Resilient Transitions: Making Choices
Our brains take shortcuts. Sometimes those shortcuts lead us straight to the wrong conclusion. Building on what pupils now know about ABC and the Gremlins, this lesson goes deeper — exploring how our thinking style shapes the choices we make and the stories we tell ourselves. Through Tia and Tomas, pupils spot Gremlin Beliefs in action and begin to understand the difference between pessimistic and optimistic thinking, not as personality types, but as habits that can be changed. An Observation Test film brings the lesson to life with a surprising demonstration of how easily we miss what's right in front of us — because our minds are already decided. From there, pupils learn to think like detectives, actively seeking multiple explanations for events rather than defaulting to the first (often harshest) belief that shows up. Worksheets give pupils the chance to practise reframing their own Gremlin Beliefs, and the lesson closes with visualised breathing — leaving them calm, grounded and a little more curious about their own thinking.
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Learning Outcomes
Outcome 1:
Understand that the way we think affects the choices we make
Outcome 2:
Explore pessimistic and optimistic thinking
Outcome 3:
Practise reframing Gremlin Beliefs
Outcome 4:
Practise being calm
What's included
A quick look at the classroom-ready resources that come with this lesson.
Contributing Experts
People who helped produce this lesson.
Lucy Bailey
Lucy Bailey is Founder of Bounce Forward and Healthy Minds for Parents. With two decades of experience in mental resilience and emotional wellbeing, and training 1000s of teachers, parents and other adults around children and young people. Lucy is proud of her early career in youth work and children services. Lucy had a poor experience of school and that has driven her passion to influence UK policy to form a positive system of change with psychological fitness at the core. Lucy has directed national research projects (including the Healthy Minds five year study), is certified by University of Pennsylvania, has an MSc in Practice Based Research, a BSc in Social Policy and Criminology, and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education. Her published book Raise Resilience: Teach your teenager well has led to the creation of the Psychological Fitness Nana bridging old school wisdom with modern psychology for parents of the 21st century.
About the Organisation
Bounce Forward is a registered charity on a mission to transform how we think about mental health, shifting the narrative from deficit and crisis to strength, prevention, and psychological fitness. They create evidence-based programmes, curricula, and training that give young people, school staff, and the adults around children the knowledge, language, and daily habits to build genuine mental resilience. From whole-staff training to five-year school curricula, everything they do is practical, grounded in science, and designed to make a lasting difference not just in the moment, but across a lifetime.