Esther Ghey says ‘peace won’t come from the fire of hate’ after riots

The International Conference on Mindfulness, which started on Friday, has been taking place at Bangor University, bringing together experts on mental health to take part.

The event focussed on research, spirituality and the political and global initiatives surrounding mindfulness.

Experts attending the event included the CEO of the Mindfulness in Schools Project, Emily Slater, the director of Teaching and Learning for the School of Phsycology at Bangor University, Dr Thandi Gilder, and the director of the Mindfulness Initiative, Richard Edwards.

Among the chosen speakers was Esther Ghey, who has been attending the talks ahead of her workshops and speech on the final day of the conference.

Esther, who founded Peace and Mind UK after the murder of her daughter Brianna, has been promoting the use of mindfulness training in schools in Warrington and the UK.

Having used mindfulness for the past nine years, Esther is no stranger to using the mental health practice in her everyday life – particularly when she’s about to speak in front of a crowd.

Emily Slater, CEO of the Mindfulness in Schools Project, with Esther Ghey (Image: Supplied)

“I went back to college as a mature student and because I was doing a full-time course, working and had two kids at primary school age I ended up looking at how I could manage the stress and really got into mindfulness,” she said.

“Then I went to university, and I found that it really helped with presentations so it’s being able to reduce that fear and anxiety when you’re actually speaking.

“Don’t get me wrong it doesn’t entirely but it makes it bearable.”

Bangor University, which has hosted the conference, offers a master’s degree in mindfulness, and Esther hopes that similar courses and a curriculum for younger children can be replicated across the country.

“It would just be so great if we could get it across the rest of England and the UK,” she said.

“I don’t think that any children should be left out, everybody should have access to or the opportunity to understand and learn how to take care of their mental health.”

Speaking ahead of her talk at the conference, Esther reflected on the riots currently happening across the UK after the tragic murder and attempted murder of children in Southport.

“I’d like to give my heartfelt condolences to all of the families in Southport,” she said.

“When I heard the news it really really struck home and to see how the riots happened it was really quite disappointing to see because we’re not going to create peace by fanning the fire of hate, we need to step back, and we need to talk – we can’t approach things like that.

“I think if we can teach young people how their minds work and how to create that space before they react then it could prevent this in the first place.

“I just think that the poor children and families that this happened to, it’s just such a disgusting distraction from their grief and maybe if the people that were doing the rioting had mindfulness practice as children maybe they would know that’s not the route to go down.”

Riots have been taking place across the UK after the murder and attempted murder of children in Southport (Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)

Looking ahead, Esther hopes to work with the government and use Warrington as an example of how to ensure that the mental resilience practice can be taught to and utilised by children in the UK.

“I had the pleasure of meeting Sir Keir Starmer before the election and the discussions we had he seemed really quite positive and wanted to know more about mindfulness in schools and what we can do,” she said.

“I think one call would be to look at Warrington and see that we have got more than 100 teachers signed up to this training, and the teachers I have spoken to say we’re in a mental health crisis and that something needs to change.

“I’m open to having more meetings and have further discussions and work with the government to make sure that we can implement this across the rest of England and the UK to improve young people’s mental health and then as a result improve society as well.”