The interactive session encouraged attendees to examine their thought processes and think about the voice of our inner critic telling us that we are not good enough and then suggested techniques from journaling to breathing exercises to combat the negativity.
Sam began by talking about his time as a secondary school teacher when he experienced mental ill health and how he changed his life by improving his mindset. Like many other teachers, he recognised the decline in the mental health of young people and saw an opportunity to help them. Sam witnessed so many students fail to achieve the grades they wanted, lack self-confidence and were not motivated to achieve their very best. He had a few coaching sessions himself and experienced his first breakthrough moment when working with clients to reach their true potential. So, he retrained as a coach and launched Student Breakthrough which, as an organisation, has helped thousands of young people become more resilient. He teaches life skills that aren’t taught in the classroom and aims to empower everyone with the right tools, vision and beliefs so they can be the best version of themselves. He is a strong believer that it is easier to build strong children than it is to fix broken adults.
Sam used the acronym CALM to frame his talk. He gave us strategies to improve our confidence, take action, be a better leader and to change our mindset from negative to positive. Sam’s advice is to express and not suppress our emotions. This is very much in line with what is taught in Mental Health First Aid; we all have a “stress container” and if we do not practise healthy ways of emptying this container, such as talking about our feelings, the container may overflow, rendering us unable to cope with further stress.
Sam also suggested planning action steps to make positive healthy changes to improve our physical health as well as our mental health and to remember that it’s okay to fail as that is when we learn the most and grow. Everyone came out of the session feeling inspired as Sam has such a positive and engaging speaking style. Personally, Sam uses a vision board to keep him on track and motivated to achieve. Recently he completed two marathons in two days by running four miles every four hours for 48 hours to raise money for Alzheimer's research. This is testament to his determination and positive attitude.
Marketing Manager, Janine Hornsby, said: “It was really great to have Sam on our HiveMind as a guest speaker to share such a passionate and inspirational talk on how to ‘make it happen’. What Sam and his team at Student Breakthrough are doing is amazing, every school should get Sam in to do a talk and we wish them every success in future.”
Student Breakthrough has a dedicated podcast dedicated to share inspirational stories, strategies to overcome failure and life lessons from truly amazing people.
Marshall Centre says:
HiveMinds can be about anything and everything. We love having external speakers join us to share their passions and knowledge. If you are interested in delivering a HiveMind session, please contact us and let us know what you would like to deliver.
If you’re interested in joining us for our free lunch and learn HiveMind, please email, info@marshallcentre.com and we will add you to the invite list.