Occupational Therapy News June 2020 | Page 26

FEATURE COVID-19
Occupational therapist pens book to help
children navigate emotions around COVID-19
© The Scared Gang 2020
The pandemic is an anxiety-inducing event for everyone
to navigate, but for children in particular it can be a
scary, confusing time. To help them understand what
they feel about it and regulate their emotions, Éadaoin
Breathnach, an independent practitioner based in
Northern Ireland, has written a book to help.
The Scared Gang Stay at Home is freely available
online, and sees Éadaoin revisit the Scared Gang
characters she first created for a series of books in 2006
to help children who had suffered trauma and abuse.
‘The latest book illustrates survival behaviours and
the attachment strategies that children use when
they are anxious or feel threatened,’ says Éadaoin.
‘The books are a vehicle for parents, carers and
professionals to help children express their feelings
and fears. Secure children will readily express those
fears with the expectation that parents will come in and
comfort them, but for insecure children, they fear that if
they express their fears that their situation will be made
worse.’
Characters include Frightened Fred, Fired-Up Freda
and Frozen Frank, who describe their response to
threat, and how certain foods and play activities help
them feel better if done with a caring adult.
Adds Éadaoin: ’We did this book now as it’s a time
of huge anxiety globally. We wanted something that
would be readily and freely available for all children.
Some children may listen to the news or their parents
and have huge anxieties without being able to express
it.
‘The book is there as a tool for parents to reassure
children that if they follow guidelines on staying home,
socially distancing and washing their hands, that they
can actually stay safe and keep others safe, for children
this means their parents and family stay safe.’
The book is now available in 12 languages; Éadaoin
has also promoted the freely-available book on the BBC.
Access the book at: www.sensoryattachmentintervention.
com/publications.
14 OTnews June 2020