The importance of education in developing us all as active citizens is widely recognised. We often think of this type of education as being about acquiring knowledge or skills. However, this is missing an important part of us as human beings: OUR EMOTIONS. We accept the need to learn about language, history or maths but it still sounds strange that we can learn about our emotions, how they affect our lives and the way we interact with others.
We all have mental health. Good mental health is as important to living a full life as good physical health. Anyone can experience mental health challenges at some time in their lives. Therefore, we all need to learn to live with and manage our emotions. People living with mental health challenges tell us how their experiences can result in them losing control of their feelings and losing confidence in their social skills when interacting with other people. This adversely affects their wellbeing and quality of life.
The idea of emotional education is, therefore, at once deeply relevant and widely neglected. The challenge is to create a programme which takes people on a journey where they better understand and manage their emotions and as a result lead more satisfying and fulfilled lives. Living e-Motions managed to develop a training programme specifically thought for people living with mental health challenges.