elsa-support
Hi everyone, I am Debbie and I created and run the Elsa Support website. My
motto is ‘Together we can make a difference’. One of the things I noticed very
quickly when I was working in school was that there was a real lack of ELSA
resources. I am a bit of a Google queen but even so it was difficult, without
spending a huge amount of money on things, to find anything really suitable. I
ended up writing my own planning and coming up with ideas and thought why not
share them, that was the start of Elsa Support…… It is all about the BEES I love
my bees and you might wonder why? Bees are: Busy, they work incredibly hard Work
as a team always Social creatures and do communicate with each other Co-operate
with each other for the same aim All have very different roles and divide their
ultimate job between them all Create honey that feeds them, and us, they even
store it for lean times Adaptable and do so when environmental factors change
Bees work together for a common goal or aim, we can learn so much from them.
They are the reason my very first ‘nurturing’ group was called ‘Busy Bees’. Well
that and the fact I managed to buy some fabulous ‘bee cushions’! My vision for
that first group was a group of children who belonged. We all know belonging
boosts self-esteem. Feeling part of a community can have such an impact on
children. Creating a group where children worked together as a team, who
supported each other and socialised with each other. In fact, after the very
first group I ran I overheard one of the very quiet and shy children organising
for them all to meet up at playtime the next day. A major part of my role was
helping children with social and emotional issues. It became a huge interest to
me to try and break down barriers to learning. I am a big fan of group work and
have written many interventions over the years which you can find on the
website. I try to keep the cost of resources as low as I can because to me it is
important that you do use them, but it is important to me that you can have some
free resources to work with children, I know how difficult it is with school
budgets. Every Friday I create something for free and share with you all. The
website has grown from strength to strength and I have had many emails and
messages to tell me how useful it has been to people setting out on the ELSA
journey but also helpful to teachers, teaching assistants, learning mentors,
counsellors and many other professionals. Please read my testimonials page and
do email me if there is something you want to say about the website. Back to the
Bees and community My vision of my very first ‘nurturing group’ was based on
Bees and my vision includes that for ELSA’s and other professionals working with
children on social and emotional issues. Mental health awareness, quite rightly,
is becoming a huge thing due to so many factors. I really wanted to create
community amongst all those people working for the same aims. This is to support
you in your role supporting children. Some ELSA’s/adults do work alone in school
and just need a bit of support, a listening ear, reassurance and some kind
words. Our main group on Facebook has nearly 3000 members, who are all so
supportive of each other. It is a wonderful community of like minded people. We
have a mentoring section where you can be paired up with another person if you
feel you need that extra bit of support. I listen to you, I get involved in
discussion, I suggest resources, I suggest ideas and I create resources for you.
You tell me what you want, and I try my best to create it for you. Do join us,
together we can make a difference! What is ELSA? An ELSA in a school is an
Emotional Literacy Support Assistant. There is a recognised ELSA training course
aimed specifically at Teaching Assistants in schools. Examples of things covered
on the course are social skills, emotions, bereavement, social stories and
therapeutic stories, anger management, self-esteem, counselling skills such as
solution focus and friendship. To find out more about this course, contact the
Educational Psychologists in your LEA and ask them if they are running one, if
not ask them if it is possible for the future. Also check out neighbouring LEAs,
they will sometimes take people out of their area to make up numbers. The
founder of ELSA, Sheila Burton, has her own website, ELSA Network site, where
there is lots of information about the ELSA Role, so do also have a look on
there.
