When I first began approaching schools about mental health support back in 2007, the response wasn’t just lukewarm – it was hostile.

One headteacher even rang me, absolutely furious, offended by the mere suggestion that there could be mental health issues in her school. It was a conversation that I’ll never forget, and one that shaped everything that came next.

Back When Mental Health Was a Dirty Word in Schools

In the early days of NLP4Kids, talking about children’s mental health was seen as scandalous. The idea that anxiety, confidence issues, or exam stress were impacting “ordinary” children? Not a chance. Back then, ADHD and autism were only seen as issues in severe, clearly diagnosable cases – no one was talking about spectrums yet.

We were a good few years away from mental health becoming a mainstream concern, and even further from it becoming a funding priority in schools.

But we saw the wave coming. Even if no one else did.

“We opened the conversation on mental health in schools – long before anyone else was willing to.”

I’d been inspired by a speech from the former head of the NSPCC, who said that mental health was something that everyone had – it just depended on how healthy it was. That single sentence reframed everything I thought I knew. And it gave me the confidence to speak up.

At first, our pitch was simple – we offered to help schools apply for external funding to cover the cost of our support. We wrote 90% of the application for them. All they had to do was say yes.

But even that wasn’t enough.

The Cost of Doing the Right Thing (Too Soon)

Teachers were too busy. Sometimes, the person championing our work would leave mid-term. Sometimes, the funders and the schools couldn’t agree – one wanted support during curriculum hours, the other insisted those hours be reserved for academics only.

And despite our best efforts, we quickly learned that this route – though well-meaning – wasn’t sustainable.

So we pivoted.

We leaned into the buzz we’d created. Some schools began seeing results. Practitioners were making breakthroughs with children. A few schools even began pulling together their own funds from pupil premium, or in some cases, charging parents directly to continue the work.

It wasn’t easy. It took time. But we proved that our model worked – and children were visibly thriving because of it.

What the Future of School Work Looks Like

Today, our coaching franchise still supports work in schools – but we’re wiser about how we do it.

We’re open with new practitioners: This is the hardest type of relationship to build. It takes the longest. It’s the least lucrative. But it also creates the deepest impact.

When you’re in a school, you can help dozens of children every week. You’ll work in a busy, vibrant, sometimes freezing cold broom cupboard of a room – and still, you’ll know you’ve done something valuable.

We’ve seen newer opportunities too – like our recent partnership with Delancey, a property and landowner that funded NLP4Kids work in two Islington schools for an entire academic year. That project alone supported multiple practitioners and made a real difference to children’s lives.

If we want to keep this momentum going, we need more organisations like Delancey. We need more funding partners. We need people who see what we see – that changing a child’s life starts with changing their environment.

And that’s exactly what our coaching franchise is here to do.

by Gemma Bailey (with the help of Ai)

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