I’m Jane, a teacher and mum to two boys. 

In 2018, I started a masters in psychology. As I sat in a lecture theatre listening to a lecture on emotions,  I thought, hang on a minute, why haven’t I heard of primary and secondary emotions before? They made so much sense and explained exactly why I felt the way I felt.

So I started to wonder, what if children knew about primary and secondary emotions in age-appropriate ways? And as I did more research, I saw a way to help children understand, identify and communicate their emotions from a young age; the start of emotional intelligence. I also saw how physical, social and friendship health are all linked to our emotional health. The words ‘game changer’ came to mind.

So I got to work, completed the masters, and with my children’s help, we created age-appropriate sessions, characters, stories, animations and character beanies. To see if other children would engage in the sessions, I took the project to holiday clubs, community groups and schools.

I’m delighted to say they all loved it! Headssup is now supported by a range of stakeholders including Head Teachers, Sendco’s Trust Executives and the NHS.

Headssup became an NHS-commissioned and re-commissioned project in Lancashire, and during academic year 2023- 2024, I worked with 1200 children across 53 primary and secondary schools with an extra focus on year 6-7 as this is such an important transitional year.

Headssup is evidenced based and works with Lancaster University researchers.

I really hope your children enjoy this fun way to find out how they can look after their emotional, social, physical and friendship health.

I will continue to look for funds that help support children and stakeholders across Merseyside and Lancashire.

In 2020 I developed Wellmeing Ltd to try to reach a wider audience and so schools could ‘buy in’ the project.

I’m so excited to announce that in 2024, Wellmeing evolved with the aim to increase capacity by strengthening the team, training trainers in school settings and increasing the reach of the projects nationally.

I’m delighted to be joined by Katy Forde and Dean potter at Wellmeing www.wellmeing.co.uk. They each have substantial experience in education and we are all passionate about this project and about sharing it with all key stages nationally.