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11 October 2023
James Shone is from the charity “I can and I am” which aims to inspire confidence in every individual and to help them to maintain good mental health. The charity was founded by James himself, who visits hundreds of schools and businesses every year speaking to educators, parents, pupils and employees.
He spoke about ‘Inflating Balloons of Self-Belief’ and focused on how everyone needs to find their own talent, skill and purpose to help with their self-belief and positivity. James recognised how self-belief is a big challenge due to the array of contributing factors placed on young people today – predominantly affected by the demands of social media – but offered relevant and relatable steps on how to overcome these challenges.
Following a 16-year teaching career and having been offered a job as Headmaster in 2012, James was diagnosed with a brain tumour. After 27 hours of brain surgery, James unfortunately lost the majority of his sight; however, James is a man who embodies a positive attitude to life and a determination to turn setbacks into springboards. As a teacher, this was at the heart of his pastoral message and his focus now is on spreading the messages of ‘I Can & I Am’ to as many individuals across the UK and beyond as possible; the heart of his charity is to inspire confidence in every individual to enable them to know who they are and what they are able to do, rather than focusing on what they can’t.
World Mental Health Day 2023 is an opportunity for people and communities to unite behind the theme ‘Mental health is a universal human right” to improve knowledge, raise awareness and drive actions that promote and protect everyone’s mental health as a universal human right.
Thanks go to James Shone for his truly inspirational talks and to Jo Brown for organising the visit.
