So – here’s our latest newsletter with a video from our lovely Chair of Trustees – Shenel
Newsletter April 2024
Case study – young person’s perspective of our Building self-belief programme
AJ: So, Katie, what was good about the course?
*Katie: Well, I liked all of it. There were obviously some activities we did that I personally didn’t really find enjoyable, but I can still see how they’re beneficial for this sort of thing. Like that stick one because it’s teamwork.
What I think I’ve gained the most from it is it’s made me less judgmental of other people because I’ve been able to understand my opposites point of view with the colours. That’s what I like about it – it’s opened my mind a lot more.
AJ: Is there anything else you think you learned about yourself?
Katie: Yeah, obviously like I knew there were days when I feel down and not good about myself, but I didn’t know how they might make other people feel, things that people might find annoying about me. I can see now how my emotional state has an effect on other people. So, then I can just not do that for certain people.
AJ: Would you recommend the course to other people? And if you would, why?
Katie: I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. I think it really does open your mind a lot about other people and what you’re like. I think with the understanding of the colours it does make it easier for you to communicate with other people.
*Name has been changed to protect the identity of the young person
Newsletter September 2023 to January 2024
Newsletter Sep 2022 to Aug 2023
Personality profiling – what’s it all about???
Young people who have the opportunity to be part of our ‘Building Self-Belief’ programme get the chance to complete their own personality assessment. We believe this can be a powerful tool for 16-25 year olds as they navigate the complexities of the world and try to understand themselves better. Here are some of the benefits of personality profiling:
Self-discovery: Personality profiling helps individuals understand their strengths, weaknesses, values, and interests. This can be incredibly empowering and can give young people a sense of direction and purpose.
Better relationships: Our colour model of behaviours also helps young people understand how their personality affects the way they interact with others. By gaining insight into how they communicate and relate to others, they can develop stronger, more meaningful relationships.
Career development: Personality profiling can help young people choose careers that align with their strengths, values, and interests. This can lead to greater job satisfaction and career success.
Improved communication: As part of our course we look at different styles of communication. Helping young people understand how others see them and how they can communicate more effectively with a range of people is really powerful. This can be especially useful in the workplace and in personal relationships.
Increased self-awareness: Personality profiling helps individuals understand their behaviour, thoughts, and emotions. This increased self-awareness can lead to better decision-making, improved relationships, and greater life satisfaction.
At TCWF we believe that understanding yourself is a valuable tool for young people as they navigate the challenges and opportunities of adulthood. Whether they are exploring their own identity, improving their relationships, or developing their careers, personality profiling can provide useful insights and support.
Supporting neurodiversity in young people
Neurodiversity refers to the natural variation in the human brain and how it functions. This includes conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and many others. As one in seven people are recognised to be neurodiverse in the UK, it is inevitable that a percentage of young people who attend our workshops will experience some form of neurodiversity. We often work with groups of young people who are unemployed and it is a sad fact that only one in six people with autism have a job. While neurodiverse young people may experience challenges, they also possess unique strengths and abilities. It is important to support and celebrate these strengths, while also providing appropriate accommodations to help them thrive. Here’s how at The Colour Works Foundation we are trying to champion and support our neurodiverse young people.
- We recognise the strengths of neurodiverse young people
Neurodiverse young people often possess unique strengths and abilities. For example, individuals with autism may have exceptional attention to detail and excel in tasks that require visual-spatial abilities. Those with ADHD may be highly creative and innovative thinkers. Dyslexic individuals may have excellent verbal skills and excel in oral communication. Recognising and celebrating these strengths can help to build confidence and self-esteem in neurodiverse young people.
- We adapt workshop delivery or activities where possible
We try to recognise where neurodiverse young people would engage better in our workshops by adapting our delivery or recognising where activities need to be modified. For example – providing a clear format for workshop structure at the beginning of the session can help those who need routine.
- Foster a supportive and inclusive environment
Creating a supportive and inclusive environment is crucial for the success of neurodiverse young people. We encourage all our young people to work in groups and develop their social interactions.
- Encourage self-advocacy
Encouraging neurodiverse young people to advocate for themselves can help them to develop important skills and increase their independence. Our workshops help with communication skills that enable young people to clearly share their needs and preferences. We also explore self-management and enabling young people to develop strategies for self-regulation.
We have found that supporting neurodiversity in young people involves recognising and celebrating their unique strengths, adapting our workshops, creating a supportive environment and encouraging self-advocacy. By embracing neurodiversity, we can help to create a more inclusive and accepting society where all young people can thrive.
Emotional Intelligence – what is it and can I really learn it?
What is emotional intelligence? Can you learn it? Can you become better at it? At TCWF we totally believe that you can and that’s why its fundamental to our #buildingselfbelief programme for young people.
Emotional intelligence (EQ), or the ability to understand and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others, is a crucial aspect of our lives that can greatly impact our success and happiness. Whether in our personal or professional lives, having a high level of EQ can help us navigate complex social situations, build stronger relationships, and lead us to a more fulfilling life.
So, how do we help young people raise their EQ (and what can you do to improve yours)?
Here are some strategies that we use and you can apply:
SELF AWARENESS
We help young people build #selfawareness: The first step in increasing your EQ is to become more self-aware. This means paying attention to your own thoughts and feelings, and understanding how they affect your behavior and the people around you. You can start by taking time each day to reflect on your emotions and thoughts, and keeping a journal to track your progress.
EMPATHY
We help young people develop empathy: Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. To develop this skill, try to put yourself in other people’s shoes, and imagine how they might be feeling. This will help you understand their perspective and respond to them in a more meaningful way.
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
We spend time with young people developing their communication skills: Effective communication is a key component of emotional intelligence. Understanding your methods of #communication and how different this could be to others can help you adapt your style to the situation. To improve listen actively, ask questions, and avoid making assumptions about others. Also, practice expressing your own thoughts and feelings clearly and assertively, without being aggressive or confrontational.
SELF-MANAGEMENT
We help young people work out strategies to manage their emotions: Emotional management involves regulating your own emotions in a healthy and productive way. We enable young people to identify triggers that cause strong emotional reactions, and so develop strategies to manage them in a constructive manner like practicing mindfulness, taking regular exercise, listening to music etc.
RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
We enable young people to understand the differences between people so that they can build more productive relationships: Building strong and positive relationships is an important aspect of emotional intelligence. This means taking the time to get to know people, showing genuine interest in their lives, and being there for them in times of need. It also means learning to manage conflicts in a healthy and productive way, and being open to feedback from others.
Developing #emotionalintelligence takes time and effort, but the benefits are well worth it. By becoming more self-aware, practicing empathy, improving communication skills, managing your emotions, and building positive relationships, you can greatly enhance your personal and professional life.
Start today and watch your emotional intelligence grow.
Proud to receive funding from the National Lottery
We are excited to announce that we have received funding from the National Lottery Community Fund to support our Building Self-Belief programme with young people this year.
We will continue to partner with local youth organisations to deliver our Building self-belief programme. This consists of a series of group workshops and one-to-one coaching developed around our simple colour model of behaviours. We explore the fundamentals of emotional intelligence and cover topics that build confidence and resilience in young people aged 15-25 who are at a vulnerable point in their lives, the transition from adolescent to adulthood. Our workshops are highly interactive and a combination of presentation, discussion and activities. The participants are given the opportunity to complete a questionnaire that produces their own personality profile booklet which is then used throughout the workshops to cover :
- Self-Awareness
- Self-Management
- Understanding Others
- Relationship Skills
- Decision-Making
- Communication
This focus on learning skills associated with emotional intelligence enables the young people to recognise their strengths, build stronger relationships as well as learning to ‘respond’ rather than ‘react’. This means they leave our workshops with increased confidence and resilience as well as skills that help them to move on to the next stage in their lives, whether that be accessing further support opportunities, education or employment.
If you have young people that you think would benefit from our programme – please get in touch www.tcwfoundation.org.uk
Not overthinking, just processing
Sarah Rayment is our new Building Self-Belief Course Deliverer. She’s also a coach, writer and proud introvert. When it comes to The Colour model, she has a dominant Green personality. In her blog post, she shares the strengths and challenges of being a deep thinker.
Hands up if you’re an overthinker. Or you’ve been told you are by exasperated friends and family who can’t see what the problem is and why you can’t just make a decision!
What if I told you that you’re NOT overthinking, just processing?
Some of us are deep thinkers. We sift through layers of knowledge and experience, facts and figures, our instinct and other people’s potential thoughts, feelings and reactions before we make our next move.
Some of us focus on outcome and action first, move forward and then do the thinking we need to, if we need to.
Neither way is better. Just different. And, of course, there are plenty of in-between thinking systems too.
I sit firmly in the first category. Recently, I’ve discovered a way of describing my experience of thinking as having the whole world in my head at once. Before I can respond to a question or decision, I take into account everything that’s ever happened to me, to everyone I know, everything I know about the world (fortunately, that’s not much).
From the outside, this looks like overthinking. I mean, why do I need to consider all of this before I decide if I want tea or coffee???
I just do. It’s how my brain is wired… and I like it (most of the time).
On the inside, I’m going through a mental filing system until I find the answer. It’s methodical. I call it processing and it takes me longer than most people I know. But that’s OK!
If you’re like me on any level, you’ll know that this can be exhausting, and sometimes frustrating for you, and others.
With any thinking style, problems can arise. For the deep processors, this includes:
- When we’re trying to communicate with people who think differently. For example, the people who focus on outcome and action first and do the thinking later who might see us slow and indecisive – even when we’re not.
- When we’re having a bad day and there’s just so much to think about and process that we get stuck and we ARE indecisive Argh, the agony of indecision!
The antidote to both of these problems, as I see it, is awareness.
Once we understand and embrace the way our brains work (and dare I say, love the way our brains work), the magic happens!
- We start to recognise our own thought patterns and processes.
- We start to trust that we’ll get there.
- We recognise that when frustration creeps in, we are probably stuck.
- We recognise that when we keep looking at the same ‘mental file’ over and over again we are definitely stuck.
- We learn to be patient with ourselves and those around us.
- We start to see our superpowers and we see the superpowers of others.
- And it’s our superpowers that help us to understand and embrace the way our brains work.
You see, as deep thinkers, we have a longing to understand everything. We unpick, we research, we learn from our experiences. We can step away from other people’s opinions and judgements to dig deep and discover. We are thoughtful and empathetic. We have incredible self-awareness and spot things in other people too.
The trick is to combine our self-awareness with taking action. Here are a few ideas:
- Our listening superpowers help us to build intimate relationships with others which makes us great team players. When we’re stuck, we can collaborate with others to speed things up, and get a little bit of reassurance, too.
- Our natural preference for reflection means we can spend some time noting down the things we’re likely to get stuck on so we can prepare ourselves to take action when they arise.
- Another of our superpowers is being adaptable. And because we consider everything, we’ve got the facts alongside the more nuanced thoughts, so we’re set up to change our communication style when we need to. We are perfectly capable of offering fast, no messing about, concrete solutions and focusing on action. We might just feel a little shaky afterwards.
- However, because we are adaptable. We’re so busy considering everyone else’s needs that we forget to advocate for ourselves. So, when we’re feeling pressured, it’s perfectly OK to say ‘I need a few minutes to process this,’ or to take ourselves off to a quiet space and work through things without interruptions.
- We do our thinking for a reason. By the time we’ve thought something through we’ve considered many different perspectives, and often ones that no one has thought of. We can have every confidence that what we have to say is valuable and worth speaking up about.
- Because we care about others, we can see that the person we’re communicating with might just need a quick answer and not be so bothered about the details. So, every once in a while, we can gently persuade ourselves to make a decision and think it through later. How liberating! Throw an idea out there, impress others with our quick thinking and creativity, then scurry off to enjoy a bit of processing time, with a cup of tea… or coffee… or tea… or something else.
Our brains are marvellous, aren’t they? Are you a processor too? We’d love to know, and happy thinking!
Links
Find out more about our Colour Model.
Read about Charley’s experience of being a dominant Red personality.