Monique's Story

Monique, Emma and Tiegan at The Place2Talk

Three Year 6 girls came to a Place2Talk session. One girl, Monique, talked about the first anniversary of her cousin's death by shooting, which fell on the same day as her own birthday party. It also coincided with a stabbing on her street the previous night.   Her two friends said they had to request police permission to cross the cordon in order to attend Monique's party and expressed how scary that was.

The three girls then expressed their fears about the forthcoming transition to secondary school and their anxieties about attending different secondary schools in September. Some time was spent in thinking about how to retain friendship networks outside of school, as well as acknowledging the connections they already had within the new schools.

At the end of the session one of the girls asked if she could make another appointment to talk about her parents who were separating.   She was anxious to know who was going to be there for her at home as well as at her new school.