Planet Me hosts a variety of courses, designed to initiate and support conversations, for and with children and young people around growing up, modern life, mental health, well-being, choice and balance. Planet Me also offer communication courses for parents and care givers as well as a fun and useful book range designed by children for children.
Planet Me has been developed alongside professionals working in Education and Health. It sets about making positive change in these areas by simply starting a conversation.
The aims of Planet Me are to eliminate any thoughts of being abnormal, to minimise feelings of shame and being alone. To allay fears and worries around life and growing up. To inform, educate, familiarise and de-stigmatise all mental and physical characteristics. To build confidence, worth and self-esteem. To perpetuate awareness of actions both for ourselves and also the impact on others. To encourage open and honest conversations with no secrets or taboo subjects, no question too small, too big or too trivial on all aspects of growing up. To encourage children to celebrate how amazing they are and to realise their full potential. To recognise they are all equal, with unique traits, personalities, strengths, weaknesses all packaged up in their own wonderful, personalised Planet Me.
Life Links offer children and young people tools and techniques to help deal with modern life. As part of the weekly sessions, topics such as confidence, self-esteem, mindfulness, stress and anxiety, friendships, defeatism, socialising, empathy, communication, empowerment, choice and consequence are explored. These areas are introduced via a range of age appropriate multi-media resources and investigated further through structured group discussions and roleplay.
Our Life Link coaches facilitate the sessions, which are divided into age groups.
During Life Link sessions children are encouraged and taught how to express themselves, to discuss how they feel about a subject, ask questions, explore choices and consequences around their actions, consider others’ feelings and to have fun. The role of the Planet Me Life Link communication coach is not only to listen and support, but also to initiate conversations with and between the children and young people, encouraging and allowing them to share their own life experiences with their peers, build confidence and self-esteem, discuss worries and fears in a safe, non-judgemental, positive group environment.
Life Links coping techniques include using art, music, dance, laughter, breathing, relaxation, roleplay, positive thoughts, mental wellbeing exercises and lots more. Life Links encourage children and young people to transfer their coping techniques as well as verbal and non-verbal communication skills into their everyday lives by simply having the tools and confidence to start a conversation.
Planet Me – Baby Life Link (with parents) (0 – 2.8months) - including:
Planet Me – Tots Life Link (with parents) (2.9 months – 5 years) - including:
Planet Me – Kids Life Link – (6-8 years) - including:
Planet Me – Tweens Life Link (9-11 years) – including:
Planet Me – Teens Life Link – (11-14 years) - including:
Planet Me – Nearly Adult Life Link – (15 – 18 years) - including:
Life Link sessions are held for 52 weeks of the year in locations across the UK. For venue, registration and payments details please contact info@planetme.org.uk
Each session lasts for one hour and costs £10 per child, payable monthly by direct debit.
Parents/children/young people will be asked to fill in a short anonymous questionnaire at the beginning and end of their Life Link course.
The Stepping Stones communication courses are for children/young people aged 6 to 18 years who have a particular area in their lives, in common that needs a bit of working/talking through. The courses are streamed into both age (6-8, 9-11,12-14,15 plus) and subject group (e.g. Grief and Loss, Eating, Stress and Anxiety, Self-harm). The ‘Stepping Stones’ courses run for ten consecutive weeks, for one and a half hours per week.
Stepping Stones courses are unique to each group, they are child/young people centered so each course will move and be led by the children taking part in it. Each course, hosted by two Planet Me Communication Coaches, will work its way through a range of age appropriate multi-media conversation prompt tools to encourage open discussion on the chosen topic. Careful consideration is taken when selecting material used to initiate, open, factual, non-judgmental discussions around each subject. Each course can accommodate up to eight children/young people.
Courses will run throughout the UK. It is hoped places will be available through GP referral (NHS funded) as well as self-referral (self-funded)
Stepping Stones course topics include:
Stepping Stones courses run for ten weeks on each topic with ongoing classes rotating throughout the year in venues across the UK.
Each session lasts for one and a half hours.
The cost is £45per child per session (£450 per child per ten-week course), payable in full at the beginning of each course.
To find courses running in your area please contact info@planetme.org.uk
Parents/children/young people will be asked to fill in a short anonymous questionnaire at the beginning and end of their Stepping Stones course.
Community Chats offer support to parents/carers in the form of regular talks, workshops, friendship/peer empowerment and positive parenting sessions hosted by Planet Me Communication Coaches with carefully selected invited therapists and professionals to talk on a variety of subjects linked to growing up in an ever changing, fast moving modern Britain.
Community Chats run regular meetings throughout the year in venues across the UK. Each session lasts for one and a half hours, the cost is £10 per person.
To find courses running in your area please contact info@planetme.org.uk
Parents will be asked to fill in a short anonymous questionnaire at the beginning and end of their Community Chat course.
Let’s Talk Parenting - small group, aims to offer support, comfort and where needed action in a constructive, positive, non-judgmental way by initiating conversations with parents & care givers. The Let’s Talk Parenting - small group works by discussing the same core subjects that are covered in the children’s Stepping Stones course, looking in depth from both children and parents’ perspective. Planet Me Coaches navigate parents through children’s general thoughts, feedback and facts to form the backbone of this unique talking course.
‘Let’s Talk Parenting’ run courses of five sessions each.
Ongoing classes run throughout the year in venues across the UK.
Each session lasts for one and a half hours.
The cost is £10 per person per session, payable in advance at the beginning of the 5 weeks. To find courses running in your area please contact info@planetme.org.uk
People will be asked to fill in a short anonymous questionnaire at the beginning and end of their Let’s Talk Parenting course.
PSHE classroom is an online tool developed to help children simply start a conversation about their PSHE concerns. Designed for teachers to use in the classroom to engage young people in Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) - a subject which helps pupils to keep themselves and others healthy and safe as it prepares them for life and work in the modern world.
Planet Me – PSHE classroom is an online collection of short filmed scenarios (with various ending options) with expert opinions, which are clear, honest, non-personalised statements collected from Doctors, Scientists, Teachers & Psychiatrists on particular subjects. It includes key facts and encourages peer group discussions. All these conversation prompts create a starting point to enable the young audience to form their own opinions by discussing, exploring and considering various choices, changes, outcomes and consequences around each of the subjects covered.
Using these simple but effective conversation prompts allows the teacher to act more as a facilitator, rather than a lecturer, encouraging open discussion and thoughts around a broad range of subjects. By spring-boarding conversations from a collection of facts on a subject we enable each individual child to build their own opinion and personalise the topic for themselves. Each child is able to join in and experience the discussion in their own way, remembering that a great deal can be gained and learnt from hearing and sharing their peer’s personal experiences as well as sharing their own thoughts.
Planet Me is a versatile tool that lends itself to exploring all aspects of PSHE. By empowering children to form their own opinions on a subject we actively encourage the art of conversation, expressing yourself, listening to & respecting others, making choices and understanding the consequences of your actions and words whilst simultaneously promoting personal confidence and self-belief.
Planet Me is divided into both year groups and subjects appropriate to them mapped directly to the current school curriculum.
Planet Me Coaches run the Life Link weekly sessions, host Community Chats and some choose to train further and run the Stepping Stone courses.
Full support and training are given. All materials for the classes are supplied.
A Planet Me coach is self-employed and is able to choose their own working hours to suit their personal situation. In order to be a Planet Me Communication coach you will need to provide both character and work references and hold an enhanced DBS certificate (information on how to apply for this available through info@planetme.org.uk)
Planet Me Ltd is an equal opportunities employer.
A Planet Me Coach is someone who has a natural way with people, both children, young people and parents. They are friendly, caring, responsible, inspiring, hard-working, reliable, conscientious, kind and approachable. A Planet Me Coach is engaging, has zest for and interest in life. They are excellent communicators and listeners. They have a great sense of humour and are problem solvers. They are actively empathetic, encouraging, supportive, authentic and genuine. They have the confidence and the ability to read a situation and know when to share and when to listen. They respect others and are able to remain impartial and non-judgmental. They are selflessly willing and able to share their own life experiences with others in order to further their development. They are self-reliant and emotionally resilient. They are organised and able to follow structure with the ability to be flexible and adaptable. They are confident and strong. They are emotionally balanced and mentally able to work and adapt to demanding stressful situations. They are awesome individuals who work well as part of a team.
If you are interested in applying to be a Planet Me Coach, for more information please email info@planetme.org.uk mark email COACH
Coming soon...
Ofsted has said that ‘PSHE education is not yet good enough in schools with the subject often taught by untrained teachers with inadequate curriculum time’.
The Department for Education (DfE) has stated in section 2.5 of the national curriculum framework that ‘All schools should make provision for Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE), drawing on good practice.’
Schools by their own admission are struggling to deal with the consequences of pupils not being facilitated to discuss PSHE issues. Professionals such as GPs, social services and the emergency services have to pick up the pieces and deal with the after-effects of these missed conversations.
Mental health issues are top of the agenda in today’s society. We are hearing more and more news stories of people that have reached adulthood having not been listened to as children and consequently suffering with their mental health.
(Source: Young Minds)