Articles & Resources

Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Journal Prompts for Anger

Journal Prompts Journalling can help us to calm our minds by structuring our thoughts. Journal prompts help us to explore different aspects of our lives and develop a deeper understanding of them. By taking time to deeply think about different concepts, we can find peace, solutions or identify areas for support. Journal prompts are questions

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Behaviour
Nicky Edwards

The Value of Promises

What is a promise? Promises. When we are little we little, we are repeatedly asked ‘do you promise?’, or told ‘I promise we will….’ or ‘I promise we can…’, but what is a promise? In the dictionary, a promise is defined as: (n) a declaration or assurance that one will do something or that a

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Journal Prompts for Self-esteem

Journal Prompts Journalling can help us to calm our minds by structuring our thoughts. Journal prompts help us to explore different aspects of our lives and develop a deeper understanding of them. By taking time to deeply think about different concepts, we can find peace, solutions or identify areas for support. Journal prompts are questions

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Neurodiversity
Nicky Edwards

8 ways to support children with ADHD in learning

So often, when talking about children with ADHD we hear words such as ‘daydreamer’, ‘distracted’, ‘absent minded’ and in the worst case scenarios words such as ‘lazy’. However, ADHD is, at its heart, an aversion to boredom. Long periods of sitting, listening, with no action create heightened levels of boredom, and in doing so further

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Reframing Adversity

Adversity: When we experience challenges and adversity we can find ourselves trapped in spirals of limiting beliefs or negative thinking ‘why me?’ ‘nothing even goes right’ ‘the world is against me’ etc etc. If we learn to reframe the adversity to look at what it taught us, as well as what we are grateful for

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Behaviour
Nicky Edwards

Why do children lie?

A frequent issue which is presented in my coaching and therapy work surrounds lying. Parents and carers will frequently ask why their child is lying and want to stop it from happening. However, whilst lying is often labelled as a behaviour issue, it most frequently has other causes lying beneath it. So, why do children

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Safety Circle

Emotional Safety Feeling emotionally safe means that we have the freedom to feel creative, dream and explore. This means that we are in en environment that feels safe physically, emotionally and socially. Including; having people that we can trust, can be open and vulnerable, feel listened to and heard, show kindness to ourselves and others,

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Emotions & Feelings
Nicky Edwards

Can you stop yourself eating marshmallows?

Over the summer we saw a trend on social media of parents (and some dog parents) placing marshmallows (or dog treats) on a plate in front of their children and leaving the room to see what their child did. The internet was consumed with joy as they watched these videos of small ones looking round

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Coping Strategies

Finding effective ways to respond to our feelings supports children to develop their confidence, self-esteem and independence skills. When we are able to effectively react when our emotions feel overwhelming, we also build resilience. So, this week we are sharing 16 coping skills, to share and explore with children, to support them to build their

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Behaviour
Nicky Edwards

Why ‘Behaviour’ is a set of clues

Behaviour is, in its simplest form, a set of SYMPTOMS. Behaviours are an indicator that something else is happening inside the child, that we need to identify and help them to work through. Behaviour is a response to feelings. Behaviour is a way of communicating needs Feelings come from an inner need in the child

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: My Feelings Diary

My Feelings Diary Learning to recognise the nuances and unique differences in our feelings is an important component of emotional literacy development. So, we are sharing a simple feelings diary which includes some aspects of positive psychology to support children’s emotional skills development. Download here  Next steps Download the feelings diary HERE  Review each section

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Self-esteem
Nicky Edwards

5 ways to boost self-esteem

Self-esteem refers to the value that we place on ourselves. This includes our self-worth and levels of self-respect and influences our thoughts, feelings and behaviours, as well as our emotional well-being. When our self-esteem is high we can find that we are more receptive to our connections with others, feel more satisfied in life and

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Explore with me

Taking time to support children to link their feelings and causes together supports them to recognise what is happening. Many children have a limited repertoire of feelings that they can understand, and therefore we want to start with the simplest and then slowly support them to recognise the nuances between them. So, once we understand

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Emotions & Feelings
Nicky Edwards

What is alexithymia?

What is alexithymia Alexithymia is a psychological condition by which an individual is unable to identify and describe their own emotions and recognise them in others. This means that the individual finds it difficult to understand and express how they are feeling which can influence their social and emotional development, as well as their connections

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Activities
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Therapeutic Colouring

Free Downloadable Colouring Download here  Free Activity So, this week, our free activity is a downloadable mandala colouring sheet, so you can unwind together. Why not make it a family affair and all have a go…. Download it here  Print it off Grab some colouring pens or pencils Relax and unwind   Want to learn more? 

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Child Mental Health
Nicky Edwards

Why we need to be aware of diagnostic overshadowing

Whilst traditionally a term used in more  medical environments, over recent years the recognition of diagnostic overshadowing has increased. Diagnostic Overshadowing occurs where a child (or adult) symptoms are attributed to their previous diagnosis rather than exploring their cause, meaning or what they relate to. Diagnostic Overshadowing was first coined in 1982, by psychologist Steven

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Parenting
Nicky Edwards

Children’s Activity: Back to School Plan

Back to School The return to school is always met with a mixture of excitement, nerves and uncertainty. This can mean that we become caught in our fight or flight mode, and struggle to think logically. Having a plan can help children to feel back in control, as well as validate their feelings and support

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Neurodiversity
Nicky Edwards

Autism and its links to anorexia

Please note the information in this article is not medical advice and should not be taken as such. If you have a concern about a child’s eating behaviours please ensure that you speak with a medical professional  Autism In my therapy work, I frequently work with young people with anorexia. Many, but not all clients

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