Mr Gittins, our Head of PSHE and Wellbeing, told us about anxiety in an assembly. It’s not often that both staff and students are still referring to the concepts shared in an assembly for the rest of the week, but this one certainly caught our attention.

Mr Gittins made clear from the start that he wanted to talk about the day to day anxieties that are problematic for some of us. These are the general anxieties most of us feel from time to time, rather than diagnosed anxiety disorders. Mr Gittins was a Head of Year for many years, managing others’ stress and anxieties as well as his own to perform the role. He shared two things that have really helped him in doing so.

“When I first became a Head of Year, one evening I got into a conversation with a parent about Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. Her daughter, who had been extremely anxious, had started a course of CBT and had found it really beneficial.

There are many different types of therapy. One, the type used by most school counsellors, is where you talk about something that is troubling you. You unpack what has happened, examine it with the professional, and then work out how to repack it in a way that makes it easier to live with.

Then there is CBT. It recognises that there is a relationship between thoughts, behaviours and emotions and it attempts to provide people with a series of exercises to help break this cycle if it has become unhealthy.

I asked the parent if she had any resources from the course and she sent me this rather crudely drawn cartoon depicting 12 Thinking Errors.

But I have to say, this badly drawn cartoon, despite offending my sensibilities as an Art teacher, has really helped me over the years. I had it pinned to my office wall in Haigh House and, if I was worrying about something or feeling stressed, I would look at this cartoon and ask myself - okay, Pete, which ones are you doing? And, quite often, I could identify that I was doing at least 3 of them - mind reading, catastrophising and emotional reasoning were the common culprits.

Having identified them, I then reminded myself that these thoughts were not serving me well, and I would then get on with the rest of my day feeling much calmer. In other words, the act of simply recognising that I was involving myself in ‘thinking errors’ was really helpful.

A copy of this cartoon has been posted in all the form Google Classrooms. Next time you're feeling stressed or anxious, look at it, and if you recognise that you are engaging in any of these thinking errors - acknowledge this - be kind to yourself, remind yourself that they are not serving you well and give yourself permission to move on.”

Mr Gittins gave us the chance to practice this with some unhelpful statements and identify what thinking errors we might fall into.

He ended assembly by sharing his second strategy for managing everyday anxieties: the Bus Stop Meditation. Take a moment, and try this:

Imagine you are sitting at a bus stop.

The weather is warm and you’re not in a hurry.

People walk past.

And some people queue.

A bus pulls in.

And some people get off.

And some people get on.

And the bus pulls away.

People walk past. And some people queue.

Another bus pulls in.

It isn’t going where you want to go.

So you stay sitting and you watch.

As some people get off.

And some people get on.

And the bus pulls away.

And as it pulls away - it reminds you.

That thoughts are like buses.

Some thoughts take you to places you want to go.

And some thoughts don’t.

If a thought is taking you in a direction you don't want to go - get off.

Or let it pass.

And wait for another thought to come along.

One that is going to a place you want to go to.

Until then sit and watch. As buses pull in.

And people get off.

And people get on.

We hope that you might find both of these useful.