Emoco C.I.C

"I can't learn if I'm struggling with my mental health."

"Sometimes, in school, it feels like we're expected to stay steady all the time, even when inside, it feels like an emergency."

"We're not looking to place blame. We're asking to be seen."

"At school, I was made to feel small by bullies. I wanted to avoid school. It was not a place where I felt safe to learn."

"I constantly felt in the wrong. My mental health was affected massively and I didn't have the headspace to take in the information I needed to in school."

"When I was in school preparing for my GCSEs, I felt like, if I didn't get this perfect, I'm done for the rest of my life. It would be over."

For those of you who don't know, my long association with Blackpool Youth Council came to an end last month. Last week, they released the final project I worked on with them - a video that acts as a call-to-action to educators and intergenerational stakeholders to collaborate with young people to put positive mental health & well-being at the heart of our education system.

Blackpool Youth Council declared mental health in education their top priority in September 2025, and have spent the past nine months focusing on this issue. Our recent election to the UK Youth Parliament also saw this issue feature prominently - four out of five candidates mentioned it in their manifestos. Our School Council Symposiums have also identified this as a top priority issue, and a roundtable hosted by Chris Webb MP and the Poverty Truth Network that I attended last year, shone a light on the profoundly negative impact of bullying in particular. This all aligns with local JSNA data, which reveals school-related stressors (including school work, exam stress & bullying) are some of the biggest worries young people have.

This video captures the voices of a diverse range of young people, bravely sharing their experiences. And the call-to-action is also appropriate - I frequently hear educators who feel blamed for the present crisis when they're just as much caught up in it as children & young people.

For the past three years, local schools have been working with me on Emoco, a co-production project that aims to embed a culture of well being - a school environment where positive mental health is held in equal regard to academic success. The Youth Council's work has inspired and motivated me to take Emoco back to stakeholders to explore how we can take the next steps and impact more young people. Emoco has explored many of the issues young people raise in this video, as has the work of the Youth Advisor team.

The only way we can tackle this is by moving forward together. It is incumbent on us all to act. That's why I intend to share this with strategic leaders in our education system to open up a conversation around how we can address this together.

📺 Give it a watch below to hear from our local young people yourself. I'd love to hear, as well, if it inspires you to action as much as it has inspired me.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYXN19AsRPL/?igsh=MWJ6bnVuc3cxYW00

Mental health in education is too important to ignore, which is why Blackpool Youth Council have made it our priority. This Mental Health Awareness Week, we’re proud to release a video calling on educators and the adults in our lives to recognise that our wellbeing must come first and to actively work with us to build a system that supports every young person, not just some. Please share this and make a difference! #blackpoolyouthcouncil #youthvoice #mentalhealthawareness

Thanks to Big Change for bringing us together for this fantastic event last week, it was great to catch up with everyone.

Systems are made up of people. When we all come together, from across a broad geographic range, exchange a diverse range of views and compose a vision we all have ownership of, we can impact the big, systemic issues we might previously have considered unreachable.

That's why I spent last week down at the Eden Project in Cornwall (quite the conference venue!) for my very first Anthropy UK National Gathering as part of the Big Change community delegation with Imogen Morrall, Emma Redfern and Zoe McGhee. It was my privilege to represent the voices of the young people I have worked with in Blackpool - both on Emoco C.I.C, as well as our Youth Advisor team and Blackpool Youth Council - in conversations with a range of national leaders.

I have:

✅ Collaborated with the Anthropy Emerging Leaders Alliance to create our Charter, which includes ideas around an education system that values the whole person, not just grades. That has an assessment system that measures young people's skill development through sincere interests. And that has options and, in turn, hope, for the more vocationally-gifted young people, like our Compass Curriculum. This will be shared with the Minister for Youth.

✅ Took part in a national leadership consultation, calling for shared, collective ownership over systems and British society as a whole, just like our Blackpool Youth Leadership Blueprint calls for "a system collectively owned by all stakeholders, including young people."

✅ Contributed to a discussion on the barriers holding young people back from opportunity. We discussed how society often focused too much on young people's deficits and what they can't do, rather than what they can, and doesn't give all young people the opportunity to prove what they can do. We also spoke about freedom from expectation and how we can ensure all young people feel free to pursue their sincere interests. We spoke about the importance of redefining success away from material wealth, high qualifications, or whatever society says to whatever each individual young person sincerely wishes for. Our pledge wall is below.

✅ Finally got a chance to meet the amazing Lily Mott of Be the Change Media Network and took part in her pop-up podcast, talking about what brings me joy and spreading the word of Emoco and the culture of wellbeing.

The networking was fantastic and I look forward to following up with a range of folks soon (hello to all my new connections - there are too many of you to list!) and it was good for me to get a stock take on the state of play in the social impact sector at the minute as the Director of a new, purpose-led organisation. Plenty of food for thought to take away.

Thank you so much to Big Change and the Anthropy Emerging Leaders Alliance for giving me this opportunity. I probably wouldn't have done it without the support that was provided.

One week on from the Tia's Crown Mental Health Champion Awards at Viva Blackpool, it’s lovely to be able to share these photos of a memorable evening.
Thanks again to all the team at Tia’s Crown.
Images by Lucinda Herbert.

I've arrived at Eden Project in Cornwall for my first Anthropy UK!
Thank you once again to Big Change and the Anthropy Emerging Leaders programme for getting me here.

Systems are made up of people. When we all come together from across the system and collaborate, we can shift the dial on issues previously thought untouchable.

Anthropy is an absolutely HUGE gathering, and I've signed up for a number of workshops and fishbowls where I'll take part in discussions and directly collaborate with innovators from across the country on some of the biggest issues facing Britain.

It's also a good chance to listen and gain expertise around to help grow the new Emoco Community Interest Company.

Thanks to Big Change for sharing my blog post.

"I swore I'd never return to my old school."

Andrew Speight did return and he brought a wellbeing movement with him. With support from Big Change, Andrew founded Emoco to bring students, teachers, and parents together to put wellbeing at the heart of school life.

Read his blog and experience the power of hope 💚

👉🏾 https://www.big-change.org/insights/the-power-of-hope

🏆 Two awards ceremonies in one week!

Last week, I was a finalist in both the inaugural Neurodiverse Business Awards in London for Young Leader of the Year on Wednesday, and the Tia's Crown Mental Health Champions Awards at Viva Blackpool on Friday. Here, I was a finalist in both the Educational Impact Champion and Young Community Champion awards.

🌟 I successfully won the Young Community Champion award at the latter ceremony on Friday, demonstrating the impact Emoco has had on improving mental health and wellbeing in Blackpool schools. Again, this is a collective effort, as no one person can shift the dial on the profound wellbeing challenges we face as a society alone. I look forward to reporting the good news back to our co-production groups after Easter!

It was truly an honour to be considered amongst the competition we had. At the Neurodiverse Business Awards, it was a pinch-me moment to see Emoco listed on the guest list alongside major organisations such as Microsoft, AstraZeneca, Sky, NatWest, the BBC and ITV, Virgin Media O2, BAE, Salesforce, Ocado, Nuffield Health, Lloyds Bank, NHS England and others.

It was lovely to meet new contacts and grow our network. The timing of these events couldn't have been better in terms of raising Emoco's profile, as they coincide with many other opportunities we've had this month.

Given how early in its life Emoco is, the fact that we're already winning awards and getting nominated in the big leagues shows not only its potential, but validated the impact the movement for a culture of wellbeing has already had. This recognition is imperative as I look to take Emoco forward, with exciting new partnerships in the pipeline that will help take it to the next level.

If you'd like to join the movement, let's have a chat and see how we can co-create a culture of wellbeing in schools far & wide, together. You can message me on here or email me at [email protected]

🚌🧳 Next stop - Anthropy this week at the Eden Project in Cornwall with Big Change (And then, a highly anticipated two weeks off to mark my 23rd birthday on Sunday...)

Tonight I’m attending the Tia's Crown Mental Health Awards in Blackpool. Delighted to be in a room full of inspirational people and businesses.

🚄 Next week, I have the privilege of heading down to the Eden Project in Cornwall for Anthropy 2026 with my Big Change family, supported by the Anthropy Emerging Leaders programme.

In many conversations I've been having recently, people have been asking where they can look for hope and for leaders who are actively building a better future. Anthropy is a gathering of exactly those people. For three days, I'll have the opportunity to collaborate and forge new alliances in discussions on youth opportunities, education and employment, as well as place-based solutions that work with communities, not doing things to them.

📜 And, on Friday morning, the Emerging Leaders will be putting together our Charter, that will spell out how we intend to collaborate going forward to have the biggest impact possible.

I'm looking forward to bringing all the insight I've gained from our work in Blackpool down to Cornwall to explore how we can help scale the impact that our work is having.

Alike with the Festival of Education last July, this is one I've wanted to do for a couple of years now, so thank you to Big Change and the Anthropy Emerging Leaders Alliance for getting me there.

👋 If you're also heading to Anthropy and fancy meeting up next week, let me know and we'll find some time over the three days for a chat!

We're going to Anthropy! 💚 Come say hi!

And while you're there, don't miss Emma Redfern, founder of Studio Self-Made and member of our community, joining Andrea Cooper, CEO of Ferdinando & Luigi Innocenti Foundation, for a panel packed with inspiration and joy. This one is on Thursday 26 March from 5.30pm. Don't miss it. 🙌

Arrived at the Neurodiverse Business Awards - looking forward to an interesting and inspiring evening.