Something had happened in Mary's life, and she elected not to speak to anyone. Even when she started her new school, she was still not speaking. The teachers tried really hard to engage with her, but she just wouldn't speak at all. She was then referred to join in with the group work which we were providing in the school Circle Time. Circle Time is a way of working closely with small focused groups of children usually those who have experienced some sort of difficulty at home or at school such as bereavement in their family, bullying, learning disability or even some form of abuse at home. The idea of the group work is to increase children's speech and language skills, encourage them to participate in expressing their feelings and to promote self confidence and raise self esteem. Mary had been at school for two terms when she joined the group. She was very shy at first and then gradually she began to show signs of silently participating. The staff continued to work hard to give her positive re-enforcement and eventually she spoke to one of the workers. This was a major breakthrough and since that time she has made great progress, formed friendships and settled into school life. Without the Forest Bus therapeutic Circle Time project, this may have taken a much longer time to happen and Mary would have experienced real difficulties.

* Names have been changed for reasons of confidentiality