Founder Story Continued...

The Work Chose Me: Why I Started Feel Grow Connect

When Everything Changed

When I was 14, I lost my granny the one person who made everything feel safe. That grief was all consuming. But at the time, no one around me spoke about mental health or feelings. There was no space for processing, no words for what I was going through. So instead of feeling my way through it, I buried it. The grief turned into anger, bitterness, and behaviour I barely recognised. I owned that version of myself, and it followed me well into my early adult life.

I always connected well with children, even when I was still figuring myself out. I never had my own, but I was drawn to their energy, honesty, and rawness. It grounded me. But trauma has a way of running deep, influencing how we show up, respond, and relate to the world around us.

A Turning Point

After the Grenfell Tower tragedy, I was given the opportunity to run girls’ group sessions at Kensington Aldridge Academy. We focused on self-love, life tools, and emotional safety. It was real. It was human. And it changed everything. That space showed me just how deeply young people needed support that wasn’t clinical or behaviour-based, support rooted in honesty, feeling, and connection.

In that moment, I knew I had been in the wrong field. This was what I was meant to do FULL TIME.

Building the Vision

I started writing everything down what I had experienced, what I had observed, and how I believed emotional wellness work could look. It became clear to me that so many challenges young people face aren't about "bad behaviour" or "attitude" but about emotional intelligence or more accurately, the lack of space to build it.

Rather than wait for someone else to give me a platform to do this work, I created one. I built Feel Grow Connect as a grassroots practice centred around emotional literacy, self-awareness, and safe expression. After 12 years in a completely different field, I stepped out of my comfort zone and into social care with nothing but a clear vision, lived experience, and the decision to build something from the ground up.

From Idea to Impact

After navigating personal health challenges, I returned to Kensington Aldridge Academy with a new vision: a six-week emotional intelligence programme called It’s Been Emotional. Designed for the real, everyday challenges young people face, the sessions offered a space to reflect, unpack, and grow. Topics include:

• Self-Reflection – Exploring identity, thoughts, and emotions

• Social Media Safety – Understanding online pressure and digital wellbeing

• Bullying – Breaking down the layers of bullying: verbal, physical, emotional, and social

• Text Simulation – Replaying real-life messaging scenarios to decode tone, meaning, and digital communication habits

• Lean On Me – Identifying safe support networks and knowing when and how to reach out

• Final Reflection – Owning growth, building awareness, and honouring the process

It’s Been Emotional has become the signature Feel Grow Connect school programme. It evolved from my original model, In Your Feelings, which now forms the foundation of our 1:1 work at Subari Fostering Agency, as well as with young adults and members of the public that are not connected in an organisation.

Why It Works

This work is growing fast because it’s real. It’s honest. It’s based on what I’ve lived through, and it meets young people where they are: no judgment, no assumptions, no boxes to fit into.

While I lead Feel Grow Connect independently, I am supported by an incredible network of professionals, teachers, social workers, therapists, mentors, headteachers, and fostering agencies who believe in this work and regularly refer into it.

Credentials & Confidence

My growth didn’t stop with lived experience. After years of hands-on work supporting young people through trauma, behaviour challenges, and emotional development. The lived experience came first, and it gave me clarity, depth, and purpose. I don’t just speak from theory I speak from life. And I own that, proudly.

This is not just passion. This is practice, insight, and accountability. I know the frameworks, but I also know the feelings behind them. That balance is why schools, fostering agencies, and families trust me and why Feel Grow Connect’s 1:1 support and school programmes are growing rapidly.

Because young people don’t just need someone qualified.They need someone who’s walked the walk, built the tools, and shows up every time.

Cant wait to work with you!

Siobhan Buckley

Founder Feel Grow Connect