The Agnus Dei  Teaching School Alliance hosted the Dove Self Esteem Project today, October 18 in Cardinal Manning Hall in a bid to encourage healthy body confidence and positive self esteem in youngsters.

Thirty nine trainee teachers, teachers and support staff from Primary and Secondary Schools across London and Essex from the alliance and beyond heard all about how body confidence affects up to 70%  of adolescents and they heard how low self esteem impacted on their well-being on a daily basis.

They discovered ways to help students gain body confidence and reach their full potential as low body confidence and anxieties over appearance prevents youngsters being the best they can be as well as affecting their health, friendships and performance at school.

Unrealistic ‘ideal’ body images are strewn across social media, television and magazines which cause distress to a lot teens. The Dove project promotes strategies to help deal with this relatively new phenomenon.

Facilitators, Charlotte and Anne-Liesse led the workshop.

Agnus Dei Director, Katie Smith, added: “At the end of the morning’s session, we hope the delegates will feel more confident addressing the important issue of self esteem. In this image conscious age, making teenagers feel better about themselves and giving them the tools to be able to feel comfortable about the way they look is very important and a skill that modern teachers will need more and more.”