Question: how naughty were you at school? why are you so interested in helping children with anger problems?

Alice Jones Bartoli answered on 13 Jun 2011:

Thanks Sophie…
I wasn’t that naughty, I got into trouble for wearing blue nail varnish and not wearing my uniform properly, and I was a bit bad at answering back, but I wasn’t awful.

I started working with children with difficulties when I was about 16, I did work experience in a school for children with lots of different disabilities, I helped out on summer schemes for children with autism, and then did work experience at a school for children with behavioural problems, I loved doing this work. The teachers were incredible, working in pretty challenging circumstances and often getting a ton of grief and abuse from children (and sometimes parents), but they were so determined to create a safe space for the students, it was inspiring.

Seeing children who have behavioural problems day after day, you realise that these children are far more than just their anger and aggression – they are small people with tough lives, and I wanted to understand why things were so tough for them, and what we could do to improve things. Learning that a child who is screaming and kicking people is trying to communicate that they are upset, frightened or angry was pretty powerful – and so we try to teach children how to recognise how they feel and how to tell people about it.