SUCCESS SHOWED ME WHAT WAS POSSIBLE.  STRUGGLE SHOWED ME WHY MY WORK MATTERS.

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I’m Andrea Marsh, a multi-award winning Mental Wellbeing Speaker, qualified professional coach, author and training provider.

I work with parents, schools, colleges and organisations to increase understanding of mental health, eating disorders, self-harm and suicide risk in children and young people.

My work helps people look beyond visible behaviour, recognise when something deeper may be happening and respond with greater confidence, clarity and compassion.

But this work did not begin with a qualification, an award or a training programme.

It began with my own experience as a parent.

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My early career taught me how to communicate, connect with people and hold the attention of a room.

I spent around 20 years working in television, theatre and the performing arts before building a successful career working closely with people from every walk of life in the hair & beauty industry. 

Those years gave me a deep understanding of human behaviour, communication and the stories people often carry beneath the surface.

I later trained as a professional coach, qualifying with distinction, and moved into speaking, coaching and education.

Since then, I have delivered thousands of hours of coaching, speaking and training, written my book Silent Struggles: Beyond the Behaviour and developed programmes for parents, educators and organisations.

 

But the most important part of my work was shaped by something far more personal.

In 2018, my life changed completely. My 14-year-old daughter became seriously unwell with mental health challenges and anorexia.

What followed was a long and frightening journey involving self-harm, suicide risk, repeated crises and almost two years of hospitalisation. As her mum, I found myself in a world I did not understand.

 

I was trying to recognise warning signs, communicate with professionals, make difficult decisions and find the right words to support my daughter when I was terrified of saying or doing the wrong thing.

At the same time, I was trying to keep the rest of our lives functioning.

I felt frightened, exhausted and powerless, but still believed I had to remain strong for everyone else.

Like so many parents, I discovered that while the young person rightly remained at the centre of care, there was very little practical guidance or emotional support for the family trying to hold everything together around them.

 

No one had prepared me for the fear!

No one explained how dramatically mental health and eating disorders could affect communication, relationships and the entire family dynamics. And no one taught me how to support my child without losing myself in the process.

That experience changed me!

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It gave me a deep understanding of what parents experience behind closed doors and how isolating it can feel when the behaviour you are seeing is frightening, confusing or impossible to understand.

It also taught me that resilience is not about pretending to be strong.

Resilience is learning how to keep going while acknowledging the reality of what you are facing.

It is knowing when to ask for help, how to adapt, where to find support and how to protect your own wellbeing while caring deeply for someone else.

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My work combines professional training with lived experience and years of supporting people through difficult conversations and emotionally challenging circumstances.

I am a qualified professional coach and hold:

• Level 2 Self-Harm Awareness and Suicide Prevention

• Level 2 Mental Health in the Workplace

• Enhanced DBS clearance

My specialist areas of work include:

• Children and young people’s mental wellbeing

• Mental health awareness for parents and educators

• Eating disorder awareness

• Recognising changes in behaviour

• Self-harm and suicide awareness

• Early identification and intervention

• Parent and child communication

• Supporting families through emotional distress

• Building parental and family resilience

• Helping educators communicate concerns appropriately

• Strengthening relationships between families and schools

• Supporting the wellbeing of the adults providing care

 

I understand how difficult it can be to recognise what is happening when the signs are subtle, hidden or easily mistaken for ordinary teenage behaviour.

I help parents and professionals explore what may be sitting beneath withdrawal, anger, silence, anxiety, perfectionism, changes around food, school avoidance or emotional shutdown.

My role is not to diagnose or provide clinical treatment.

My role is to increase awareness, strengthen communication and help people feel more confident about recognising concerns, beginning appropriate conversations and taking the right next step.

 

Through my Behind the Behaviour training, I give educators and professionals practical guidance on recognising potential warning signs and responding within their roles and safeguarding responsibilities.

Through my parent programmes and education, I help families understand behaviour differently, reduce unhelpful conflict and create safer, more open communication.

Everything I deliver is designed to be practical, relatable and grounded in real life.

I do not speak about these challenges from a distance.

I understand the fear of not knowing what to do next because I have lived it.

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The people I work with do not need more complicated theory.

They need to feel better informed, more confident and less alone.

My training helps school and college staff look beyond the behaviour they can see and consider what a child or young person may be communicating underneath it.

Educators leave with a greater understanding of:

• Mental health and emotional distress

• Eating disorder warning signs

• Self-harm and suicide awareness

• Changes in behaviour, mood and communication

• How to begin an appropriate conversation

• What language may help or unintentionally cause someone to withdraw

• When and how concerns should be recorded or escalated

• How to communicate sensitively with parents and carers

• How to protect their own emotional wellbeing

 

My work with parents helps them move from fear and confusion towards greater understanding and clarity.

Parents begin to recognise that challenging behaviour is not always rejection, defiance or a failure of their parenting.

They learn how to approach difficult conversations differently, respond more calmly, create healthier boundaries and support their child without carrying everything alone.

Through my book, Silent Struggles: Beyond the Behaviour, my parent programmes and the Resilient Parent Academy, I aim to give families the information and support I wish had been available when my own journey began.

The results are not about promising a quick fix.

They are about creating:

• Earlier recognition of concerns

• More informed conversations

• Greater confidence for parents and professionals

• Reduced shame and isolation

• Stronger communication between home and school

• Healthier emotional boundaries

• More resilient families

• A clearer understanding of where to seek further help

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Sometimes one informed conversation can become the moment that changes what happens next.

I believe behaviour is communication.

I believe the child who appears angry, difficult or disengaged may actually be frightened, overwhelmed or struggling to express what is happening inside.

I believe eating disorders are not simply about food, appearance or attention.

I believe self-harm should never be dismissed as attention-seeking.

I believe parents deserve understanding and support, not judgement, blame or the expectation that they should somehow know exactly what to do.

I believe educators want to help but need practical training, appropriate language and the confidence to recognise when something may be wrong.

I believe early awareness and intervention can make a meaningful difference.

I believe families can become more resilient, but resilience does not mean coping silently or carrying everything alone.

And I believe that when we stop reacting only to the behaviour and begin understanding the person behind it, we create the possibility of connection, support and change.

That is why I do what I do now!

Not because I have observed these challenges from the outside.

Because I have sat beside a hospital bed. I have experienced the fear of not knowing what the next phone call might bring.

I have questioned every decision, searched for answers and tried to stay strong while quietly falling apart.

I know how lonely that journey can feel.

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My mission is to help parents feel less alone, help educators feel better prepared and ensure that more children and young people are seen, heard and supported before their struggles become even harder to reach.

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LOOK BEYOND THE BEHAVIOUR!

Whether you are a parent looking for support, a school seeking professional training or an organisation wanting to improve mental health awareness, the first step is a conversation.​