Amanda and the team at Finding Space are passionate about supporting people to live freely and lightly. Internal chaos, fears, insecurities, faulty belief systems and distorted identity make facing the challenges around us far more difficult. Understanding identity, what it is, how it is developed and how it impacts us each day and learning to understand and embrace our uniqueness are pivotal in living a lifestyle of healthy emotional, mental, physical and spiritual health. This is the heart of Finding Space and the foundation of all programs, resources and services that are developed and delivered by the team. Our desire is always to provide a naturally therapeutic space and an opportunity to unpack these areas in a safe non-judgemental environment.

2022, well, it kind of feels like we rolled into it in some respects. Standing together on the same unstable footing of not knowing how we would start or indeed, how, the rest of the year will unfold. These are times that we have never seen or experienced. Each of us have been impacted in one way or another and for some of us in more ways than one.

I have been reminding myself, my family and my clients that, it pays to remember that we are in the middle of a pandemic and acknowledging that is really important. It can help us to slow and to release unrealistic pressures we may be putting on ourselves and others, during a time, where we may need to create a little more space to process our surrounds and what is happening for us internally. We can easily get caught in a cycle of longing for ‘normal’ or ‘life to go back to how it was’ – and then, we can miss what it is now. We therefore, can be blinded to what is being offered in learning and growing in the midst of chaos and challenge. None of us like it, but I imagine would all agree, that it is often suffering and trials that bring about incredible shifts, changes and growth in us and within the community.

I invite you to embrace the ongoing season with curiosity about how it might be stirring up different fears, anxieties, frustrations, emotions and thoughts for you and your family. It is well researched, that ignoring these or trying to push them away, stuff them down or distract ourselves from them, eventually leads to a compromise in our mental, emotional, and physical health. A healthy lifestyle of self-awareness and regulation is essential for the development of the resilience that we each need in facing whatever 2022 holds. It also equips us in having a greater level of understanding, care and support for one another. More than ever, we need to be our own therapeutic community, as we each move into the days ahead. I encourage you to be kind and patient with yourself first and to also lean into the reactions of students. Allowing them to be human and express what they are feeling, to process it out loud if they need in a safe non-judgemental environment or even to retreat and enjoy some uninterrupted time alone to work through their own overwhelming thoughts.

Continually learning with curiosity what students need, taking time to ask open questions with a heart to hear and understand is a great way forward in creating a safe space for healing to do its work from the inside out. It is great to continue being a part of the King’s Baptist Grammar School family and I look forward to working together in 2022.

Amanda Cox,
Finding Space