Razzamataz invests in supporting mental health

The online coaching session, run by Brian Costello, director of HeadStrong, guided franchisees through what a new normal routine would look like and how to reassure students and talk to them about any worries they may have

As primary and secondary schools open up across the country, one theatre school with more than 50 franchises across the UK, has reached out to support the mental health of its franchisees, staff and customers.

Razzamataz Theatre Schools has been running a number of dedicated sessions with coaches who are skilled in working to improve young people’s mental health and bring back confidence to students after spending months in isolation. Both franchisees and teachers recently attended an online coaching session run by Brian Costello, director of HeadStrong, who guided them through what a new normal routine would look like and how to reassure students and talk to them about any worries they have.

“With a head full of so much information it was so good to listen to Brian who managed to simply make all the chaos in my brain make sense,” said Michaela Crumpton, principal of Razzamataz Bristol North and South. “Brian is engaging and funny but understands the serious issues we face. Thank you to the head office for giving us this opportunity.”

The session focused on practical ways in which principals could continue to inspire both students and staff while instilling new routines in an easy manner without causing distress or discomfort.

Razzamataz Medway teacher Lorna Clark said: “I just wanted to thank you for letting me join the zoom, it was so useful. I took lots of notes and feeling more confident about teaching. Brian is amazing.”

During the session, Brian gave the team some practical tips and advice surrounding the language that they can use to communicate with young people and their parents. This instilled a sense of confidence in each franchisee, enabling them to go and lead their team in a way that will bring the fun back to Razzamataz while ensuring that everyone understands the new safety procedures. Throughout the session, Brian gave examples of simple ways to change habits and behaviour to keep the COVID-secure message but not scare the children or intimidate the team.

Razzamataz has been working for months to support the mental health of their students and ensure a safe reopening for all schools within the Dragons’ Den backed network. Thanks to a COVID-secure audit process that each franchisee had to pass, the feedback from customers has been amazing.

One of the testimonials from a parent at Razzamataz Medway said: “Can I just say how organised it was today. It was incredible, so efficient and really put my mind at ease about sending Emily back to Razzamataz.” This, in turn, has given principals and staff a huge amount of reassurance as Hayley Limpkin, founding principal of Razzamataz Medway explained: “Thank you so much, Denise, for your months of hard work because Saturday was so smooth, so calm and a dream. We really had a great day.” 

Founder and MD of Razzamataz, Denise Hutton-Gosney, has invested in supporting the mental health of the whole of the Razzamataz family throughout the pandemic and will continue to do so to ensure the team has all they need to support young people.

“We have worked with Brian many times before and we know now that it is even more important to have the tools, language and understanding to help students and their families through these unsettling times,” said Denise. “We have actually recruited five new franchisees to our network during the lockdown and are actively seeking to grow our network now that we have everything in place for remote training and support.”