Anxiety attack prompts feelgood books

AWARD-WINNING author Avril McDonald will visit two Palmerston North schools. PHOTO: FRAN HALES PHOTOGRAPHY

New Zealand author Avril McDonald is making her way around the country with her Feel Brave tour, including a few stops in Palmerston North.

The tour will introduce a series of 'small stories about big feelings,' aimed at helping children manage tough emotions and reach their creative potential.

The five Feel Brave books for four to seven year-olds help children deal with real-life situations involving confidence issues, change, loss and grief, as well as managing anxiety, fears, bullying and worries.

One of those, The Wolf is Not Invited, recently won the United Kingdom 2017 People's Book Prize in the children's category.

Avril suffered her first panic attack at eight and says it wasn't until she was an adult that she came to understand the normality of her anxiety.

"When I had that first panic attack, I thought I was dying. I had no understanding of what was happening to me. Then it happened time and time again, yet the doctors made me feel as though I were slightly mad. Mental health was just not recognised or talked about back then."

Since then she has used a range of different methods to manage her anxiety and when her own daughter had her first nightmare, she applied the same techniques to reframe the feelings of fear.

"Then I thought, 'why are we not teaching these same methods to children', and if we did, how do we get that message across to them?"

That was the beginning of seven years refining her stories into what she describes as Peppa Pig meets Tony Robbins. She has developed the characters and children love them so much, they don't realise they're learning methods for managing thoughts and feelings.

"When we name a feeling we can tame a feeling, and it's working so well that clinical psychologists have started incorporating it into their practice, so that is incredible validation," she said. "I am filling a gap by nailing the message and developing emotional intelligence by teaching children how their brain works.

"Had I known about my brain function all those years ago when I was eight, I would've understood what was going on and not been as worried, fearful or felt like I was an outcast. These books will help develop the tools needed to face the things life will inevitability throw at us from childhood all the way through."

She will be visit both Russell Street and Milson Schools while in Palmerston North.

Books can be purchased from the schools.

For more information, go to feelbrave.com