Learning more about themselves
An interactive programme to build confidence and self esteem in children and young adults may be introduced to Napier classrooms soon.
Programme founder and facilitator Kristyl Neho ran the programme in several Hastings schools recently. This won’t be the first time Napier students have taken part — Kristyl introduced it to small groups of school children in 2016 and is hoping to run the programme in high schools too.
After finishing her degree at Toi Whakaari 10 years ago, she began running drama classes and realised to get the best from her students, she had to build their self esteem and help them to learn more about themselves.
“The more confident they felt, the further they would offer within their work, which in turn made them feel more comfortable as a group.”
Kristyl has also invested in self development and is constantly learning about how her mind works, paradigm shifts, mindfulness, self belief and resilience.
“I realised I was able to marry both these areas of interest into building confidence in myself and now in other people.”
The Confident Me programme was launched into primary schools, starting at Peterhead School 10 months ago. Last week Kristyl took her performing artsbased concepts to Bridge Pa¯ , Ebbett Park, Kimi Ora Community School and Camberley School. She says the methods teach people of all ages to be more confident.
“By exploring and learning many areas of themselves from how they stand, walk, talk, that they are in control of their emotions, being able to change their state of mind instantly, to reading body language and more, they grow a greater understanding of self awareness. I believe this builds resilience which I think is one of the greatest benefits overall.”
Confident Me explores public speaking, mirror work, body language, storytelling, the ability to organise and prioritise, compassion, self reliance, problem solving and self discipline. Kristyl has adapted the programme so different age groups can “delve deeper” and has a new team to further develop the programme. She works with 10 to 15 students at a time but also works one-on-one with students.
“This allows me to identify and challenge them on an area we can build their confidence on. For example I had a student who found it hard to maintain eye contact for longer than a few seconds. So I would challenge him every few days to count to three and so on before he could drop his eye contact. I would then have him add on more time. Giving students a practical way to work on an area they have difficulty on, by challenging them, gives them individualised techniques to work on.”
Kristyl says there are many ways to teach different skills.
“So we are moving, singing, writing, running, dancing, discussing themes, doing microphone work, group work and more.”
The programme is run over 25-plus hours and depending on the school, group, dynamic and age, a ‘showing’ is then created at the end of the programme.
“This allows the group to show their school, parents, principals, teachers and their community the work they have been exploring.” Kristyl says Irongate School’s was the most memorable.
“It was called More than a Label and dealt with bullying and the culture around it. A few other themes this group dealt with was gender identity and being isolated. To be able to learn skills to build confidence, and then to use those skills in a practical application to an audience that informs and inspires people, I believe, is a power platform.”
Confident Me has been funded by each school with support from Family Works.
“I am very grateful for their belief and support in the work that is being undertaken. If students are able to leave this programme having overcome some challenge outside their comfort zones, learn more about ownership of who they are, and learn one or two things they can use in their lives, I feel that we have achieved the outcome.”