In this new episode, we are so happy to welcome Polly Netto who has been making a huge difference at Beechen Cliff School. With over 10 years of experience, she is the Head of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics, a qualified PSHE Lead and Deputy Head of 6th Form. She is the whole school Mental Health and Solution Focused (SF) Lead - using her SF training and a team approach to plan, review and update annually, schemes of school-wide mental health. Netto delivers whole staff training, incorporates SF in the staff appraisal process, and includes parents in SF conversations. She facilitates assemblies and creates resources for both the classroom and to use one-to-one with young people. In December of 2025, Netto worked with Tara Gretton to deliver training to school counsellors on behalf of the Cypriot Ministry.

Netto's exceptional work demonstrates the impact of developing relationships at school and positively noticing everyone for their personal resources, in a climate where all are valuable and add value. She infuses an intention to notice what's working rather than what's not, and helps staff and students alike, to talk about what they want as a vehicle for individual successes in progressive steps. Netto brings hope to all schools, to experience productive differences when solution focused communication is prioritized. We had a great conversation and hope you will enjoy it as well! Thank you Polly!

#schoolleadership #mental health #wellbeing #solutionfocus #communication #caring #staff #students #parents #success

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Work Collaborative, a not-for-profit movement restoring confidence in schools worldwide. Based on the best-selling book Change Starts Here by Shane Leaning and Efraim Lerner, Work Collaborative helps schools lead change from within instead of relying on external solutions. The collaborative’s approach trusts that teachers, leaders, parents and students have the capability to solve their own challenges when given the right support. If you're interested in solution-focused approaches that build internal capacity, join this global movement of educators at workcollaborative.com.

Instructional Coaching Group is the global destination for coaching in education, including instructional coaching and leadership coaching. Led by Dr. Jim Knight, ICG’s work is grounded in more than 25 years of research focused on improving teaching and strengthening leadership, with the ultimate goal of increasing student success. Through research-based learning and consulting, the Instructional Coaching Group partners with schools and systems worldwide to build sustainable coaching practices and programs that support schools. www.instructionalcoaching.com

The Canadian Centre for Brief Coaching (CCBC) - Founded by Dr. Haesun Moon, is a company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The CCBC provides competency-based workplace training programs as well as coaching and consulting services to organizations across sectors, both in Canada and across the globe. Since its inception as a research body and think tank comprised of graduate students, subject-matter experts and community partners, the CCBC has evolved to provide programs and services designed with Solution Focused Coaching as the fundamental framework. Go to: www.pracademia.com

Family Based Solutions is a charitable organization based in the UK and founded by Ayse Adil and Joe Lettieri. They offer counselling services, support groups, solution focused training, online support and global leadership. They work collaboratively to end the cycle of abuse in families and to repair relationships. Using Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), FBS gives families full control of their healing, alowing families to take small and manageable steps toward their bests hopes. Go to https://familybasedsolutions.org.uk/

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Cynthia Franklin, an internationally recognized leader and one of the 100 Most Influential Contemporary Social Work Faculty worldwide. Highly regarded as a premier authority on Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), Cynthia has spent over three decades shaping evidence-based mental health practice, authoring 16+ books and 200+ publications, and serving as Editor-in-Chief of Oxford University Press’s Encyclopedia of Social Work. She currently serves as the Stiernberg/Spencer Family Professor in Mental Health at UT Austin’s Steve Hicks School of Social Work, with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Psychiatry at Dell Medical School. In this great conversation, Cynthia shares how SFBT in schools works and becomes sustainable when young peoples' needs and wants are prioritized and when leaders support a whole-school approach.

https://socialwork.utexas.edu/directory/cynthia-g-s-franklin/

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Work Collaborative, a not-for-profit movement restoring confidence in schools worldwide. Based on the best-selling book Change Starts Here by Shane Leaning and Efraim Lerner, Work Collaborative helps schools lead change from within instead of relying on external solutions. The collaborative’s approach trusts that teachers, leaders, parents and students have the capability to solve their own challenges when given the right support. If you're interested in solution-focused approaches that build internal capacity, join this global movement of educators at workcollaborative.com.

Instructional Coaching Group is the global destination for coaching in education, including instructional coaching and leadership coaching. Led by Dr. Jim Knight, ICG’s work is grounded in more than 25 years of research focused on improving teaching and strengthening leadership, with the ultimate goal of increasing student success. Through research-based learning and consulting, the Instructional Coaching Group partners with schools and systems worldwide to build sustainable coaching practices and programs that support schools. www.instructionalcoaching.com

The Canadian Centre for Brief Coaching (CCBC) - Founded by Dr. Haesun Moon, is a company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The CCBC provides competency-based workplace training programs as well as coaching and consulting services to organizations across sectors, both in Canada and across the globe. Since its inception as a research body and think tank comprised of graduate students, subject-matter experts and community partners, the CCBC has evolved to provide programs and services designed with Solution Focused Coaching as the fundamental framework. Go to: www.pracademia.com

Family Based Solutions is a charitable organization based in the UK and founded by Ayse Adil and Joe Lettieri. They offer counselling services, support groups, solution focused training, online support and global leadership. They work collaboratively to end the cycle of abuse in families and to repair relationships. Using Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), FBS gives families full control of their healing, alowing families to take small and manageable steps toward their bests hopes. Go to https://familybasedsolutions.org.uk/

Leaders shape culture by what they choose to value out loud. 'Kindness' doesn't always get center stage, but what if it is one of the most reliable indicators that a school community is healthy? We have a moving conversation with Julie Magadance, assistant director for counselling and guidance services in a large urban school district in San Antonio, Texas, and start with a moment from a graduation ceremony that stayed with her - where school leaders highlighted kindness as being the most redeeming characteristic of an entire graduating class, and celebrated the impact to the whole school community.

Having supported young people from ages 4-18 in her capacity as teacher, school counselor and crisis intervention counselor, Julie reflects on how positive character traits such as kindness, unfold for all ages in environments of empathy and connection. As young people grow, the audience gets bigger, the social world gets louder, but the core need for safety, boundaries, mattering and belonging stays constant. Solution Focused conversations and interventions by school staff, counselors and caring adults, help students to support one another as they productively learn in inclusive spaces.

Join Julie's Solution Focused Online Peer Consultation Group which she co-facilitates with Sharon Casey and Erin Cusanno. This group is for school based practitioners and leaders. Go to: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScP0LA0i7yes1SIjaMjibuAP-RO00gxE47e0czLnas9i1OAEg/viewform.

We thank you for listening! Please subscribe, share this episode with an educator or school leader, and leave a review so more people can find us.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Work Collaborative, a not-for-profit movement restoring confidence in schools worldwide. Based on the best-selling book Change Starts Here by Shane Leaning and Efraim Lerner, Work Collaborative helps schools lead change from within instead of relying on external solutions. The collaborative’s approach trusts that teachers, leaders, parents and students have the capability to solve their own challenges when given the right support. If you're interested in solution-focused approaches that build internal capacity, join this global movement of educators at workcollaborative.com.

Instructional Coaching Group is the global destination for coaching in education, including instructional coaching and leadership coaching. Led by Dr. Jim Knight, ICG’s work is grounded in more than 25 years of research focused on improving teaching and strengthening leadership, with the ultimate goal of increasing student success. Through research-based learning and consulting, the Instructional Coaching Group partners with schools and systems worldwide to build sustainable coaching practices and programs that support schools. www.instructionalcoaching.com

The Canadian Centre for Brief Coaching (CCBC) - Founded by Dr. Haesun Moon, is a company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The CCBC provides competency-based workplace training programs as well as coaching and consulting services to organizations across sectors, both in Canada and across the globe. Since its inception as a research body and think tank comprised of graduate students, subject-matter experts and community partners, the CCBC has evolved to provide programs and services designed with Solution Focused Coaching as the fundamental framework. Go to: www.pracademia.com

Family Based Solutions is a charitable organization based in the UK and founded by Ayse Adil and Joe Lettieri. They offer counselling services, support groups, solution focused training, online support and global leadership. They work collaboratively to end the cycle of abuse in families and to repair relationships. Using Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), FBS gives families full control of their healing, alowing families to take small and manageable steps toward their bests hopes. Go to https://familybasedsolutions.org.uk/