Books

The ‘How to Feed Your Seahorse’ Series of Brain Based Educational storybooks is a proactive response to the increasing number of young people presenting with mental health concerns. This series of books consists of a set of 10 different stories. The stories are directed towards children at primary school age. Each story can be adapted to suit any level of primary school from Foundation to Year 6

Book 1 – Honey for your Seahorse

Honey for your Seahorse. Hippocampal strength and Believing in positive Expectations and Emotions.

In this first book, we are introduced to Orlando the Octopus.  Orlando is the character who emulates a fundamental protective factor of optimism in the development of wellbeing. Activating hope, positivity and perseverance [just to name a few] are conditions which are less likely to trigger the HPA Axis in the brain, which is the stress activation system. Learning, memory and mental fitness are enhanced when stress remains low.

The Seahorse in this book refers to the brain’s Hippocampus. According to neuroscience, this is the brain’s centre for memory consolidation and resilience modulation. So nurturing this organelle in the brain’s limbic system means stronger neural connections in this area. The Hippocampus [seahorse] is impacted neurologically where there is persistent negativity [Automatic Negative Thoughts, i.e., ANTS] or persistent positivity [Believing in Positive Expectations and Emotions, i.e., BEES}. ANTs prompt HPA activation, (our stress activation system) and BEEs protect HPA activation. In summary, the more BEEs we can harness in our heads, the greater the resilience-building capacity. BEEs make ‘honey’ – and in neuroscience, the ‘honey’ represents the BDNF [Brain-Derived Neurotropic Factor] enzymes in the Hippocampus that are responsible for neuroplasticity, neurogenesis and neural strength. ‘Honey’ also represents other important neurotransmitters including serotonin, oxytocin and dopamine, essential for health brain function. In essence, ‘honey’ is food for our neurons.

This “Honey for your Seahorse” is a part of a five-book series.  Click here to purchase the complete Bee Hive Collection.

Book 2 – The Real Story of the ANTS and the BEES

The Real Story of the ANTS and the BEES. Automatic Negative Thoughts and how to manage these through Believing in positive Expectations and Emotions.

In this second book, the concept of the Negativity Bias is explored through Alma the Awful Ant who embodies ANTS (Automatic Negative Thoughts). Negative thinking can come from excessive worry, paying attention to all the deficits or awful things, using unhelpful and catastrophic beliefs, and fearing that bad things will happen.  When ANTS frequently enter our thinking it triggers the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) activation in the brain, where stress hormones rapidly release into the body. From this, children can experience strong physiological symptoms like feeling tight in their chest, rapid or shallow breathing, having a dry mouth or throat, heart palpitating, frequent visits to the toilet, nausea and dizziness. ANTS are abundant when anxiety is high. We teach children to turn their attention to creating BEES – Believe in positive Expectations and Emotions. BEES include helpful thoughts, expressing gratitude, thinking optimistically, remembering positive experiences, or engaging in something they really enjoy. This will release endorphins and help moderate and even exterminate the ANTS. The BEES ensure that resources in the Hippocampus are utilised effectively throughout the whole brain for optimal neural function and learning.

This “The Real Story of the ANTS and the BEES “ is a part of a five-book series.  Click here to purchase the complete Bee Hive Collection.

Book 3 – The Power of z

Book three explores the importance of sleep. Here Sally the Sleepy Sloth demonstrates the concept of Sleep Hygiene, which is the mental and behavioural preparation for “clean sleep”. This period of preparation is vital to help children down regulate through a reduction of stimulus and slow, calming routines for inviting solid sleep patterns.  Teaching Sleep Hygiene is a combination of self-care and mindfulness habits, that through repetition, instruct the primitive and emotional areas of the brain that it is safe to sleep.  Factors that interfere with getting to sleep and remaining asleep can be worries, unpleasant feelings like guilt or fear, physical discomfort like a sore stomach or the feeling of needing to toilet, even though this has been completed.  When the brain detects threat or confusion, from something that happened at school, or with peers, or with family – or even a child’s own perception  of a situation, is all reality to a brain.  A child’s brain requires a sense of safety in order to let go, and fall asleep.  It is important to note that this sense of safety is not determined by the adult, but by the child’s mind.  However, an adult’s presence or absence of calm can significantly impact the child’s alert system in their brain, and sleep can be compromised.  In addition, such night time processes should not become “rituals” where there is rigidity or strict adherence to tasks/steps, but a gentle, soothing and centred approach into bed.

Predictable and calming sleep hygiene routines enable the mind and the brain to prepare to switch off and move into a state of rest.  Encourage slowing down and calming down.  Slow thoughts, slow stretches and slow movements.

This “The Power of z” is a part of a five-book series.  Click here to purchase the complete Bee Hive Collection.

Book 4 – Super Honey

Super-honey in this book refers to BDNF as pictured, which is neurotransmitter responsible for the health and plasticity of the neurons in our brain.  So BDNF is like food for our brain cells.  BDNF can only be created during REM [Rapid Eye Movement] stages of sleep, hence the critical importance of slumber.  Poor sleep is like food deprivation for our neurons, which can lead to neural reduction, and hence impact learning and brain function.

This “Super Honey” is a part of a five-book series.  Click here to purchase the complete Bee Hive Collection.

Book 5 – How Are You Really Feeling?

How Are You Really Feeling?

Book five utilises some of the tools of CBT – Cognitive Behavioural Theory.  CBT is a triangulation model of intervention which seeks to improve mental health.  The three points of the triangle are, namely, cognitions, emotions and behaviour.  Harry the Helpful Hampster introduces emotional literacy, which is the child’s capacity to have a broad and varied vocabulary and comprehension of names to hep identify and label the experiences of their feelings in their body.  This is a significant strategy to ameliorate strong negative emotions and hence assist in the management of anxiety and promote better coping.

This “How Are You Really Feeling” is a part of a five-book series.  Click here to purchase the complete Bee Hive Collection.

Book 6 – The Signals  (coming soon)

In book six, the traffic light model is used to represent the Triune Brain; an approach to understanding the three main system of basic brain function.  The green section is known as the Smart Brain [Neo-Cortex] where cognitive processes such as analysis, problem-solving, planning, selective attention and rational thought are located.  The yellow section is the Impulsive Brain [Limbic System] where a number of closely networked organelles are responsible for emotion, memory and learning processing.  The red section is known as the Primitive Brain [Reptilian Brain] which is fully automated and dominates instinct like survival and threat responses.

The Impulsive Brain is yellow, and happens to be the colour of honey.  Honey is produced by BEEs and necessary for this part of the brain to function well and remain resilient.  The yellow brain is the feeder which helps activate and sustain the functions of the red or green brain, as required.

Under stress or perceived threat, the red brain requires the nutrients of the honey, so the yellow brain is utilised to source this fuel, and so red locks in yellow brain facilities.  However, under safe and connected environments, the green brain requires the nutrients of the honey, and so the yellow brain is utilised to source this fuel, and so green locks in yellow brain facilities.

Given the strong demands for neural resources, a healthy supply of honey [neurotransmitters] is critical.  Therefore minimising ANTS and increasing BEEs becomes fundamental in ensuring mental fitness.

Book 7 – Anxious Moments (coming soon)

When the intensity of anxiety escalates, the disruption to the internal physiological state can be overwhelming, leaving behind a sense of dread or that something bad might happen.  Understanding anxiety from a neuroscience perspective, helps us to better manage these states of anxiety by providing insight into the regulatory system that manages this heightened state: The Autonomic Nervous System.

The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is conceptually made up of two subsystems; the Sympathetic Nervous System which is the flight or flight branch, and the Parasympathetic Nervous System, which is the rest and recovery branch.  Anxiety is a sympathetic activation that raises heart rate, increases rapid breathing, increases perspiration, and reduces resources to the secondary organs like stomach and bladder because all energies are directed toward muscle mobilisation.  Sympathetic activation occurs when Terry’s lights flash yellow and red.

Eudaimonia (state of serenity) is a parasympathetic activation that lowers heart rate, calms breathing, regulates organ function and brings about a state of internal balance and optimal physiological form.   Parasympathetic activation occurs when Terry’s lights flash yellow and green.  Within the parasympathetic nervous system lies a crucial nerve called, the Vagus nerve.  The Vagus nerve links the brain to all the major organs, and when it is well regulated, so is our internal state, and this has been coined by Professor Stephen Porges as, Vagal Tone.  We can help tone our Vagas nerve by soothing, calming and connecting positively with others by using kindness and gratitude.

Book 8 – Fear Of Failure (coming soon)

The method for creating BEEs is the central instruction in book eight.  BEEs are strong protective factors in wellbeing and support higher order learning.  ANTs tend to be made up of rigid, autocratic language, and BEEs tend to be made up of flexible, expansive language.  Clarissa the Clarifying Cockatoo models the importance of approximating language which helps construct the presence and application of BEEs in children’s daily lives.

Book 9 – Hop To It (coming soon)

Exercise is the frontline treatment for anxiety and depression, and in very close proximity is nutrition.  In book nine, we begin to how the characters begin to play out their roles in building resilience.  Kasey the Kind Kangaroo has an apt personality for good food and the exercise is a central theme to the maintenance of wellbeing.

Book 10 – Feeling Fabulous (coming soon)

Book ten is a celebration of character connectedness and the roles each one of them serve to raise resilient lives.  This books amplifies the Consistency Model of Neural Health (Rossouw, 2014) where relational connections, a sense of control and inclusion of positive emotions bring about strong elements of safety, and promote approach behaviours in children so that learning and growth are optimised during their lives.