BrightPaths

27/10/2026

Was there something you wish adults had understood about you at school?

We’re looking to chat to a few young people aged 16–25 as we explore a new idea at BrightPaths.

Maybe you have your own lived experience and would like to use it to help shape things for other young people. Or perhaps you’re interested in areas like psychology, SEND, education, mentoring or youth work and would like to gain experience, get involved in real projects or explore what volunteering with us could look like.

There’s no commitment at this stage. We’d simply like to hear what you think and what you might be interested in.

If you’d be happy to have a quick, informal chat, drop a comment below or send us a message. 💬

Know someone who might be interested? Please share this with them.

26/10/2026

In the final part of Sue’s reflection, she talks about why this experience still matters to her and why it sits so closely with the work of BrightPaths.

Her son was never just the behaviour that people saw at school. He was bright, funny, kind, sporty and loved.

For Sue, the message to schools is simple - when behaviour starts to become the thing everyone notices, look again. There may be much more going on underneath and much more to that young person than the difficulties they are showing.

21/10/2026

In the second part of Sue’s story, something changes.

Her son is given an opportunity outside school and suddenly the young person who had so often been seen as difficult is showing a very different side of himself.

For Sue, it raised a question that has stayed with her ever since - what might have been different if the adults around him had looked beyond the behaviour and asked what was going on underneath?

19/10/2026

19/10/2026

In the first of three short clips, Sue, Chair of BrightPaths, shares the story of her son.
�She talks about the funny, bright, sporty boy her family knew and what happened when, at school, the focus increasingly became his behaviour and the things he found difficult.
�Over the next few posts, Sue reflects on what their experience taught her about looking beyond behaviour and understanding what might be going on for a young person underneath it.

15/10/2026

We’ve been thinking about how we could give young people more opportunities to have a say in what we do at BrightPaths and we have an idea we’d love your thoughts on…

We’re exploring bringing together a small group of young people aged 16-25 who might be interested in psychology, education, SEND, mentoring or youth work or those that just care about making things better for other young people.

They could help us shape resources, share their thoughts on campaigns and ideas, tell us what they think is (and isn’t!) helpful.

In return, we hope it could be a chance to explore their interests, build confidence and skills, meet other young people, get involved in projects and gain some useful experience.

We’re thinking of starting small with one online meeting a month, and seeing how things go. Before we develop the idea any further, we want to know what young people think.

If you’re 16-25 and might be interested or you know a young person who might be - we’d love to hear from you. Send us a DM or let us know in the comments 💬

If you know someone in your network who might like to be involved, we’d really appreciate you sharing with them too ☺️ Thank you!

14/10/2026

This.

In our work with young people, we see this so much - a diagnosis used to explain a young person's distress. This is never ok.

A young person's needs must be understood in the context of their environment irrespective of whether they are neurodivergent.

We must get better at listening to what children are telling us and make adjustments to lessen these feelings of distress.

Beadle Speaker

10/10/2026

Sometimes, “What’s wrong?” is just too big a question.

At BrightPaths, we use visual statements and cards in sessions to give children and young people another way to tell us what’s going on.

They might choose one that feels like them, decide it’s not quite right, change it or add an important “yes, but…”. Sometimes that’s where the most useful conversation starts.

The statements in this post aren’t direct quotes collected in response to one question. They’re based on the sorts of things children and young people have expressed to us through talking, choosing cards, drawing and doing activities.

“I need space” might become “I need space, but I still want you nearby.”
Anger might actually be overwhelm.
And what helps one young person might be completely different from what helps another.

That’s why listening isn’t only about asking the question. Sometimes we need to make it easier for young people to show us the answer.

We’ve created a simple downloadable worksheet this to help children and young people explore what a difficult day can feel like for them, and what might help.

Download it here: https://brightpaths.org.uk/blog/explore-our-new-free-wellbeing-resource-hub/

08/10/2026

We really liked this from the British Dyslexia Association, particularly the idea of thinking about the tools that help different people learn.

It’s easy to see that a child is struggling with something, but understanding which part they’re finding difficult can be much harder.

A child who can read the words but struggles to answer a question about them may have used so much effort decoding that they’ve lost track of the meaning. A child who seems not to have listened to an instruction may have understood it perfectly well, but struggled to hold all the steps in their working memory.

The thing we see – forgetting, avoiding, getting stuck or giving up, isn’t always the thing we need to solve. Sometimes it helps to ask - which bit is actually hard?

Because once we understand that, we can start thinking about what might make that particular bit easier, rather than changing what we ultimately want the child to achieve. If the goal is understanding a story, perhaps someone else reading the text aloud helps, if the goal is practising decoding, perhaps reducing the amount of text makes that task more manageable. That way, the goal hasn’t changed, but the route to getting there has.

Understanding the barrier for the child or young person can make it much easier to find the tool that helps.

🏫 Bring into your primary school!

Looking for a ready-to-run way to help children understand dyslexia and celebrate different ways of thinking?

Our free Dyslexia Awareness Week 2026 school resource is designed for learners aged 5 to 11 and includes a ready-to-deliver assembly or lesson, plus a hands-on activity exploring the tools and adjustments that help people learn, communicate and feel confident.

📚 Includes a presentation, quiz, discussion scenario, lesson plan, teacher guidance, age-specific adaptations and printable activity sheets.

👉 Download the free resource and get your school involved in Dyslexia Awareness Week 2026: https://loom.ly/eqPn5Mw

03/10/2026

We often encourage children to recognise and name their emotions so they can begin to understand what they need to help them find ways to regulate big feelings.

But we’ve been thinking about what happens when recognising those emotions is difficult in the first place?

For children with alexithymia, identifying and describing how they feel can be difficult. So how can we expect them to cope with their feelings, if they are unable to identify their emotions?

If a child can’t easily recognise the emotion they’re experiencing or understand what they need, they might find other ways to regulate or feel ‘okay’.

Sometimes that can look like the behaviour adults tend to praise, but what looks like a child coping well on the outside may be masking negative feelings and what’s really happening for them, simply because they’re trying so hard to keep everyone else happy.

A child shouldn’t have to understand everyone else’s emotions before they understand their own.

What can we do as parents and professionals to make that a little easier? Visit our wellbeing hub (link in comments) to find out more about alexithymia, masking and self-suppression, along with some small changes we can make to the way we communicate and respond that may help children feel safer being themselves.