Red2Blue Moments that mattered in 2024

We started working with Harrow on a programme to become a Red2Blue school. We have been working with Richard Finch, Director of Sport at Harrow and Mark Ramprakash, Director of Cricket, who are considering incorporating Red2Blue mindset development into their sports department and school teams, and perhaps into their PSHE agenda too. Martin took to the stage in Harrow’s stunning auditorium to introduce Red2Blue to 200 sports students, demonstrating how they can develop their mindset using the framework to help them to cope under pressure in those moments that matter.

We began our Red2Blue programme with the girls at the Udana charity in Kathmandu. Our Red2Blue materials are helping the children, who are all orphans or from troubled backgrounds, to build mental resilience. The girls are learning how to communicate with each other using Red2Blue as a shared platform to express how they’re feeling when under pressure. The goal is to help them to make good decisions together when times get tough, whether that’s in exams at the school or in day-to-day life. This is part of Red2Blue Legacy, our foundation built to support individuals, charities or groups who may not have the resources to access Red2Blue commercially. You can find out more about and make a donation to Udana here.

We began our three-year commitment to help LexisNexis become a Red2Blue Organisation. Working with Dean Curtis, CEO, and Matt Barker, Head of Performance at Lexus Nexus, who are both Advanced Red2Blue Coaches, we are rolling out a programme to train 2000 employees in Red2Blue. The programme is being implemented with the help of 14 Certified Red2Blue coaches within the organisation, with the goal of helping staff to develop the mindset needed to build a culture of resilience, and to perform under pressure in the moments that matter.

We hosted an Education Summit with Kerry Inscker and Nick Heard-Jones from the Shaw Education Trust, a growing Multi-Academy Trust providing education to children of all ages and all abilities. The summit took place in April at Kidsgrove Secondary School in Stoke, where we spent a full day discussing the impact of Red2Blue in education. Because the Trust’s settings are so varied, implementing Red2Blue is not simply a case of a one-size-fits-all solution, but requires a bespoke programme for each school. Red2Blue is making a difference by developing a common language for children and staff to use to approach any issues that present themselves.

We began working with Safeline, a specialist charity that works to prevent sexual violence and abuse and supports those affected to cope and recover. As one of the charities Red2Blue Legacy supports, we introduced Red2Blue to all of the Safeline team members in July, and later provided Red2Blue Coach Certification for all the Early Intervention and Prevention Services team. They have been using Red2Blue to develop their own mindset skills within the team, and to help the survivors of sexual abuse. If, like us, you’re moved by the incredible work Safeline does, please consider making a donation to the charity here.

Red2Blue coach and ambassador Adriana Brownlee became the youngest woman to climb all the world’s highest peaks. Adri’s challenge, to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks, began three and a half years earlier, when she achieved her childhood dream of climbing Mount Everest. She completed her final 8000m+ summit, Shishapangma in Tibet in October. A Certified Red2Blue coach, Adri uses the Red2Blue toolkit to cope with the pressure that accompanies life-threatening situations like summiting one of the 8000m peaks.

In November, Martin and a group of friends embarked on an exciting adventure – the Everest Base Camp Trek. They were accompanied by mountaineer and Red2Blue ambassador Adriana Brownlee, and together the group used their Red2Blue mindset skills to help them keep going when things got tough. And it certainly was tough! But it was also an exhilarating and humbling experience to be in such breathtakingly beautiful surroundings.

Adventurer and Red2Blue ambassador Louis Alexander also achieved a Guinness World Record this year, as the first and fastest person to run marathons on all Seven Continents and swim marathons in all the classical Seven Seas. His challenges are motivated by his desire to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer’s research, in memory of his grandfather. We’re delighted to see Louis achieving an amazing feat for an incredible cause! 

We’d like to give a shout out to our Director of Coach and Product Development, Alejandro, who is always improving his skills. In March, he became an EMCC Accredited Coach, an internationally recognised award in professional mentorship/coaching. In April he achieved a Mental Health First Aid qualification with MHFA England and became a Mental Health First Aider for the RSPH. Last month Alejandro gained a Critical Thinking Certificate with the Project Management Institute.All this, while excelling at the day job and continuing to develop his mindset skills with Red2Blue! Well done, Alejandro!

Red2Blue ambassador and F1 ACADEMY driver Abbi Pulling has enjoyed an outstanding season and has established herself as a dominant force in the series. At the penultimate race in Qatar, she was crowned the 2024 F1 ACADEMY champion, only to have the title revoked when organisers decided to add a new race to the schedule. Keeping a cool head, Abbi reclaimed her title the following weekend in Abu Dhabi. As a result, she has a fully funded seat in GB3 with Rodin Motorsport for 2025. Congratulations to Abbi on an amazing season and a well-deserved win.

Finally, we’re delighted to be continuing our work with Epsom and Ewell, certifying more coaches at the school. Mindset and wellbeing are at the heart of the Epsom and Ewell ethos – it was the first secondary school in the UK to be awarded the School’s Mental Health Award at Gold Standard back in 2018. We started working with head teacher James Newman earlier this year, and the school has seen great results from the implementation of Red2Blue. We can’t wait to get back in there to roll out our Coach Certification with more of James’s team in 2025!