TranslateStories to help children understand challenging topics
Date: 27 September 2021
Talya Bruck, Dramatherapist and CAMHS Primary Mental Health Worker, has created a series of books to help parents have conversations with their children about difficult topics, now available for purchase on Amazon.
“For children with neurodevelopmental or mental health needs, big changes to their routine can be very difficult,” says Talya. “At the start of Covid, I was hearing from a lot of families that were struggling with how to talk to their kids about all of the changes the world was going through.”
This inspired Talya to develop a series of stories that use metaphor to help families, educators and therapists explore difficult topics like social distancing, mask wearing and more.
The original stories feature four friends in the Savanna: Silo, Peter, Hetty and Gerry along with El, the wise elephant, who navigate this tricky time exploring the themes of change, the unknown, friendship, loss and much more.
‘Hetty's in Lockdown’, ‘The Changing Savanna’ and ‘The Return’ were co-edited with Patricia Ojehonmon, Dramatherapist, SWLSTG Battersea Mental Health Team, Southwest London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust. All the stories have been beautifully illustrated by Erin Cooper.
They were released as a free PDF to help families, educators and therapists to support conversations about Covid-19 and are now available on the Savanna Therapeutic Stories Website.
The books were so well received by parents and educators that Talya wrote ‘Silo’s Sadness’ addressing themes of loss and bereavement and it is available on Amazon. She is now collaborating on a new set of books to address more topics, like exploring physical disabilities, addressing racism and parental mental illness.
The second published book titled ‘Talulah’s Rules’ was co-authored by Dr Stella Mo and Rachel Ryan, from the CAMHS team.
Available now on Amazon, it seeks to help autistic children and their families, friends and educators to understand the different ways they experience life and the challenges that can present.
All the money raised through the sale of these books will go to purchase more books for the CAMH service at BEH.
Click here to purchase your copy of Talulah’s Rules and find out more about all of the Savanna Therapeutic Stories here.
- Summary:
Talya Bruck, Dramatherapist and CAMHS Primary Mental Health Worker, has created a series of books to help parents have conversations with their children about difficult topics. They are now available for purchase on Amazon and the money raised will go to purchase more books for the CAMH service at BEH.
