Lisa Spring

The Common Sense Approach to PHSCE

Pragmatic, empathic and astute. With a common-sense and credible perspective, Lisa Spring demystifies the jargon and ‘buzzwords’ embedded in the schemes and frameworks of authority. Focusing with clarity on the practicable, Lisa gets to the heart of the matter: how to work with young people to support them to fulfil their potential in the ever-changing modern world.

For over a decade, Lisa has been engaged in a range of specialisms including addiction, mental health and wellbeing, learning needs and safeguarding with young and vulnerable people, inspiring them to make informed choices with a solid foundation for growth.

After becoming a mum, Lisa knew she wanted to focus on championing change in young people. She moved into secondary education and set up a pastoral support system in a grammar school in an area of deprivation. In doing so she massively challenged thoughts and attitudes that grammar schools do not have pastoral issues and created a range of PHSCE talks and workshops to engage young people with an open and common sense approach. Now working at The Pilgrim School, Lisa specialises in supporting and safeguarding more vulnerable groups of young people.

Remember when you were a teenager and you experienced all of that anxiety about school and friendships? You explored your boundaries and limitations and caused your parents and teachers to tear their hair out? Remember all the fun you had?

Now add to all of that the increased pressures for performance at school and at home, an age of the internet where there is a wealth of knowledge about everything and anything and worldwide conversations about performance enhancing or anxiety reducing substances. Add in cameras at your fingertips at all times to capture any moment and social media to spread word in an instant. Increased awareness of sex, sexuality and gender setting both realistic and unrealistic expectations.

Lisa’s talks bring a common sense approach to all of this and more to help young people navigate the modern world.

Covering a range of PHSCE topics, Lisa looks at what attracts young people to the behaviours they may get involved in, raising awareness of the benefits and consequences of behaviour around drugs, sex, alcohol and the internet, including risks of exploitation, and empowering young people to minimise risks of harm and stand up against anything they are not comfortable with.

You can watch Lisa's TEDx Talk here.