BODY GRATITUDE ~ FREE ~ Guided Meditation
During our time here we have just one place to live - our earth suit - our body. Sometimes we are so busy living, doing or surviving that we can forget or neglect our body, which may mean we are forgetting or neglecting ourselves. Noticing can be the first step in...
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I Don’t Have That Badge Anymore – a child free from PTSD
I don't think I have ever shared direct words from any of my clients before. I have thought long and hard about doing it now, and the reason I am sharing what this incredible boy wrote as part of our closing process, was because HE wanted it shared. The idea that his...
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Nutrients change children… and families
I love, love, love it when we give a child the right level of nutrients their body needs. The changes that can come from this simple step are sometimes quietly significant, and sometimes they are so massive they make me want to shout from the rooftops! I just got this...
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What to Say and Do When a Therapist is Absent
What can seem like such a small thing can actually have a massive impact on a child. When a child is working with a therapist in school, when that therapist cannot be there HOW THE MESSAGE is communicated to that child is CRUCIAL. I know from personal experience what...
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The Day I Wasn’t There – how poor communication impacted a child’s therapy
Any professional play therapist working in a school or other setting will have a set of procedures that their colleagues know to follow if, for any reason, they cannot be there unexpectedly. I went through my procedures with every single school who referred children...
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“We Feel Supplements Played a Vital Part” ~ Testimony from Adopting Parents
Those who are familiar with the CHEW ethos, will know that we like to work holistically wherever possible. It is so important as health; physical, mental and emotional well-being IS all connected. We understand how stress impacts a body and wherever we can, we help...
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“I think I’m going to end up in an asylum…” – What PTSD can feel like
... The words from a 12 year old beginning a conversation she wanted to have with me about her sense that she is 'not normal'. Her reasons? "I can see things" and "I hear voices". It turned out that the 'things' she sees and hears are all memories of moments in her...
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“He Bangs his Head on the Desk” ~ When Children Behave in Weird Ways
"And there is another one too.... he bangs his head on the desk." This was one of the things said to me at the end of the Introduction to Trauma training I delivered for schools in Cannock and Rugely last week. So let me ask you - if this was a child you knew - what...
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Hunger in School – Food and Behaviour
It is funny what you remember. I was in a reception classroom this week just as it was heading to lunchtime. The children all lined up at the door, and waited... and with the hubbub of their chatter, and the change in energy in the room as they became more and more...
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Bejewel-ling Communication – A Game to Play with Children
This summer (yes, I know it seems a long time ago now) a friend introduced me to the world of 'Bejeweled'. I am not a big fan of computer games, but I was stuck on a long haul flight to the U.S., and with another 9 hours to go, was happy to explore something new. So...
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What are you looking at? Are you playing games?
You know those games where you get to see 1 small area of a picture and you have to guess who the celebrity is, or where the place is, or what the catchphrase is...? Well I would like to make a proposal... And it is this: - that we would stop playing games with our...
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Occupational Hazard – secondary trauma at work
I don't watch much TV, but yesterday I caught 2 interviews that moved me. The first was a politician in local government who had taken up the cause over the last 2 years, of numerous people who had been sexually abused as children. The second was a firefighter - one...
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