Therapeutic Stories
JLTS released our first therapeutic story in August 2022, and have plans to publish a number of further therapeutic stories for children covering a range of themes. Our therapeutic stories are fantastically written by Jess Lovibond, with our first three being complimented by beautiful hand-drawn illustrations by Katie Baldock. Our latest stories - Sometimes I Feel... and Once Upon a Shoebox are illustrated by the very talented Gary Nightingale.
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Therapeutic Stories are a great way to safely introduce the concept of difficult emotions or experiences to children.
The events of a therapeutic story subtly reflect events or characters from every-day life so a young person can digest in their own time and find comparisons between themselves and the theme of the story. This allows a narrative to be opened with your young person which may have overwhelmed them otherwise.
Therapeutic Stories should be read to, or with, your young person so that emotions can be identified by them with a trusted adult. With the help of a story, you can help your young person to make sense of their emotions or experience to help them build the skills they need to cope now, or for the future.
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Discover our therapeutic stories that are available now, or request your very own Bespoke Therapeutic Story!
The World's Hairiest Fairy - A Special Story for Understanding Big Feelings
The World's Hariest Fairy is our first therapeutic story, first published in August 2022. It is a therapeutic story that was written originally for a young person who was struggling to understand and manage their overwhelming emotions and Big Feelings.
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The book is intended as a teaching tool to use with children so that they begin to understand that their own feelings are real, valid, and worth talking about. It is a great resource for opening conversations with children about feelings and emotions.
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The story explores the importance of having a good support network of friends and trusted people, as it follows Bear’s journey from being Grumpy and Scary to becoming The World’s Hairiest Fairy!
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It comes with a toolkit included to support the adults reading the story to open conversations with children and it introduces some useful therapeutic concepts such as:
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Emotional co-regulation and self-regulation
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Acceptance
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Challenging beliefs and stereotypes
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The importance of being kind
If you'd like a copy for your school or your own children, The World's Hairiest Fairy is available on Amazon as either a paperback book or as a free downloadable eBook on Kindle Unlimited. Follow the link below to get your copy!
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It's OK Little Fishy
- A Special Story for Understanding Mental Health Issues
It's OK Little Fishy is our second therapeutic story, first published in October 2022.
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The book is intended as a teaching tool to use with children to explore mental health issues. It is designed to help young people understand adults mental health issues.
The events of this short story subtly reflect every day life and allow your young person to digest in their own time, and to find comparisons between themselves and the story. This allows a narrative to be opened with your young person which may have overwhelmed them otherwise.
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It's OK Little Fishy is about a Fishy family with Daddy Fish experiencing some mental health issues.
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Mummy and Daddy Fish explain to Little Fishy how Daddy Fish feels and what they can do to help.
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It comes with a toolkit included to support the adults reading the story to open conversations with children.
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If you'd like a copy for your school or your own children, It's OK Little Fishy is available on Amazon as either a paperback book or as a free downloadable eBook on Kindle Unlimited. Follow the link below to get your copy!
Dexter's Birthday
- A Special Story for Overcoming Worries
Dexter's Birthday is our thrid therapeutic story, first published in December 2022.
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The book is intended as a teaching tool to use with children to help understand and overcome their worries.
The events of this short story subtly reflect every day life and allow your young person to digest in their own time, and to find comparisons between themselves and the story. This allows a narrative to be opened with your young person which may have overwhelmed them otherwise.
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Dexter's Birthday focuses on Dexter the dragon and his mum working together to solve a birthday-related worry.
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As with all our therapeutic stories, it comes with a handy toolkit in the back to help adults to support children to work through their worries together.
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If you'd like a copy for your school or your own children, Dexter's Birthday is available on Amazon as either a paperback book or as a free downloadable eBook on Kindle Unlimited. Follow the link below to get your copy!
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Sometimes I Feel
- A Special Story to Help You Say How You Feel
Our much anticipated fourth therapeutic story - Sometimes I Feel..., is now here! Published in May 2023 and illustrated by the fabulous Gary Nightingale.
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Therapeutic Stories are a great way to safely introduce the concept of difficult emotions or experiences to children.
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The book is intended as a teaching tool to use with children to give adults and children lots of different, descriptive words to begin conversations about how we're feeling.
Who knows, you might learn a new word to describe your own feelings!
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Sometimes I Feel... also includes How (and Why) to use this book for adults.
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If you'd like a copy for your school or your own children, Sometimes I Feel.. is available on Amazon as either a paperback book or as a free downloadable eBook on Kindle Unlimited. Follow the link below to get your copy!
Sometimes I Feel... is also available for FREE with our bespoke Story Sacks! Contct Us to find out how to purchase for your School.
Once Upon a Shoebox
Our fifth Therapeutic Story is here, published in December 2023, and once again illustrated by the fantastic Gary Nightingale.
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Once Upon A Shoebox is a Bespoke Therapeutic Story, written for two young people and their mum.
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We were asked to write a story about shoes, so this book follows the story of a pair of ballet pumps who go an adventure with their owner.
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The story is about the importance of having a good support system and being brave when we need or want to try something new and unknown.
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It explores the themes of being inspired to try new things – even things that seem scary – when we have the support of our good friends and safe people.
We all, but especially children, build our resilience by growing through what we go through. Facing challenges and trying new things takes courage and encouragement. We need to know we can fail safely before we embark on a new challenge, and having a good network of support is essential to us feeling safe to try, knowing that whatever the outcome, it’s ok.
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Mostly though, it’s a story about dreaming big… If you want to try something new, you can. With a little help from your friends of course!
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Bespoke Therapeutic Stories
JLTS also offers a bespoke therapeutic story writing service! Our bespoke therapeutic stories can be written for specific young people with specific challenges, or we can write them for generic use with a whole group / class to cover a particular topic such as:
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Family Separation
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Understanding / living with an adult with Mental Health difficulties
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Emotional Regulation
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And many more!
Each story can be uniquely written and hand-illustrated to appeal to the young person / people it's intended to support.
If you'd like us to write you a bespoke therapeutic story for your child or to use in your setting to support young people, get in touch for a chat.
Sometimes I Need... My Beanie Buddies
- Fun and easy to use activities to help adults support children with their big feelings.
'Sometimes I Need . . . My Beanie Buddies'
is a companion resource to accompany 'Sometimes I Feel . . .'
It is made up of our favourite and most easy to use resources - the ones we use all the time in our work with children and families, to help them understand and develop four key areas of emotional intelligence:
- Building confidence and self-esteem
- Self and co-regulation
- Working through worries and problem-solving
- Mindfulness.
Bespoke Therapeutic Stories
JLTS also offers a bespoke therapeutic story writing service! Our bespoke therapeutic stories can be written for specific young people with specific challenges, or we can write them for generic use with a whole group / class to cover a particular topic such as:
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Family Separation
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Understanding / living with an adult with Mental Health difficulties
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Emotional Regulation
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And many more!
Each story can be uniquely written and hand-illustrated to appeal to the young person / people it's intended to support.
If you'd like us to write you a bespoke therapeutic story for your child or to use in your setting to support young people, get in touch for a chat.
What our readers say about our therapeutic stories
The World's Hairiest Fairy - A Special Story for Understanding Big Emotions
Amazon Customer
“I have used this book to great effect to support children in school with "big feelings". The guidance in the back is so helpful and easy to use. I have also bought a personal copy to support a young family member to explore ongoing "big feelings" of grief. I could not recommend it more highly.."
Amazon Customer
"This book is simply amazing. The story is lovely to read and yet gives such powerful messages to the reader. The information at the back of the book is written in such an easy to read style that helps readers to understand the importance of things such as, listening, sitting with rather than trying to fix, naming feelings and much more. As a parent I found it incredibly helpful. As a counsellor in training I have purchased an extra copy to share with fellow students. I cannot recommend this book enough.."
Parent Feedback
“I've just read Jess' book. I honestly really enjoyed reading it, and the back part explaining things made a lot of sense .”