaningful for them to learn.

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And when we sit back as adults and we give them space to achieve that, and we follow them with very trusting, supporting relationships that give them that empathy and connection, children feel safety and then they can thrive.

00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:11.360
It's like almost in the nervous system softens, and a lot of work we do with children are children that perhaps don't feel that emotionally safe.

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They've experienced trauma, they've experienced hard situations, they've experienced kind of emotional distress, and it's really, really hard for them, even just to get to our site.

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So, one of my big passions was to make sure that a child that came, Two Children Need the Way, would feel understood, would feel connected, and would feel heard.

00:08:37.679 --> 00:09:07.360
Because when you can do that for a child that hasn't got that or has kind of additional complexities going on around them, it gives them that message that they're safe, that they can trust you, and that then leaves the the leads the pathway really for learning, because the most important thing is a child's safe emotional safety to be able to open up to you and and thrive.

00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:09.519
Yeah, oh definitely, definitely.

00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:13.519
So, what age group do you could you say you let the children lead the way?

00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:17.039
I'm assuming that what minimum what's the minimum what ages do you cover?

00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:26.320
So our sessions are um we've just gone through the offstead registration actually back in September and got all three registers, so we're fully registered site.

00:09:26.399 --> 00:10:04.000
Um, but we predominantly it's from four up until 12 is our current sessions, but we're just about to open a secondary session as well, because another thing that we are a completely responsive community, and we have the same families that started are still part of that community now, so it's a real deep sense of community there, and and in response to that, we have quite a lot of children that are transitioning, they're reaching 12, they're transitioning into secondary, and there was a real identified need that it that service or that support system doesn't stop when they get to 12.

00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:09.600
So we're actually extending beyond into secondary for a 12 to 16s route.

00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:19.600
And our incredible forest school leader, Sophie, um, she works with us and does the forestry skills such as fires, woodwork, tool work, um, all the climbing structures.

00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:26.320
We have an incredible tree net, which is brilliant for the children that need like that sensory input from bouncing.

00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:35.840
Um, well, she's uh actually training now, she's about to finish to do the first in the country GCSE qualification for nature and well-being.

00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:44.639
So we're gonna open that up because what we want to do is we recognise that children learn in different ways.

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It's unique and meaningful for them.

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And we've seen lots of children that really face those barriers to education because perhaps those traditional offerings they're they're struggling to engage with or struggling to connect with.

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So we wanted to protect and open up future pathways for children that perhaps want that different form of learning or that different form of skill set um to take forward into their lives and and give them those skills and opportunities that can really support them.

00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:20.000
That is absolutely amazing, it really is.

00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:22.320
I'm still trying to get my head around.

00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:28.720
Children lead the way, so okay, let's put a scenario here because I I I want to work out how you're doing this.

00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:32.399
Besides, I want to come along and have a bit of fun on the tree climbing thing.

00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:34.159
You're welcome anytime, Reds.

00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:34.639
Come on on.

00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:37.200
Not advisable, the tree won't hold me.

00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:42.080
You'll find it holds a whole team, so you'll be perfectly okay.

00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:45.440
I don't think I could climb a tree these days, to be honest.

00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:53.840
If you I mean, you say the children lead the way, but I'm assuming you must have some kind of structure for your hour and a half, two hour sort of period.

00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:56.639
I mean, you it can't be the child leads the entire class.

00:11:56.879 --> 00:12:03.759
And um obviously you do what is it one-on-one, or you have because you say you have groups at times, so you may have five or six.

00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:08.080
So, what is a general sort of lesson or or class?

00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:09.039
How does that work?

00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:10.240
Do they come every day?

00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:13.919
Are you like a mini-sized school, or how does that work?

00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:19.519
Yeah, so the children come once a week uh for the two-hour session.

00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:26.879
So it's trying to think of this more like child-based play and child-based learning.

00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:32.639
Because a lot of, I mean, for instance, a lot of our children really struggle with the word school.

00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:48.399
So we tend to call ourselves for in fact, they've come up with the name Forest Fun or Learning in the Forest, or but we're really a community center, so that children come along and that can shape very differently depending on that child's needs.

00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:54.799
So we put opportunities out in the environment, and the vibe the environment is created very specifically.

00:12:55.120 --> 00:13:03.200
So we have opportunities for them to engage in, um, but we have very specific sensory-based equipment.

00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:25.360
So things like swings, things like hammocks, things like I told you the tree net, which is a proprioceptive input for boxing, um, things like um, just trying to think off my head, uh, climbing equipment, things like um sensory dens, um enclosed spaces.

00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:37.039
And the reason we put that in the environment is because those children need, they often seek or they need that sensory input to regulate their nervous systems.

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When their nervous systems are feeling calmer and more softened, they're more able to learn.

00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:46.480
So the journey can look very different for each child.

00:13:46.639 --> 00:14:12.960
So we have perhaps one child really struggles with maybe kind of demand avoidance, demand avoidance, and therefore when they come onto site, it's really about giving them that space to enter the site calmly without kind of feeling overwhelmed, giving them opportunities to just gently make their way through to decide what they want to do, because a lot of that is scanning to make sure they they feel safe.

00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:25.679
So it's kind of having this welcoming space where they can come in and they know we're not going to overwhelm them with questions or with input, and they can freely make their way until they feel comfortable.

00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:37.120
Another child perhaps really seeks that engagement and they go straight in and they want to perhaps make fairy potions or they want to um paint art.

00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:52.879
So we have a lot of creative arts in our heart as well, um, and they want to get right stuck in building play-doh, and so it's really being very responsive to the needs of the children and really understanding what they're communicating to us.

00:14:52.960 --> 00:15:11.600
And we put a massive amount of training into our staff of volunteers because it's we're mainly volunteer-run to help with that trauma-informed approach, so really understanding kind of what those children are communicating to us and how we can help them feel emotionally safe.

00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:26.159
So there is a structure to the session, um, predominantly that first kind of 30 minutes or so is just kind of taking that step back and holding space with those children and seeing where they are.

00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:30.879
Do they want that interaction with us, or actually, has it been a really, really tough week?

00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:35.279
And they're just just the fact they got to us was all they can do.

00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:40.799
Um, and and then we kind of offer out, as I said, the opportunities.

00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:50.799
So Sophie runs the woodworking side, so there's a chance for them to go, they can do soaring, they can do drilling, hammering, nails, um, all of that is available to them.

00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:53.919
So that and then there's the tree net, which they can go.

00:15:54.080 --> 00:16:02.000
It's about a meter off the ground in the tree, in a big, we've got uh it's about twelve, I think three by four meters squared, they can go and bounce on the net.

00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:05.679
And some of them they want that social connection.

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Perhaps they are home educated or they're they're uh not a or that they're working online and they're struggling to find those spaces to connect with other children because the environment has to be right for them to do that.

00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:25.759
If it's overwhelming, that will interrupt their ability to kind of connect with other children.

00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.879
I mean, it's I could talk for hours about this, Red.

00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:31.519
I'm sorry, I'm very deep passionate about this.

00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:36.879
But we have, for instance, the same group of children we've had for probably about a year now.

00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:46.720
And when we first had these children, big age range from four up to about 11, they all played in very separate spaces around the forest.

00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:48.559
And that was each session.

00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:59.279
They maybe played next to each other because a big part of us helping children feel safe socializing is to have the same activities in spaces next to each other.

00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:02.240
Um, and it is about sorry.

00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:16.000
So they get used to being next to somebody in yeah, without feeling that kind of so social conflicts or or kind of that unpredictability, because predictability is also really, really important to them.

00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:38.960
And that for about six months they played in these pockets next to each other, and then slowly over time, just by allowing that and and kind of being that safe space for them, these children began to get closer together and connect together, and now those friendships are blossoming and growing, and we see it every single session.

00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:40.559
It's just amazing.

00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:43.839
I wish I could bottle that up and share it with everybody.

00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:53.519
Um, but it it is truly incredible to watch because it really was about trusting them and holding that space.

00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:56.480
Um I think I've worked out how you do it now.

00:17:56.640 --> 00:17:59.119
It's basically you get them there and you say have fun.

00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:02.079
And you let them let them pick what they want to do.

00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:11.680
You're there initially for safety reasons, basically to make sure they don't get hurt, or to make sure there's no fighting, or there's if they get stuck or have a problem, you're there to back them up.

00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:18.720
But it's letting them have that free space to do whatever they want to do, particularly, especially at the beginning.

00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:34.319
So yeah, if one of them gets there and wants to go into the little quiet area and to sit quietly, okay, fine, if that's what you want to do, maybe at home, or at school it's been so noisy and he just wants to go somewhere where it's quiet and and get away from everybody and just have a bit of peace.

00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:44.079
Or do you say you might have somebody who wants to go there who's been there a few times and says, Right, I've got to let out some tension, give me a hammer, you know, and and goes and hammers nails or whatever.

00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:51.920
Because I know when I was young and my dad was a carpenter and was a builder, and getting hold of a hammer and some nails was paradise, you know.

00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:56.400
Scared the life out of my dad, but it was paradise.

00:18:56.880 --> 00:18:57.519
Sorry, sorry.

00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:03.039
Yeah, I was like, scared the life out of my dad, but you know, it was good for me.

00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:10.480
So I I you know it's basically like a sort of play area for them, but it builds their confidence, it builds their trust.

00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:27.200
And I assume that then reflects on them when they're either homeschooled or when they're at school, and it teaches them how to mix in and get a bit more confidence in doing class class work, I suppose, whether it's whatever work it is.

00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:30.799
I'm assuming that's how it it works for them over a period of time.

00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:53.920
Yeah, I I think it it's really about when they feel emotionally safe and when they have that access to sensory equipment and they're able to give their nervous system what it needs to feel safe, they soften and it's easier then to establish trust.

00:19:54.160 --> 00:20:20.480
Um, when you start to get trust and they start to feel able to try new things, they connect with things, they get to see themselves achieving again or learning again and and building something special, and that grows confidence in themselves, and then that I think helps them to reconnect again with learning in a positive way, it feels good.

00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:34.480
Um, and and then I think we do a lot of work outside of that session about supporting kind of schools in really understanding behavior as communication.

00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:42.319
So, and and it truly is that because when a child is struggling, they're really telling us something about an unmet need.

00:20:42.880 --> 00:21:00.720
It isn't that they're trying to be difficult, it isn't that perhaps they've got kind of um behavior that isn't isn't isn't welcomed, it's that that behavior is communicating that child has a need that isn't being met, and they're really struggling with that.

00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:10.480
Um, so we do a lot of work, and this was a personal journey for me because my son has a disability, um, he's had it um from birth.

00:21:10.640 --> 00:21:17.519
There were kind of lots of complications with COVID, with like difficult situations that we were in.

00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:22.000
Um and as a result of that, his needs are different.

00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:39.920
Um, and I think that what I worked out with my sons initially, Reg, I was a teacher for 15 years, and so I thought parenting, okay, I've worked with early years, I I led early years schools, I've got this, and I really didn't.

00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:41.440
I really didn't.

00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:49.200
I was massively overwhelmed, his emotions were absolutely huge, and I I really struggled.

00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:57.119
I really didn't know how to help and support him because what I'd learnt as a teacher wasn't working in this situation.

00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:59.759
Um, and so I started this discussion.

00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:07.119
Kind of journey really into more of the psychology, uh, what sits beneath the behaviour.

00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:18.799
And through that, I went on this five-year-style, and I'm now just completing to be a master's in psychology to be an educational psychologist.

00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:39.759
And it really taught me that behind the behaviour is a nervous system that's got these responses as a sensory system to the information our body takes in and the way it takes it in and what it's seeking, and there's these complex emotions, and all of that is quite complicated and it's unique to each individual child.

00:22:39.920 --> 00:23:01.359
Um, and when we can tap into that and understand that, and we can help a child by kind of really sitting with them and being with them in those kind of challenging moments with acceptance, without necessarily trying to change them, but just saying, look, I see this is hard for you, I see this is difficult, I'm here for you.

00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:09.920
Um, it just helps, it helps build that connection, it helps them regulate that, and we find ways forward.

00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:18.079
And there's a lot of sessions, I do a lot of one-to-one trauma sessions for children that aren't able to access a group.

00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:30.480
Um, because some of our groups are up to 20 children at one time, and that's just at yeah, and that's at the beginning of that that can be very overwhelming if you have a child that's had quite ex quite big trauma.

00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:51.359
Um, and I do these one-to-one sessions, and some of them there is really challenging behaviours that we experience, but what it is telling me is that child has a need that isn't being met, that child is overwhelmed, and that child needs my support, needs my understanding, needs my acceptance, and we move through that.

00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:59.119
And and the more we do that, the the kind of more they realize that we're there for them.

00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:00.720
We understand them.

00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:04.880
Yeah, that very, very gets very deep at times, you know.

00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:07.279
No, no, that's fine.

00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:08.160
No, no, that's fine.

00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:08.880
It's what you do.

00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:10.559
That's why that's why these chats are here.

00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:26.240
That that you you know, you're talking telling people, you know, this is how important it is to you, but also shows that you know, their child, whether it'd be a parent comes to you or they they they meet you through the school, I don't know how that all all works, and what I'll find out in a minute.

00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:33.279
Um, but they know that you really have done this from both sides.

00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:41.440
You've seen it as a parent, because you've done it from your little one all the way from birth, and you said yourself you were overwhelmed by this.

00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:54.319
Well, if you were a teacher of 15 years and you were overwhelmed, a parent that's just an engineer or a cook or whatever is gonna have even less experience of children.

00:24:54.559 --> 00:25:02.240
I mean, I don't know what ages you were teaching, but you you children to a certain degree have the same principles, they're gonna be aware of their death.

00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:04.960
You know, they haven't they really haven't got much chance.

00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:11.359
Now, some will by chance mothers have a habit of being out to deal with things, and that's just the way mothers are built.

00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:14.319
I know minded it was called the back of a hand.

00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:17.519
Um, but a lot of them won't.

00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:24.319
And that's where they see you, they speak to you, and realize that you know, okay, I know what I I can see what the possible problem is.

00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:25.920
I know what the possible problem is.

00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:30.160
My ones had it, I've been through it, I've seen other children come along.

00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:32.079
Now, do the parents come along with them?

00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:36.559
I assume they do, because obviously some of them are sort of you know they're at an age where they can't come on their own.

00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:41.599
I mean, I don't know how far out or where your tree tree tree area is.

00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:43.440
I mean, it could be to the edge of children.

00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:46.880
I've no idea, but um I mean, is it a bus ride?

00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:49.599
You said about children's mind that maybe getting there.

00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:50.960
Is how how does that work?

00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:53.680
I mean, is it do they come on their own or do they come with parents?

00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:56.640
Yeah, no, so we're not a drop-off service yet.

00:25:56.960 --> 00:25:57.440
Right.

00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:11.599
We've probably got to the point now where 50% of our children that attend on a regular basis could be, um, but that parent parent relationship's really important to establishing that safety, that emotional safety.

00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:14.000
So the parents do attend with the children.

00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:17.680
There's probably an element here also that I haven't really talked about.

00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:24.559
I mentioned that children lead the way was born from my personal experience with my son.

00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:28.960
When my son hit burnout, he couldn't leave the house.

00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:33.839
And that wasn't one or two days, that was going on 12 weeks.

00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:38.880
Um, and as a parent, I was massively isolated.

00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:41.119
It was incredibly hard.

00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:48.319
There were days when I just thought, I cannot do this anymore, I cannot go through this anymore.

00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:55.759
And I remember thinking to myself, in one of the kind of most desperate times, and it really was desperate, Reg.

00:26:56.319 --> 00:27:15.200
I remember thinking, when we get through this, I am gonna be braver and I am going to do something that will make a positive change here for other families like me, because I don't want any other parent to feel what I felt in those moments.

00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:28.960
So I am going to be braver, I am going to stand out, and I am going to do something and build something that can support those parents and give them that sense of community in very hard situations.

00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:31.599
So the parents do attend with the children.

00:27:31.839 --> 00:28:03.759
One, because it is great for the children, for their connection, for their safety, but two, it's also about bringing some community for families that otherwise could be quite isolated because they're struggling to find those environments, those neurodivergent, neuro-affirming environments that can support their child, but also can bring them some connection, can be in a group of people that think, okay, you really do understand what I'm going through, you get it.

00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:17.680
And and part of that community was at times bringing that parent that I know for a fact that parents not had a cup of tea in that day because they were giving absolutely everything they had got to supporting their child.

00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:23.279
So, like part of neuroaffirming care for the parents was bringing them that cup of tea.

00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:28.960
It was kind of those words of just, I see it's been a really hard week, let me know.

00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:37.440
And a lot of what we do on the act outside of sessions is that parental care holding families in really difficult spaces.

00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:44.559
And we've grown massively in a space of about 18 months because we try to be responsive to that.

00:28:44.720 --> 00:29:18.079
So, like I mentioned, we'd set up the podcast where we try and bring kind of community stories or kind of experts in fields of specialist things in kind of speech and language or occupational therapy or educational psychology, um, and and just to create those conversations for parents to listen to so they don't feel alone and they don't feel disconnected in the experiences they're going through because maybe some of these families can't get out of the house, you know, it's just too overwhelming for that child.

00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:26.240
Um, and so a big part of what we do is also providing that holding service for families.

00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:31.039
Um, and then we also do kind of support for schools, as I mentioned.

00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:43.440
We we we do a lot of support kind of on EHCPs, educational healthcare plans, because a lot of children that we work with have got recognised disabilities or recognized additional needs.

00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:50.240
Um, and and because of that, they need different reasonable adjustments or educational support.

00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:52.960
Um, so we hold families from that perspective.

00:29:53.039 --> 00:29:59.440
Sometimes it's a it's a call in the night time saying, I really can't cope anymore, I don't know what to do.

00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:13.920
Um, and it's just being that safe space for them to share that and connect and know that someone on the receiving end of that really does understand all those elements that that they are going through.

00:30:14.480 --> 00:30:15.200
That is amazing.

00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:19.599
It well, it's the old saying for the parents, it's the you know, you're not alone.

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:20.400
Yeah.

00:30:20.640 --> 00:30:29.440
You know, because that's the thing, because at the time I'm sure when when you're a young one, when you were stuck in for those weeks, you probably felt like you was the only person on the planet that had this problem.

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:36.160
When in fact you had no idea that possibly five doors down was another parent with exactly the same problem in a slightly different way.

00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:48.319
You know, and so you creating this child lead children leading the way is great for the children, but it also tells the parents, you know, look, you're not the only one, there are other situations.

00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:53.359
They might be slightly different, but there are parents and that and families in the same situation.

00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:56.640
You can talk to them, have a cup of tea and chat to them, you know.

00:30:56.720 --> 00:31:01.200
So when they turn in and say, Oh, I've had a bad week, he he or she was like this, right?

00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:03.119
Someone else was there, well, yeah, I know.

00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:05.519
I but I did this and it worked.

00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:06.880
Oh, I never thought of that.

00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:10.079
And so it probably helps in that way as well, I imagine.

00:31:10.160 --> 00:31:14.640
They communicate ideas that they've used at home that have worked and others haven't thought about.

00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:16.799
I don't know whether you've seen that at all.

00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:24.880
Does that actually does that occur at the um meetings at all, or is there no answer to what you're like the situation you're in?

00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:27.279
It's like no matter what you do, it doesn't work.

00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:52.000
No, I think there is a lot of connection that happens, and I think that when you bring people together, I mean sessions are quite busy, so I think it would be uh parents get small opportunities to connect because obviously their priority is kind of supporting their child, but there are those opportunities as the children have got more confident um and they're connecting more with us in relationships with staff.

00:31:52.240 --> 00:32:08.000
Um, but there definitely is those moments where they're able to share with each other, and I don't think it's even necessarily having an answer, sometimes it's just being able to tell somebody this has been hard, and and and you get it.

00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:10.880
Um, and and just being able to say that is enough.

00:32:10.960 --> 00:32:24.880
And I think there's also for me, when this happened with my son, when because I I mean I knew he was building stress because he was going to uh a nursery at the time and he was finding the separation really intense.

00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:51.119
And I mean, it was kind of five, six, seven, eight hours of really emotional uh experiences after and before he would be crying, he'd be waking up in the night with with kind of panic attacks, so it was really intense, and and I think he was in the setting when he was going, he was coping, but outside of that, I mean it took over our lives, the anxiety he felt about that separation.

00:32:51.680 --> 00:32:59.200
Um, and through that experience, I felt so many things like I felt guilty, I was blaming myself.

00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:00.400
What am I doing wrong?

00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:02.640
Why can't I why can't I fix this?

00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:04.400
Why can't I solve this?

00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:07.519
Um, and those feelings were really hard.

00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:25.440
And I think what I learned through the process is to also be kind of really gentle with myself and realize that this isn't necessarily me doing anything wrong, this is just a really tough situation.

00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:34.400
Um, and I think I learned as I went through that process, I learned to be kind of more comfortable with his emotions.

00:33:34.799 --> 00:33:56.880
It really taught me a lot about myself, and I changed a lot through the process of kind of understanding him better, and I think that the that kind of awareness and that kind of ability to kind of recognise that I wasn't necessarily the reason, it wasn't my terrible parenting.

00:33:57.039 --> 00:34:06.079
Um, and I made a huge amount of mistakes along the way, but it was just that this was a hard situation, I'm doing the best I can, and that's okay.

00:34:06.319 --> 00:34:17.280
And I think that is also really important for these parents because you do feel overwhelmed when your child isn't thriving and your child is really struggling.

00:34:17.599 --> 00:34:29.840
You do feel some responsibility for that, and and that kind of that awareness and that recognition and that shared kind of belief is I think really important to have that community.

00:34:30.400 --> 00:34:32.239
Yeah, oh, definitely, definitely.

00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:36.239
And you can hear in your voice, you are passionate about what you do.

00:34:36.480 --> 00:34:38.639
You can hear it coming through in your voice.

00:34:38.960 --> 00:34:40.079
I am really passionate.

00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:43.519
I've dedicated my life to this reg and my mission.

00:34:43.679 --> 00:34:51.360
I promised myself when we and it was when we came back off the stage when he was ready to kind of engage.

00:34:51.920 --> 00:35:00.480
I promised myself that I would dedicate my life to making a positive difference for more inclusive education for all children.

00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:03.440
And that's my mission, that's my big mission.

00:35:03.519 --> 00:35:08.480
Um, and I really have it, it I really have dedicated my life to this.

00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:10.079
Well, you've got it started.

00:35:10.239 --> 00:35:11.039
You've got it started.

00:35:11.119 --> 00:35:12.559
So how long has it been going?

00:35:12.639 --> 00:35:15.440
You say you started about 18 months ago, was it or something?

00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:28.400
Yeah, so the philosophy I kind of had already before I did the outdoor centre, because I've always been passionate about education and how to make education more inclusive for children.

00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:31.119
That was always a passion of mine anyway.

00:35:31.280 --> 00:35:37.599
But I think we start I I opened the company in July 2024.

00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:51.440
I created a community interest company, and then I'd found the forest school space, um, and then I through the summer, 12 weeks, I built that because I'm also a full-time carer for my son.

00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:58.400
Um, and so I built that, I have an incredible family um around me, so I I'm lucky.

00:35:58.639 --> 00:36:10.239
Um, and and then we officially opened for kind of families to come and try the center through September to November, but then we officially opened in the March 2025.

00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:35.599
So it's uh and we've grown really fast because we were seven families attending while we were doing kind of trials and seeing how it it was gonna go, and now we are up to about 40 families on a regular basis with more requests coming in every day, and through the summer we probably in total support about 100 families, so it grow really fast.

00:36:36.159 --> 00:36:39.280
That is a very fast growth, definitely, most definitely.

00:36:39.599 --> 00:36:43.360
So, what I mean obviously is to help more families.

00:36:43.440 --> 00:36:45.039
That's the kind of obvious answer to this.

00:36:45.199 --> 00:37:00.000
But have you got any sort of let's say in the next year, yeah, between now and maybe Christmas or even into next year, have you got any sort of plans for expansion or where you'd like to go or new ideas you'd like to bring in at all that you can tell us, obviously?

00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:03.920
There's a lot in the pipeline to be honest with you, Red.

00:37:04.079 --> 00:37:11.679
Yeah, I mean, the first year it was really about providing that safe community space for families and children, and that's thriving.

00:37:12.079 --> 00:37:24.320
Um it then since then it's been expanding in, as I told you, into key stage three, key stage four journeys for children and opening up future kind of pathways for their education and for their work.

00:37:24.639 --> 00:37:27.199
Um, so that's coming ahead this year.

00:37:27.440 --> 00:37:42.079
Also, one of my greatest passions is school-based training and support because I've worked as a teacher and I know that the classroom environment and the needs going into the classroom now is greater than ever.

00:37:42.559 --> 00:37:53.039
And we work with some incredible schools that are really trying everything possible to support the children they have with additional needs, but it's really tough.

00:37:53.280 --> 00:38:01.920
Um, they themselves, as teachers, are overworked, there's a lot of pressure, um, and they're doing everything they can to try and meet the needs of the children.

00:38:02.239 --> 00:38:32.000
So, one of my greatest passions is raising kind of the psychology-based awareness about what goes on beneath the behaviour and how we can help kind of school communities better support the children they have with additional needs in their relationships that they have with those students and also in the environments to help them uh feel less overwhelmed, to help them feel more understood and connected.

00:38:32.159 --> 00:38:34.159
Um, and that's a big passion of mine.

00:38:34.239 --> 00:38:38.639
So we've just opened our school-based community and community training programme.

00:38:38.719 --> 00:38:41.280
We call it seen herd supported.

00:38:41.599 --> 00:38:56.480
So that's something that I'm really passionate about is raising that awareness in schools and giving them that skill set that helped me with my kind of journey, helped me set up the centre.

00:38:56.639 --> 00:39:02.800
Um, so I want to pass that on to teachers in the hope that that has a positive difference.

00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:13.360
Um, and I think that also it's about striving to help kind of bring companies together.

00:39:13.519 --> 00:39:35.840
So we do a lot of collaborations with different partnership companies about this shared mission of creating an education system across Gloucestershire that is more inclusive for children with disabilities with emotional based school uh distress um and making a positive difference.

00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:37.119
That's the mission.

00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:39.760
And that's a big yeah.

00:39:39.840 --> 00:39:42.880
So apart from all that, do you actually plan on sleeping at any time?

00:39:43.599 --> 00:39:46.320
Sleep is I've given myself seven years.

00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:53.760
I'll be 50 in seven years, and I will feel that my mission is done.

00:39:53.920 --> 00:40:03.039
If I can have Gloucestershire have an inclusive education model for all children, uh, I will feel that my mission is done.

00:40:03.599 --> 00:40:10.480
So sleep is sleep is rare in my house at the moment because as I said, I'm a full-time single mum for my son, also.

00:40:10.880 --> 00:40:21.039
So I'm juggling, managing, so I manage his programme, his education programme, because he's out of, he's he's educated other than in a school environment at the moment.

00:40:21.280 --> 00:40:48.400
Uh so I manage that, I manage him, and also this is my passion, and I do dedicate hundreds of hours a week to it because as I said, at in that worst moment of my life, and it really was the worst, um, I vowed that I would do everything possible to be a braver person and stand up and raise a voice to this in the hope of co-creating.

00:40:48.480 --> 00:40:49.199
Because that's the thing.

00:40:49.280 --> 00:40:51.119
I we're not a replacement for schools.

00:40:51.199 --> 00:41:06.800
We want to work with the schools, with the family, with the children, with the community, because there's lots of great community companies out there doing amazing things um to bring this together to make the education across Gloucestershire thrive for all.

00:41:07.840 --> 00:41:15.920
Well, I think you definitely, from what people have heard, and I can tell you, I've been watching her face while she's been talking, there's a big smile on her face when she talks.

00:41:16.239 --> 00:41:19.760
Um, you definitely have a passion for it, that's for sure.

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:25.360
And if your plan is another seven years, you definitely have put your heart and soul into it.

00:41:25.599 --> 00:41:30.079
And I can say thank you from me and all my listeners for the effort you put into it for sure.

00:41:30.320 --> 00:41:49.920
And with all that in mind, and all what you plan on doing, and working with the schools and the businesses and so on, if any of the schools, businesses, head teachers, business owners, whatever, or parents hear this to hear this over the next whenever, um how can they get hold of you?

00:41:50.079 --> 00:41:59.199
What's the best way to get in touch with you and find out more and sort of communicate with you that as a business or a school we want to get involved, or as a parent, help?

00:42:00.159 --> 00:42:05.519
Yeah, so we have um our community Facebook page, um, Children Need the Way.

00:42:05.679 --> 00:42:09.440
So that's probably one of our most active sites.

00:42:09.599 --> 00:42:12.400
Um, or they can contact me or email me.

00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:16.639
We have a website as well, www.chhildrenneedheway.org.uk.

00:42:17.360 --> 00:42:20.000
Um and uh my contact details are there.

00:42:20.079 --> 00:42:24.480
I mean, I can share my contact details with you also if that's that's that's necessary.

00:42:24.559 --> 00:42:27.599
But no, we we won't do that on the on on the podcast.

00:42:28.079 --> 00:42:35.039
If you put out your your phone number or email address on this, you don't know who you're gonna get contacting you because it goes could go anywhere in the world.

00:42:36.400 --> 00:42:37.920
So you do amazing work.

00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:39.679
I've got to tip my hat to you there.

00:42:39.840 --> 00:42:44.559
I mean that's amazing what you do, and what you're planning to do sounds even bigger and better.

00:42:44.880 --> 00:42:47.280
So all I can say is good luck.

00:42:47.679 --> 00:42:48.880
Thank you so much for your time.

00:42:48.960 --> 00:42:50.239
It's been absolutely amazing.

00:42:50.400 --> 00:42:57.840
I'd no idea what I was going into when I started talking to you, but I have a lot more, a lot more knowledge now, and I want to come and play.

00:42:58.480 --> 00:42:59.920
You should join the session, Raj.

00:43:00.079 --> 00:43:00.800
I told you you've gone.

00:43:00.960 --> 00:43:01.920
Open invitation.

00:43:02.079 --> 00:43:03.039
Um, you can come along.

00:43:03.119 --> 00:43:08.480
We regularly have visitors, um, as I said, in companies have come to join and partner with us.

00:43:08.639 --> 00:43:10.320
Uh so you're more than welcome.

00:43:10.480 --> 00:43:14.559
Come along and you can you can experience the session for yourself.

00:43:15.760 --> 00:43:17.360
Thank you so much for your time.

00:43:17.440 --> 00:43:19.920
It's been wonderful and good luck for the future.

00:43:20.159 --> 00:43:21.199
Thank you, Red.