A Ruddington resident is one of the co-founders of a new project to help families with young children deal with the psychological strains of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Debra Webster (pictured top in Rushcliffe Country Park) is already known to many around our village as one of the organisers of Ruddington Art & Craft Society. Her ‘Emotions Toolkit’ is currently being offered for FREE to village parents and carers of children under five years’ old.
Emotions Toolkit was co-founded with Jackie Wilson, who has been providing self development and empowerment coaching in schools for over ten years. Debra says: “My background is almost 20 years as a primary teacher, specialising in the early years. It was wonderful to see some Ruddington parents attending our free workshops hosted on Zoom back in ‘Lockdown One’. This programme expands on everything you learned there and includes all of the resources you need, including a story video to use with your children.”
She reveals: “We recently received funding through the Small Steps Big Changes (SSBC) community fund to support families due to the challenges faced because of the pandemic. I’m a mum of two and I am so proud of this resource to support the mental health of the next generation. I use the Emotions Toolkit myself all the time.”
Debra explains: “Emotions Toolkit is a valuable resource to support young minds in learning to self-regulate their emotions. We support the whole ecosystem around the child with resources for families, nurseries, schools and the community. Our resources are child friendly and fun and are based on adult mindfulness, yoga breathing and scientifically proven techniques to boost feel good hormones. The great thing about our resources is that they support us as adults as well as the child. We have a story to support younger children and we teach simple the neuroscience around emotions to parents and older children.”
Although the programme is available to everyone through www.positivelyempoweredkids.co.uk, Debra says it’s very exciting that the SSBC funding means that she can now offer it at no cost to 300 parents and carers of children below the age of five in Nottinghamshire. “As I live in Ruddington it’s very important to me that I can support my local community with this fabulous resource. Due to the restrictions on getting together, the ‘Emotions Toolkit Parent Programme’ has been designed to run completely online. It consists of bite sized videos and downloable resources that parents and carers can dip into in their own time with a certificate on completion. You will find out about how emotions affect children’s behaviour, what happens in our brain when we experience challenging emotions and how to support your own wellbeing and your children’s too. You will also get £35 worth of free resources to give you everything you need to use the Emotions Toolkit with your family.”
For parents or carers with older children the programme is also available to buy for £35, which covers costs. Debra says the entire family can benefit. “We encourage talking about how you feel regularly using a simple tool and practising the self-regulation tools and creating a plan for the whole family. We have had some amazing feedback from professional therapists and families.”
All you need to do is complete a quick form by clicking >>HERE<< – or on the box above – to receive access. There is no deadline as such – the free programme will continue to be available until all 300 places have been filled.
Although these 300 free places for under fives have already been secured through special funding due to the pandemic, if other community funds, organisations or businesses would like to sponsor further places, Debra and Jackie would be delighted to hear from you via emotionstoolkit@gmail.com.
