Annie O’Neill has just finished delivering a session in which she has taught year 13 students to manage their anxious “glitter mind” with breathing exercises, CBT techniques and mindfulness. When the school nurse finishes, one of the students shyly shuffles up. After a long pause, she says: “I have a lot of pressure on me. All the time I have a voice in my head saying I’m not good enough.”
The student is a high achiever with an offer at a top university and a supportive family, yet she cannot shake the feeling that although she spends so much time revising, nothing is going in. She has not spoken to anyone else about how overwhelmed she is feeling.
