Client: Barnet Council – Early Years Standards Team (BELS)
Service Delivered: Screen Addiction Awareness Training for Early Years Providers
Delivered By: Munur Shah, Founder of Rebel Therapies
The Challenge Facing Early Years Providers Identified by Barnet Council
Working directly with nurseries, childminders, and schools supporting children aged 0 to 5, Barnet Council’s Early Years Standards Team (BELS) have long been responsible for safeguarding, child development, and online safety across their settings.
However, over the past decade, the rapid rise of smartphones, tablets, and constant digital connectivity has introduced a new and more complex challenge. The team recognised a growing need to deepen their understanding of screen use, not just from a policy perspective, but in terms of its real impact on children, families, and early years environments.
Their concern was not simply how much time children were spending on screens, but what children were absorbing from the world around them.
Frontline providers were increasingly reporting patterns that could not be ignored: Parents are arriving to collect their kids while on calls, conversations are interrupted by notifications, and attention is split between child and device.
BELS noticed that these everyday behaviours that are often seen as normal are actually influencing their attention spans, and impacting their emotional development long before they have ever owned a device themselves.
Despite clear guidance around online safety within the EYFS framework, BELS noticed that there still remains a critical gap between policy and lived reality. Providers did not just need rules or frameworks; they needed credible, experience-led insight, practical strategies, and the confidence to support families navigating a world where screens are ever-present.
How Did Rebel Therapies Help?
BELS invited Rebel Therapies to deliver a specialist training session for early years providers and school leads during a network forum.
The session, led by Munur Shah, an accredited executive coach, NLP practitioner, and member of the Association for Coaching, brought something fundamentally different to traditional safeguarding training. Rather than focusing solely on rules or restrictions, the session explored:
- The psychological drivers behind screen addiction
- How digital platforms are intentionally designed to capture attention
- The long-term behavioural impact on children
- Practical strategies to support parents and families
BELS shared that what made the session truly powerful was Munur’s lived experience. By sharing his own personal journey with screen overuse and its impact on his family, the training moved beyond theory and into something deeply human and relatable.
Monika Ali Chowdhury, Barnet Council (Early Years Strategic Lead for PVIs and Childminders/Advisory Teacher – Early Years Standards Team) added, “the context, and his personal stories made it feel real… people really sat up and listened. His personal stories… gave us real insight. The content, delivery, and expertise were fantastic. Our providers are still talking about it.”
The session was co-delivered with Shabazz Nelson, a psychotherapeutic practitioner, accredited coach and behavioural change specialist at Rebel Therapies. This level of expertise, combining coaching, therapeutic insight, and decades of experience in behaviour change, created immediate trust and engagement.
Attendees consistently highlighted the level of expertise demonstrated by both Munur and Shabazz throughout the session. Monika shared, “It was that transferable information that providers could use to support parents and families that really stood out to me… It went beyond ‘they’re too young’ and made us think about the wider impact and the role of parents.”
The Impact of the Screen Addiction Awareness Session
For many attendees, this was the first time the conversation had moved beyond just “screen time limits” and into something much deeper. Early years providers in attendance, many of whom are also parents, began reflecting on their own habits and behaviours.
“It made people reflect not just professionally, but personally… it really hit home.” Monika Ali Chowdhury added.
The session opened up a new level of dialogue across the network, expanding conversations about what else can be done to support the community beyond Ofsted requirements, and into real behavioural change.
Immediate Changes BELS Implemented
Following the training, the team at BELS began taking action. Key changes included:
- Strengthening Parent Support
- Sharing clear, impactful facts about screen use in newsletters and briefings
- Signposting families to trusted support and resources provided by Rebel Therapies
- Opening more honest conversations with parents about screen habits
- Reviewing Internal Policies
- Rewriting screen use and safeguarding policies to highlight the issues they were seeing
- Embedding screen awareness into existing online safety frameworks
- Commissioning further workshops with Rebel Therapies to develop their knowledge
- Provided targeted sessions delivered to specific communities and parent groups
Real Impact at Home
The influence of the training did not stop at the workplace; it also extended into homes and families.
One attendee shared that the session changed her own approach as a parent, particularly when supporting a child with additional needs – “We’ve changed our behaviours as a family… even thinking about what he watches and how we keep things safe.”
Building a Stronger Safeguarding Framework
The training has since had a wider ripple effect across Barnet’s early years ecosystem, with screen awareness now being reinforced through:
- Safeguarding training programmes
- Ofsted preparation and inspections
- Ongoing standards visits to providers
Online safety is no longer treated as a standalone topic. It is recognised as part of a much bigger conversation about child development, behaviour, and wellbeing.
A Trusted Partnership Moving Forward
Following the success of the session, Barnet Council expressed strong confidence in continuing the partnership.
Monika Ali Chowdhury shared that “100%. We would absolutely work with Rebel Therapies again.”
The training did more than deliver information. It sparked curiosity, opened conversations, and empowered providers to take meaningful action in a rapidly evolving digital world.
How Rebel Therapies Can Help Your Organisation
Children are not just growing up with screens, they are growing up watching how adults use them. For councils, schools, and early years providers, this creates a growing challenge that cannot be solved by policy alone.
Rebel Therapies provides expert-led training and support built on:
- Accredited coaching and therapeutic expertise
- Real lived experience of screen addiction
- Practical strategies that work in everyday settings
We help councils, carers, healthcare providers, schools and organisations strengthen safeguarding, support families, and build healthier digital habits.
If you are looking to take a more informed approach to screen use, get in touch to find out how we can support you.