Interview with Benita Refson
1. You probably spoke about the reason behind your decision to set up a charity organisation many times now but could you, please, tell us what was the reason behind the establishment of Place2Be?
My experience as a counsellor working with teenagers gave me the inspiration and passion to found Place2Be in 1994. Many of the teenagers were seeking an immediate response to their problems and I realised that the sooner we can help support a child to understand and deal with their emotions, the greater the long term impact of their future lives would be.
2. Since Place2Be was set up in 1994, did your vision on the evolution of this project changed or did it stay the same as you have initially pictured it?
We have learnt a lot along the way, and continue to learn each day from the amazing children, families and inspiring head teachers we work with. We are now in 257 schools reaching a school population of 105,000 children. We started off delivering a one to one service to children. We now provide a whole school approach to mental health, supporting children, parents and teachers within school so that the whole school can become a ‘Mentally Healthy School’. Our support for parents has been a major advance – children are part of their family units and supporting the whole family is essential. And, based on all this experience, we have now developed a highly regarded training programme, both for people wanting to train to become professional child counsellors, and to enhance the skills and understanding of people working with children to understand their emotions and what might be going on behind their behaviour.
3. Could you tell us about the most memorable challenges you have faced while working as the CEO of Place2Be?
One of the biggest challenges is ensuring that we maintain the quality of our service and continue to demonstrate that we are having a real impact and deliver value for money. Ensuring we have a good supply of excellent Volunteer Counsellors, who are at the bedrock of delivering our one to one service, is vital. An ongoing challenge is the need for funding – from the widest range of sources – companies, individuals, trusts, government and the schools themselves - to ensure we can continue to deliver and expand our service. I am humbled by the wide range of people who share our vision and support our work financially. This is the only way we can continue to develop and expand the service to reach more children. Witnessing the impact of what we do on children and families is the biggest inspiration. Seeing a little girl who had become an elected mute because of the trauma that she had in her life, standing up and talking proudly in Assembly at the end of her year’s counselling. That still brings a lump to my throat.
4. Compared to other charity organisations, Place2Be works in a niche field. Why you have chosen this particular sphere – children’s emotional health?
Mental health is every bit as important as physical health. Something that people are increasingly realising and championing. Children who are distracted and unable to deal with their worries will not be able to engage with their learning and reach their full potential. We all need good mental health to engage positively with our lives, have a sense of hope and optimism and develop the resilience we need to cope with life’s problems. These are vital life skills to help us through childhood and into adulthood and underpin successful relationships, engagement with learning and ultimately help us develop into thriving, flourishing adults who can face the world with a sense of confidence and self-belief.
5. What are the major problems that children are facing nowadays?
Life is definitely getting more complex for children and young people. The advent of socialmedia, whilst it brings many benefits, can have harmful effects and there is no switch off for many young people. The rise of cyber-bullying, worrying websites that can influence young people on self-harm, eating disorders are all new phenomena that make the challenges of growing up even harder. Young people are under tremendous pressure to succeed and we must ensure they have time for down time and find healthy ways to relax and give them time to express themselves and really listen to what they are saying. We need to ensure that children and young people can build up the resilience and ways to cope positively with the problems they face and encourage them to ask for help and ensure someone is there to respond– asking for help a sign of strength not weakness.
6. In 2014 you took up the role of President, a non-executive position. How much impact did it have on your life?
I am still delighted to be actively involved in Place2Be and have a large number of projects. This is an organisation that is so close to my heart and I still have the same level of enthusiasm and commitment as I did on day one. I also have another number of projects, as I am Governor of two schools and sit on the Trustee body of the Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust and the Children of Success Schools Trust. I am mother to 3 children and grandmother to 6 so I have plenty to keep me busy!
7. What are your hopes for the future?
Most schools are now recognising the vital role of emotional wellbeing for their pupils. I am overwhelmed by the hard work, dedication and understanding of the Head Teachers we work with. I would love to see the day where every school has a school-based counsellor able to support pupils, parents and school staff and ensure that every school becomes ‘Mentally Healthy’ and sees emotional achievement on a par with academic attainment. We need more professional child counsellors to be trained to support this so I hope that more people will be drawn to the profession and be able to share their expertise to make the world a much better place for our children of today and adults of tomorrow.
8. Finally, if you could go back in time, what one piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
To admit I didn't have the answers and to have asked for help and support sooner.
Thank you!
If you want to know more about Place2be:
Instagram: @_place2be