The NottAlone Podcast
Real talk about mental health with Dr Órlaith Green and Dr Maddi Popoola
NottAlone Live 2026! Bonus Episode
Episode description
In this special live episode of the NottAlone Podcast, Maddi and Órlaith head to NottAlone Live 2026 at YMCA Newark to explore this year’s theme, Self-Care Summer. Speaking with organisers, workshop leaders, teachers and young people, including student ambassadors from Arnold Hill Academy who set the theme of the event, they find out how NottAlone Live is supporting young people to explore their mental health and wellbeing.
Listen to this fun and invigorating episode to hear how NottAlone Live is helping young people build confidence, learn practical wellbeing skills and discover local mental health support.
As always, if you need support find information, advice and connections to free, local support services, at NottAlone.org.uk.
Full episode transcription below.
Please remember to subscribe for future episodes and leave us a comment, rating or review wherever you listen to help us reach more people to join in the conversation.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode and any suggestions on what you want us to cover next! You can get in touch by leaving us a comment, on our social media or by emailing NottAlone@nottscc.gov.uk.
Remember, whatever you’re going through, you are not alone.
About NottAlone
NottAlone.org.uk is a mental health support resource for people of all ages in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, offering advice and information on a range of mental health subjects, as well as connections to free support services.
NottAlone is for all ages, covering individuals, workplaces and advice on how to support a friend or loved one. There’s a dedicated section of the website for children and young people, their parents/carers and professionals working with them.
Visit the NottAlone website: NottAlone.org.uk
About the Podcast
This episode of The NottAlone podcast was recorded by Brendon Gravell at The Old Library in Mansfield and produced by Rachel Cole and Francesca Vaney. Our theme music is the NottAlone song, Not Alone by Alex Mighten.
Find out more about the show: NottAlone.org.uk/TheNottAlonePodcast
NottAlone is a partnership between Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council and the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board.
Episode transcript
Maddi: Ey up. And welcome to the NottAlone Podcast, a place where we talk all things mental health. I’m Maddi.
Órlaith: And I’m Órlaith. We’re educational psychologists and we’re here to open up the conversation and offer a helping hand through different and sometimes challenging subjects around mental health.
Maddi: We chat to guests who offer their own m. Perspectives on personal challenges, as well as professionals who share their advice. Sometimes these conversations can off, so please take care while listening and take a break if you need to.
Órlaith: Remember, if you’re impacted by any of the topics we cover, you can visit notalone.org.uk to find advice and support. So let’s get started….
[Episode]
Maddi: It’s Maddi
Órlaith: and it’s Órlaith.
Maddi: We are at NottAlone Live 2026, our live flagship event.
Órlaith: It is our fourth event and we have the theme this year of Self Care Summer.
Maddi: So, Órlaith. and I have been wandering around, haven’t we, this morning? Yeah, it’s been so fun.
Órlaith: We’ve got our glitter on.
Maddi: Yes. Yeah, we’re. We’re glittering and shining like we’re 20 years younger in an Ibiza.
Órlaith: Exactly. Some teenagers made us do a dance for TikTok. Let’s not talk about that.
Maddi: Yeah, let’s not talk about that. If that has to go on social media, I’m gonna die. We did the Char. Char slide. Is that what it’s actually called?
Órlaith: I think so, yeah. So we’re here at the YMCA Newark, aren’t we? And shall we, say a little bit about what the event is?
Maddi: Yeah. I don’t know if listeners might be able to hear the DJ in the background. We’ve got a young person dj, while people are eating their lunch, which is amazing. we’ve had a great group of young ambassadors here this year, actually, who, we’re going to go around and interview them for this, live podcast event. Yes. Yeah. So we’re going to, we’re going to speak to them and ask them what they’ve been doing here today, I guess, and maybe some questions about mental health and.
Órlaith: Yeah, so they’re part of Arnold Hill Academy in Nottinghamshire. Give them a shout out and they’re great ambassadors, great ambassadors for the school, aren’t they? So, they’ve helped us design the theme for today’s event, which is Self Care Summer. They’ve run some of the workshops and what today is is NottAlone, the website coming to life, isn’t it?
Maddi: Yep. NottAlone Live. So, yeah, all of the different services and, Mental Health support that ah, is advertised on NottAlone, are here. So we have a big room full of different stall where schools and the children from schools can go and m find out more about those services. they get a little tote bag that they can then go and collect leaflets and goodies and pop it and all sorts of different bits and bobs. But the most important thing is that they then are able to have those face to face conversations with people from different services and understand more about what those services offer. it’s not only great for the young people, it’s also great for their school staff as well to kind of understand locally. You know, if I have a problem with, then I can go to this service, which is exactly what the NottAlone website is about and it sets out to do.
Órlaith: So, it’s great, isn’t it? The, the stall centre upstairs is just buzzing.
Maddi: Yeah.
Órlaith: Ah, spoke to loads of the teachers as well and they’ve said so we invite schools, don’t we? Each school comes, they bring a couple of their young people and we kind of think of them as NottAlone ambassadors where they come to the event, they learn all about the services, they do the workshops and then we want them going back to school and telling their friends and other people in the school about what’s available in Notts to support children’s mental health.
Maddi: Yeah. So I think some of them go back and they do an assembly. So they’ll obviously, you know, with their help, help from their teachers. A lot of the time they’ll go back and they’ll do an assembly and tell the rest of the school about the day and maybe show them some of the leaflets and some of the information that they’ve got. so we’ve got the primary school day today. So we’ve got, I think it’s like Year four to year six here. and then tomorrow we have our second school day where we have groups of sort of 10 to 15, children from secondary schools, in all different year groups from year seven too. It won’t be year 11 because year 11’s have just finished our exams. Well done. Shout out to anyone who’s in year 11. You’ve just finished your GCSEs but yeah, it’ll be great to see the older children tomorrow as well and for them to come and experience NottAlone life.
Órlaith: Yeah. So one of the things that I love about NottAlone Life is hearing from young people. So where we’ve got workshops, we presentations People wandering around. We’ve had loads of sort of senior leaders and counsellors here today being interviewed by our young people about what does mental health mean to you, how do you look after yourself? So one of the things we’re going to do, Maddi, is we are going to wander around. I’m really excited. Let’s go interview some of our team, aren’t we?
Maddi: Let’s go. Let’s do this.
Órlaith: Hi, Zoe.
Zoe Brown: Hello!
Maddi: Hi, Zoe.
Órlaith: Tell us who you are and what is your job today at NottAlone Live.
Zoe Brown: I’m Zoe Brown, I’m a senior educational psychologist with Nottinghamshire County Council and I’m the event coordinator today. So I’m the person that’s getting everybody moving around and hopefully making the event run smoothly.
Órlaith: You are doing exactly that. It’s a brilliant day so far.
Zoe Brown: Thank you.
Órlaith: We just want to know what is today all about and what is the theme this year, the fourth year of NottAlone Live.
Zoe Brown: So this year’s theme is Summer Of Self Care. we’re really excited about, about this year’s theme because in previous years we’ve run the event on Children’s Mental Health
00:05:00
Zoe Brown: Week in February. This year the event is running in July, which means that we had the opportunity to ask our young people in Nottinghamshire to set the theme. And so we had a group of wonderful young people from Arnold Hill Academy. They have set the theme. They have, helped us choose what workshops are going to happen. They’ve helped out today on the event, so they’ve been assisting our comms team, they’ve assisted and assisting me. We’ve had one of them DJing. We’ve even had one of them dressed as the mascot.
Maddi: We spoke to. We spoke to him, yeah. He was looking very sweaty by the time we got to him.
Zoe Brown: I’m sure it’s very warm today.
Maddi: They also made us do the cha cha slide on a TikTok.
Órlaith: So, yeah, yeah, we’re hoping for.
Maddi: Thanks for that, Zoe.
Zoe Brown: You’re very welcome. We’re really excited to have young people co producing the event because that’s part of the core values of NottAlone. And so really, you know, their theme was all about self care, and thinking about the summer holidays coming up. So we’ve got young people thinking together, and with their teachers and with the amazing services and the stall holders and in the workshops about how they can take care of themselves. And that’s what all of the workshops have been themed around this year. and it’s just been amazing to have young people at the heart of what this event looks like this year.
Maddi: Brilliant.
Órlaith: What do you think the young people are getting from today?
Zoe Brown: I think that, what I’ve. It seems to be different every year, but what I’ve noticed walking around this event today is the confidence that is growing in the young people as they’re, as they’re moving around the event, particularly our young people who’ve been part of the co producing it. But just everybody seems to have taken so much from all of the workshops that they seem to be growing, you know, independence. Today’s the primary day, so we’ve got our year fives and sixes and lots of them are looking towards transition. And so seeing them confidently moving around the event, arriving, looking nervous, staying very close to their teachers, and then as the day’s gone on, moving around the event on their own and just really being proud and then all of their contributions at the stalls about, about kind of taking care of each other and take care of themselves. I think the focus that the young people of Arnold Hill chose this year is really sailing through with all the children that are here.
Maddi: One of the teachers, that we spoke to, I was like, oh, it’s funny you say that because she literally just said, didn’t she, that the children that they brought were quite shy generally in and around school, but she said they seem to feel really safe here and, have kind of been playing with all the children and talking a lot more. So that really rings true with what you just said, doesn’t it?
Órlaith: I guess about.
Maddi: Definitely, yeah. Just, I suppose, just feeling like a calm, safe environment where people can belong
Zoe Brown: and yeah, belonging feels really important. I think that that’s actually one of the really big things about young people co producing the event. It feels different this year because of that and I really think that, that what that has led to in terms of young people actually feeling like they own it, it’s really playing out. And I don’t think that every young person here necessarily knows that young people are, you know, the key and that they, they have been the ones that have designed the event. But really I’m really feeling the difference. And so I really, you know, want to make sure that we keep that energy going in future events because it’s worked so well.
Órlaith: Brilliant. Thank you, Zoe. So, Zoe, we’ve got a question that we ask everybody who comes on the podcast. Can we ask you?
Zoe Brown: Yeah, of course you can.
Órlaith: What do you do in your life to remind yourself that you’re NottAlone?
Zoe Brown: I, play in a band and my, my bandmates are my Community. And so doing something that we love together and also then spending time together, we go on little holidays together, is, you know, basically having that community around, something that we have a shared interest in is the thing that makes me feel NottAlone.
Órlaith: Beautiful. Thank you, Zoe.
Maddi: So start with your name and what have you been doing here today?
Rhys: Rhys and I’ve been doing interviews at the start of the day, mascoting. And I’m going to do football soon.
Cooper: And, my name is Cooper, and I was doing interviewing with Rhys in, like, social media, and I’ve been doing dj. I’m going to do football golf later.
Órlaith: Brilliant. So we’ve got a question we ask everyone on the podcast. What do you do in your life to remind yourself that you’re NottAlone?
Cooper: Go out with my friends and, like, go to my family, speak to them. I like to speak to my family a lot. And then whenever we go out, we always come out with family.
Órlaith: Lovely. Great answer.
Cooper: Thank you.
Maddi: Great answer. What about yourself?
Rhys: probably just spend time with my friends and my family and then talk to them if I need anything and see how they’re doing, make sure that they don’t feel alone.
Maddi: We also want to say a m massive special thank you to you both. So we appreciate you massively. Thank you so much, guys, so much for being here. We’re now going to go to, a workshop that is wrap for Mental Health, with the wonderful Alex Motor Mouth, who has been on the podcast for us before.
Group of young people rapping: It doesn’t matter if you’re right or wrong. Even if you don’t get along, you’re saying safe, you are trusted. No relationship is forever rusted.
Maddi: All right, Alex Motormouth, this is your second time. You’re our first guest to be on the podcast twice. Imagine that.
Órlaith: Welcome back.
Alex: Yeah, what can I say? The people love me.
Maddi: They
00:10:00
Maddi: certainly do. The kids love you as well. We just watched one of your workshops, just kind of caught at the end of it. It’s brilliant. Tell us a bit about what you’ve been doing today.
Alex: So just kind of keep a bit of an open, creative space for, kids to come in and just, put their thoughts onto paper about mental health. And, in fact, all the kids that have been with me today have never done any rapping at all. But we’ve had conversations on the big fans of, like, Eminem and Juice World and things like that. So they have a bit of an idea of what our bar rap is. And, it’s just been great, like, seeing, like, their imagination flow with it and just Coming out with different things and some of them coming out with some really, really good, like, touching lines as well. Something quite funny as well. But you. Which is cool because it’s like, you know, as much as they might think it might be like a serious thing, because we’re talking about the thing like mental health. It’s like, you know, I want to make it fun as well, do you know what I mean? So I leave enough space for them to be funny but also be serious at the same time, you know?
Órlaith: Brilliant. What’s the best line that you’ve heard today?
Alex: The best line? Oh, there’s been so many. There was a girl that said something, always be aware of your mental stability and always be aware of your capability.
Maddi: Wow.
Alex: It was something like that. It was something like that. There’s been so many lyrics been thrown at me today, like, I’m trying to pick the best one, you know.
Maddi: That’s amazing. These kids are primary school age, aren’t m? They as well, so creative. I heard a line just there with them. Who’s watching? It’s like a fire engine in your. In your head. Yeah.
Alex: And it might go hard to go to bed or something like that. Using metaphors, you know, I mean, like, so just like innocently as well. And it just. It just came out of them, you know? so it’s been really. And the thing is, when I do workshops is like, sometimes I learn certain things. I never thought of putting that word together and, like, using that as a metaphor as well. So, like, I’m learning as well as much as they are, you know. So, yeah, it’s been a really good day. I’ve had a really good day.
Maddi: How much do you love NottAlone Live?
Alex: Like, if it was a scale out of 10, it’ll be a thousand, you know what I mean? Like, I love coming down here every year, just, like working with new kids and like, just seeing, just seeing. And a lot of them are like, so that girl, that line I told you about, at first she was pretty quiet and then once she kind of got into the swing of it, she was coming out with lines like left, right and centre. Do you know what I mean? So it’s just. Is a great way for me. I feel like I’m really giving back, but they’re also giving back to me as well, you know?
Maddi: So, yeah, that’s been a bit of a theme today. We spoke to quite a few young people and teachers who have said that just in the space of one day, they’ve seen a child grow, like, grow in confidence.
Maddi: Grow in, you know, their ability to speak out, to, talk to other people. It’s amazing, isn’t it? It’s literally just one day, but actually what that can give you. Yeah, from that one experience.
Alex: Yeah.
Alex: You know, like, from the first session I had, there was this one lad that was in here, that was doing up with another lad. They were, like, working together, like, doing a line each. And when they were leaving, one, of the teachers came up to me and said. I was like, thank you so much for this. this child has a hard time speaking in front of people and things, like. But he’s really, like, he’s really shunned today, so. Thank you. I was like, oh, thanks. Well, thank you for coming down, you know what I mean? So, yeah, it’s cool. And hopefully, you know, we might get the next Eminem.
Maddi: Yeah, Listen, it’s making a difference. It’s making a difference and that’s what it’s about, man. Well, it is what it’s about. You’re making a difference. So thank you so much.
Alex: You’re very welcome. Thank you for having me. Honestly, you thank.
Órlaith: Thank you so much.
Raj Butler: Hi, my name’s Raj Butler. I’m the academy, counsellor at, Arnold Hill School.
Maddi: Amazing. So you are responsible for all of these wonderful children who have come and, well, helped us plan, support and deliver NottAlone Life. So thank you so much, first of all, for being here. and we wanted to ask you a couple of questions about what you’ve been doing today and how you found it and what’s been the kind of highlights for you.
Raj Butler: So some of the students that are here today attended last year and there was such a buzz after they left and they had such an amazing time and the organisers loved them because they just brought so much energy with them. So what I did was contact the event organisers and I just said, well, how can we be involved? You know, is there anything that we can do? Can we do some performances or some writing or something to, contribute to the event? And they said, actually, how about planning the event? How about organising the event? And, you know, we were, like, absolutely blown away. And, so we said yes. And for the last ten months, I selected these amazing people who I work with. And, yeah, we’ve been meeting for the last 10 months, every month, we’ve been meeting with two beautiful, amazing women from Knox County Council. And, they decided what the project was going to be. They decided it was going to be about self care. They came up with the title Self Care Summer.
Maddi: We love that. Thank you, guys. We love it. Yeah.
Raj Butler: And to see it on these leaflets, it’s so nice. And they’ve worked incredibly hard. They’re all from different years as well, so just watching them collaborate and give each other space to come up with these amazing, ideas. They’ve, yeah, they’ve. They’ve come up with dream catcher workshops, they’ve come up with vision board workshops. We’ve got some dancers in the group, so they’ve been helping choreograph some of the dancing.
Órlaith: Wow.
Raj Butler: And just we’ve got a student who DJs, so he’s been playing music during lunchtime for all of them have just made me feel so, so proud. I’ve really nearly cried like 10 times today just because just seeing
00:15:00
Raj Butler: them look so confident and look so amazing in what they’ve done, I am so, so proud.
Maddi: You should be very proud. They have done an amazing job and I. Leading the workshops for me is, you know, that’s. It’s a really difficult thing to do. even as adults, we get fearful of standing in front of people and leading the workshop. So, well done to you all and now I’m going to come around and pick on you all, ask you some questions. Okay?
Órlaith: Thank you so much.
Maddi: Right, where shall we start, Órlaith.?
Órlaith: Let’s start right here. Hello. What’s your name?
Emily: My name’s Emily.
Órlaith: Brilliant. And can you tell me what’s been the highlight for you today? What’s been your favourite thing that you’ve done?
Emily: my highlight has probably been lunchtime, not because of the food, but because of the dj and there was loads of vibes and a lot of people were dancing and we were just all there together as a group and it just felt really nice to kind of have, like, a little bit of a new family for me.
Maddi: Awww
Órlaith: Thank you so much.
Maddi: Thank you so much.
Órlaith: So, hello, how are you? What’s your name?
Jasmine: I’m Jasmine.
Órlaith: Thank you so much for organising today in the workshops that you’ve been doing. What have you seen the children who’ve come to your workshop learning and what do you think they’re taking away?
Jasmine: I think it’s just really nice that, like, they’ve all been able to come together and, like, use, like, they’ve listened to what we’ve had to say really well and they’ve just got on with it and managed to make some really cool things.
Órlaith: Amazing. Thank you so much. I was in one of your workshops and they were really enjoying themselves. They were concentrating, talking to each other, asking for help.
Jasmine: Yeah. And it’s really nice to see them just, like, getting on with it because, yeah, they’re really good at it.
Órlaith: Thank you so much.
Maddi: Were you a bit scared?
Jasmine: A little bit, yeah. Especially, like, this morning. I was a bit nervous because we’ve never, like, done anything like this before, but it was really nice.
Maddi: And now how do you feel having done it?
Jasmine: I feel a lot better now. I was more confident, like, to do this one because I already knew what it would be like. But, yeah, it’s just. It’s really fun.
Maddi: Feel the feeling, but do it anyway.
Órlaith: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Maddi: Amazing.
Jasmine: Thank you.
Maddi: And, hello. What’s your name?
Arina: I’m Arina.
Maddi: Hello. It’s really nice to meet you. So tell me, what’s been your highlight of today?
Arina: Honestly, just seeing, like, so many young people, like, wanting to take part in these workshops was, like, a really nice experience because obviously, like, bringing so many children from other schools together and seeing them all work together, for one thing, it was kind of, like, lovely to see.
Maddi: Yeah.
Arina: Seeing them care so much for something.
Maddi: Thank you. And which workshop did you do?
Arina: I did the vision boards.
Maddi: Tell us a bit about vision boards and what you did and what did you ask the children to do?
Arina: So we asked them to create a board of, like, what they want to do in the summer and how they want to take care of themselves and, like, plans and checklists and stuff, to, like, kind of set out their summer for themselves while taking care of their own mental health and, like, take things slow.
Maddi: That sounds amazing. And very on brand with the self care summer theme. Thank you so much. I wish I had come into that workshop now. okay. Hi, what’s your name?
Faye: my name is Faye.
Maddi: And can you tell us a little bit about what. Did anything, I guess today, did anything feel like you were worried or nervous about?
Faye: I think I was just at the very start of the day, I got a little bit nervous about how many people were going to be in the classes, because our first class, there was quite a lot of kids. But once we started going, just got into the flow and we were all good and just. Yeah.
Maddi: Did you, Did you get a nice sense of feeling, like, because you were all together and you were doing it with your friends. Did that help you, do you think?
Faye: yeah, I think because we’ve known each other for a few years now as well, it was like we could, if we did get a bit nervous. They were, like, there to support us.
Maddi: Yeah. So it’s like somebody to stand with you up there and. Yeah. So did you. Did you deliver the workshop and you told the children what they had to do?
Faye: Yeah, we just went through a bit of a PowerPoint and just kind of told them about, because we did the Dream Catchers, about how sleep is really important with mental health and how it can really help us, so. And then we just went around helping them and they got on with it.
Maddi: I think the teachers at Arnold Hill better watch out because, you guys,
Órlaith: you’ll be taking over the classes. Yeah. You should probably be going for their
Maddi: job, shouldn’t they, I think. Amazing. Do you know how incredible it is to do that at your age, to stand in front of all the people and, you know, direct, do PowerPoint? I still get scared doing stuff like that, so. Well done. It’s really amazing.
Faye: Thank you.
Órlaith: Amazing. Well done. Hello. What’s your name?
Nyla: Nyla
Órlaith: Are you having a good day today? Yeah, lovely. So tell me this. If there’s any children here today who have worries or they get nervous about things or they get really sad about things, do you have any advice on how they can look after themselves, especially this summer?
Nyla: I mean, I’m a pretty anxious and not very confident person, so it’s been a hard time. But, obviously it’s been better because I’ve been with my friends and obviously I’m not doing it by myself. It was a bit scary this morning. I didn’t want to get up and I didn’t want to come. But, yeah, Lara was here with me today, so I felt a bit better.
Órlaith: That’s amazing. So, actually, you were saying that you felt nervous
00:20:00
Órlaith: and anxious this morning and you were able to come because you knew your friends would be here to help you. Yeah, that is really good advice. What’s been your favourite thing today?
Nyla: probably working with Faye and Lara doing the Dreamcatcher workshop.
Órlaith: Brilliant. Well, I’m really glad that you came and thank you so much. And last but not least, what’s your name?
Lara: Lara.
Órlaith: Hello, Lara. How are you?
Lara: I’m good, thanks. How are you?
Órlaith: What’s been your favourite thing today?
Lara: I think seeing the kids so happy, it’s, like, quite rewarding. All your plans going well and they’re all, like, engaging and it’s had a really positive impact on them and I hope it, like, affects them further.
Órlaith: Brilliant. What’s your best advice for someone who’s having a difficult time with their mental health?
Lara: I’d say just use positive coping strategies. Stay calm, just keep breathing. You’ll get through it.
Órlaith: Well, that is great advice. What have you enjoyed, about the workshops in particular? What have you seen the young people getting from it?
Lara: I think it’s quite good that they’re engaging and they seem happier at the end of it and it’s really like rewarding. They can take the dream caches home, have them and it will help them.
Órlaith: Thank you so much. Thanks, everybody. You absolutely smashed it.
Maddi: How old are you all?
Sarah: 13.
Maddi: Are you sure?
Órlaith: 13.
Faye: Emily and me are 13.
Órlaith: How are you?
Maddi: Are you sure?
Lara: Yeah,
Maddi: You talk and act like you’re like 26 with a degree in psychology. I know you do. They’re actually amazing, aren’t they? You should be so proud of yourselves. And that’s really coming from, from the heart especially. The more nervous you are about it, the harder it is to do it as well. So well done. It’s incredible.
Órlaith: Thank you so. Thank you so much. We won’t keep you from your workshop any longer.
Maddi: And what’s your name, young man?
Jacob: I’m Jacob.
Maddi: Hi, Jacob. So what have you been doing this morning?
Jacob: so I made a dream catcher as well. And with the yarn we made, made like a cobweb, almost like shape it along the wooden circle.
Maddi: Lovely. And did you have fun doing it?
Jacob: Yeah, I had lots of fun making a dreamcatcher.
Maddi: And what are you doing this afternoon?
Jacob: We’re doing some drumming.
Órlaith: Oh, cool. Today is all about mental health. Do you have any advice for anybody who is a bit worried or is having a bad day?
Jacob: Ask someone if they want to talk to you, if they want to play with you or like, just play like by yourself or something.
Órlaith: That is some great advice.
Maddi: Really good advice.
Órlaith: That’s very wise. Thank you.
Maddi: And can you tell me your name?
Miles: Miles.
Maddi: Hi, Miles. Nice to meet you. I’m Maddi. Have you had a good time at NottAlone Live today?
Miles: Definitely.
Maddi: What’s been your favourite bit?
Miles: I like the workshop. Drawing and talking. That was my favourite one because I love drawing.
Maddi: Do you think that, it helps you to talk when you’ve got a problem? And who do you think would be good to talk to?
Miles: yes, and I think it will probably be my mum or my teachers.
Maddi: Yeah. That’s really, really good advice to people, isn’t it? That if you’re feeling worried or if you’ve got a problem, it’s important to share it and talk to than one, isn’t it?
Layla: Yeah.
Órlaith: Layla, what do you do in Your life to remember that you’re NottAlone.
Layla: I talk to my friends or like my family.
Órlaith: Lovely, thank you. And what about you?
Miles: Probably the same. Like I don’t just sit alone, I sit next to my friends, I talk to them and I communicate with them when I’m sad.
Órlaith: Brilliant.
Maddi: Thank you both.
Órlaith: Thank you so much for being on our podcast.
Maddi: Give us your name and which school you’re from.
Sarah: So my name’s Sarah and I’m from Westdale Junior School.
Maddi: Welcome to NottAlone Life. Sarah from Westdale Junior School. Can you tell us a little bit about what your young people that you’ve brought to NottAlone Life have been doing this morning and what they’re planning to do this afternoon?
Sarah: So we have done, dream catchers. We made some dream catchers and then part of the group went to do, active art, I think it was called. I didn’t go to that bit, but they seem to really enjoy it. And the other ones did netball, which was great. And then this afternoon we are staying here and we’re doing some wrapping which they’ve been practising in the taxi on the way here. They were very excited about the wrapping.
Maddi: That sounds like fun, miss, doesn’t it? I can’t think of anything better at 9:00 o’ clock in the morning of a car full of children rapping. Wonderful. Aren’t you glad you came?
Sarah: It’s been brilliant. It’s been really good. We’ve had a really good day.
Órlaith: Oh, that’s it.
Sarah: Have you been before?
Maddi: Is it your first time?
Sarah: yes, I’ve been, once before. I think it was the first time. This has been. It’s just been a really lovely event. Really well organised.
Órlaith: Brilliant.
Maddi: It’s a nice hot day.
Sarah: Yeah, absolutely.
Órlaith: As a senior leader in your school, what have you seen your kids getting from the activities and the things today?
Sarah: I think they picked up some different strategies. We’ve collected loads of information about different things that children
00:25:00
Sarah: can do to help keep themselves, calm and to help with their well being. So I’ve bagged full of things that I’m going to take back to some other children in school because we’ve got some peer mentors that there’s lots of, of stuff that I think they’ll find useful. M and they’ve just really enjoyed doing lots of different activities and met some of the children from other schools as well, which has been nice.
Órlaith: Brilliant. And Sarah, we have a question that we ask everybody on our podcast. Is it okay if we ask you what do you do in your life to remind yourself that you’re NottAlone.
Sarah: I like to make time to meet up with friends and keeping contact with friends, which is sometimes difficult when you’re busy, I think. But I always try and try and keep messaging people even if I haven’t got time to see them.
Órlaith: Brilliant.
Maddi: Thanks so much.
Órlaith: So that was fun.
[Outro]
Maddi: It was fun. It was fun. We spoke to loads of different people and, That was great, wasn’t it?
Órlaith: Yeah.
Maddi: I think we don’t often do that at the events. We don’t go around and ask people how they’ve experienced it, what their favourite thing was. So it was really nice to go
Órlaith: and speak to some of the young
Maddi: people and the teaching staff as well. And I think, yeah, Year four, we’ve kind of got a good formula now. And what Zoe was saying about young people co producing the event, I think that’s definitely something to take forward and grow as much as we possibly can. Because I think you have really felt that this, this year.
Órlaith: Yeah. From the beginning we’ve included young people in the design of NottAlone from the very early days when we built the website. And I think lots of people in our jobs talk about co production, don’t they? But it’s not always genuine co production, which is get young people involved from the very first conversations, ask them what they want, try and make it happen rather than make something and then ask them what they think of it. When you’ve already designed it yourself.
Maddi: Yeah. And the team have done a really good job of that this year, of making that really authentic.
Órlaith: Absolutely. When we’re walking around, I was really struck by the people saying the same thing. So a lot of the. To your question. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So when we talk, when we talk to people about, you know, how do you make sure that you, you. How do you remind yourself that you’re NottAlone? People talk about family, friends, sports, music, really ordinary things. Not my psychologist or my doctor.
Maddi: Yeah, yeah, everybody pretty much is. Sounds of the same to that question today, I think just in. And especially kids, the young people have said, I go out with my friends or I’ll speak to my parent or a teacher. Like it’s all been about human connection, hasn’t it? And, yeah, like you say, being part of a team or, something wellbeing related like walking the dog or, you know, being outside. So, yeah, it’s been amazing. I’ve had a really nice day.
Maddi: got to hang out with you, which is always fun.
Órlaith: Always fun, always a pleasure and really fun to record, I think our first live podcast at one of our events.
Maddi: It is our first ever live podcast. And, there’s not been too many bloopers, so. Yeah, well done. Thanks, Ola.
Órlaith: thanks for listening. Remember that you can find advice and links to support services on NottAlone.org.ik
00:28:21
