Over coming Life’s hurdles together!!

24/01/2023

At Timeout, we are delighted to have had the pleasure of welcoming Andy and Matt from SMASHLIFE to our school on Monday 16th. The day was filled with inspirational talks, mentoring and group work – all geared towards inspiring and engaging our young people. We were highly impressed with the professionalism and ability of Andy and Matt to connect with our children through their own personal experiences.

Andy and Matt Smith are brothers and Directors of Smash Life who were abused “after” being placed by social services into the care system. This took place over an eight-year period from 1990-1998. In 2018 the brothers united to find the company “Smash Life”. Drawing on the hard lessons that they had learnt from their own abuse and experience of the care system; as well as their combined 38 years professional experience working with young people and families, they set about building an organisation to help those in similar situations. Offering their own inspirational talks and training to young people and organisations the brothers are able to provide a unique insight into real life lived within the care system.

The Smashlife Lads made an impact , Andy and Matt were a huge hit among our young people; they reported that every child was polite and engaging. Even those who initially struggled to join in slowly started to participate as Andy and Matt’s stories resonated deeply with them. It was clear that the day made a big impact, as one young person went out of their way to contact them via social media afterwards to express how much it meant to them. That is the GOAL right there!!

At Timeout, we strongly believe in the power of mentoring for young people. We know that often, all it takes is for someone else to see something special in us for us to start believing in ourselves too. Mentors can be key figures in empowering young people by helping them develop resilience, self-confidence, communication skills, problem-solving abilities, goal setting – all essential life skills which will help them succeed both now and in the future. Our goal is for each young person at Timeout to find a mentor who can provide this valuable guidance – so having Andy and Matt from SMASHLIFE come along was a great opportunity for our young people!

We are incredibly grateful that Andy and Matt took time out of their schedule to spend the day inspiring our young people here at Brearley Hall School. The impact they had was amazing; after just one day of talking with our children they managed to leave a lasting impression on them – one which we hope will inspire them to continue striving forward towards achieving their goals. Every child deserves a chance; we are thankful that SMASHLIFE gave ours just that!

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