National Volunteers Week
Amanda Maylin | 14th June 2022
Each year there is a National Volunteers week from 1st -7th June. If you volunteer with us and you missed one of our thank you posts on social media last week – please take this as an additional thank you for all your amazing support!Shirley & Jean, two of our amazing volunteers at Whitwell Steam FairPhase really could not work so effectively w
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Managing Exam Stress
Hannah Dengate | 20th May 2022
We have now entered exam season which can be a time full of different emotions, so here are 10 top tips to help you navigate this time...1) Self-Care is Important – During exam time, it can feel like there is a lot to do but looking after yourself is essential. Making sure that you keep a good sleep routine, eating a healthy diet, getting fresh air
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Are you feeling lonely?
Elizabeth Feltoe | 10th May 2022
It's mental health awareness week this week (9-15 May). This is a week that the charity The Mental Health Foundation uses to raise awareness of a different mental health experience each year. This year the focus is on loneliness.Along with many other emotional and mental health struggles, it's a subject that people might find difficult to talk abou
Read moreEaster Workshops
Emily Croucher | 8th May 2022
At the beginning of April, after being at Phase nearly 3 years, I finally was able to deliver the Easter workshops for the very first time. Lockdown and covid restrictions have interfered with many things over the past few years, but it felt strange to remember how much of my time at Phase has been affected by it. The previous 2 years, Easter has f
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The rhythms of life...
Elizabeth Feltoe | 5th May 2022
If you’re a regular reader of the Phase blog you will know that at the start of each school term the team takes a two day retreat. This is a break from the regular weekly routine for some reflection, recharging and planning. We spend time thinking, praying, chatting, planning, eating, playing and resting. It’s one of the highlights of the term for
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What Brings You Joy...?
Hannah Dengate | 22nd April 2022
I wonder what refills you. What brings you Joy?A phrase that often resonates with me is: ‘you can’t pour from an empty cup.’ Recently, I have been speaking to a few people and have found there is a real sense of tiredness or exhaustion. As we emerge from the pandemic, many of us will feel tired from all that the past couple of years have held, as
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Recycling for Phase - all change here!!
Amanda Maylin | 23rd March 2022
I feel that as a community we are massively indebted to Deolinda (pictured above) and Michael Eltringham. Deolinda was involved in developing the CTH idea of gifting Hitchin town with the services of a faith schools worker, which led to the creation of Phase in 2002. So, when Michael and Deolinda got their local parish involved in raising funds for
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Coping with Change
Emily Croucher | 11th March 2022
If there's one thing that we've all had to deal with over the past couple of years, it's change. We've all had to cope with some pretty big changes to the way that we work, the way that we socialise, and the way that we live out life. We've also had to deal with constant small changes, and the uncertainty that things might change again at any momen
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Looking forward not looking back
Hannah Dengate | 4th March 2022
As we reach the two-year anniversary mark since we went into lockdown and we start to emerge into a place where restrictions have been lifted, we can feel a mixture of different emotions from relief and happiness to anxiety and apprehension. Perhaps one other emotion that is present is disappointment. The disappointment of things that we had hoped
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The struggle is real
Kieran Murphy | 18th February 2022
A recent BBC News article reported a huge rise in severe mental health difficulties in children and young people in the past year, sadly this is a statistic that is very true and close to home.Over the past year we have seen an increase in the number of children and young people needing support through mentoring. Thankfully for many this has provid
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Learning to be vulnerable
Elizabeth Feltoe | 11th February 2022
In this guest blog friend of Phase, Rebekah Bacon, talks to us about vulnerability - what it is, when we notice it and how we can benefit from being more vulnerable with people.A little while ago, I sat down with Kieran (the director of Phase) to talk about vulnerability. When working with young people to build resilience and promote wellbeing, it’
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Celebrating success
Elizabeth Feltoe | 2nd February 2022
When was the last time you gave yourself a metaphorical high five? When you had a proper think about what you did well, achieved or managed to accomplish through your hard work?Interesting, isn't it, that most of us (well, speaking personally!) quite often focus on things that we could have done better, maybe didn't go to plan, or where we let a ba
Read moreNational Youth Ministry Weekend
Emily Croucher | 19th November 2021
Last weekend I went to the National Youth Ministy Conference, which is an event Youthscape run for those who work with young people. It was a great opportunity to gather as people who love Jesus and love young people, to be challenged and inspired. The theme of the week was first love, and was a constant reminder that everything we do has to come f
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Youth Chaplain for the High Sheriff of Hertfordshire
Kieran Murphy | 3rd November 2021
This year I have been given the honour of being the Youth Chaplain to the High Sheriff of Hertfordshire, not only is the first time this has happened in Herts, but it is the first time in the history of the Shrievalty, which is over 1000 years old. You can read a recent article in Hitchin Nub News about it.With being the first person to take on thi
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Ready, steady... plan for secondary school
Elizabeth Feltoe | 8th October 2021
I’ve been on the road with the Phase team in recent weeks supporting Emily to deliver the first round of our Year 6 programme On Your Marks. If you’re a regular reader of our newsletter or this blog, it might be a familiar name. It’s the workshops we take into Year 6 classes to help them start to think about moving to secondary school. For most of
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