This post is offered as part of the American Psychological Association‘s Mental Health Month Blog Party today.  Imagery International professionals use Guided Imagery to help clients and patients make desired changes in mental health and medical conditions. We as body/mind workers understand that the two are not independent.  The following article by one of our members, Charlotte Reznick, PhD illustrates how working with a child’s imagination improves mental health and physical symptoms.

Helping Children with Guided Imagery

By Charlotte Reznick, Ph.D.

“Your imagination can help you heal.” This simple and elegant statement was the response nine-year-old Teresa gave me when asked what she had learned from our work together as we were wrapping up our counseling relationship.

Teresa is a beautiful, doe-eyed girl who first came to me a year ago because she was a goody-goody who would always be sweet and kind and never express any negative feelings. Imagine what a wonderful daughter she was. Who would want to change that? Her parents. They were concerned because her younger brother was very expressive—actually a terror around the house—and they didn’t want Teresa to get lost, but to be her own person. They wondered if she harbored truer feelings under the surface that were afraid to come out. And she did.

Teresa lived in a home filled with chaos. Although caring, her parents had serious, volatile marital issues. There was a new baby at home adding to the attention already taken away from Teresa by her four-year-old brother. Nannies were coming and going, partly because mom was in the midst of starting several new businesses. Teresa never knew who was going to show up at school, take her home, or drag her to some almost forgotten after-school activity.

I share some highlights of Teresa’s story with you not because she’s unusual, but because she’s typical. Her problems are the problems of thousands of kids: jealousy of younger sibs, trouble with friends, parents fighting, struggling with academics, grappling with fears of unworthiness, dealing with headaches and stomachaches—to name a few.

In my 25 years as a psychologist working with children from a variety of backgrounds, the most lasting and creative healings have taken place through using the power of a child’s imagination. Many of you may be familiar with some aspects of my Imagery For Kids™ program from AGI’s advanced training modules or previous conferences. My focus is on teaching children to access their inner wisdom; imagery tools offer an easy, fun way to get there.

Teresa’s healing journey began with her trying to please everyone, including me, to expressing herself so wildly and strongly that she got into a lot of trouble, to finally balancing how to communicate her needs, wants, and feelings while also considering other people. Imagery was the catalyst, fuel, and vehicle during this process.

During our final sessions, I was delighted that Teresa easily recounted how she incorporated imagery into her life and made the tools her own. Here’s her advice (with some commentary from me) on how to use eight of the imagery tools.

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On Valentines Day – Everyone Deserves to be Happy

Dr. Charlotte Reznick

Dear Community,

What better way to help a child find happiness than to start within… being her own best friend. When your child has a best friend inside, she can be happy no matter what storms of life are outside. With a strong foundation of self-love and self-acceptance, kids learn to value their own company and integrity over just fitting in.They realize they can nurture and depend on themselves.

Like six-year-old Chloe who ran from the playground because she felt excluded and believed she had no friends.  She imagined encountering a young wizard, Sparkle. who gifted her with a heart-shaped crystal to love herself even if her friends snubbed her, and a star crystal to feel like a star no matter what. Or 11-year-old Luke who had such a low opinion of himself he thought he didn’t deserve anything good and felt responsible to make everyone else except himself happy. He visited The Great Wisdom Library and received a perfect book, “How to Love Yourself.” The first chapter? “Believe in yourself!”

Here are six imagination tips to develop self-love, meet that best friend within, and invite happiness to your side:

Practice Forgiveness: Encourage your child to forgive himself as well as others. Have him imagine what forgiveness looks like, or sounds like. Is it a color, a feeling, a character, music? He can ask,”What do I need to do or understand before I can forgive… my parents, my friend, myself?” Have him bring whatever he imagines into his Heart and notice what happens.

Harness Paper Power: Suggest he put his negative views – his dark feelings and thoughts – on paper. Drawing and writing can be cathartic, a release of your child’s angst. Or perhaps he’d prefer to move out his feelings – hip hop or ballet – whatever appeals to him. Once he can let go of his negativity, it will be easier to create the positive.

Use Gifts Wisely: Allow your child or teen to ask for help and use whatever Gifts he receives from his inner guides (animal friend, wizard, wise person). Some kids have been given special glasses to see the bright side, precious stones to remind them how special they are, and magic mirrors to show them their real beauty.

Play with Color: Have him experiment with the wonder of color. See how breathing different colors in and out alters his gloomly feelings – from red anger to blue calm, black frustration to lavender love, from a closed heart to an open one.

Talk to Yourself Inside – Nicely: Sometimes we have to practice talking positively about ourselves and others. Have your child think of one or two nice things to say about himself, family members, and friends. Make an ongoing list and stick it on your fridge as a reminder.

Praise Progress, Not Perfection: Kids can mistakenly berate themselves for anything less than perfecdt. Help your child recognize small victories and how far he’s come on his road to happiness. By focusing on his efforts and improvements, success follows success.

Click here to read the rest of the article

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Dr. Charlotte Reznick

Dear Community,

I invite my dear colleagues to my Book Launch page to see what’s coming up – .

When you buy a copy,  you can pick up 80+ or so free downloadable gifts when you put in your confirmation number (from Amazon, etc) or receipt number in Step 2 at http://www.imageryforkids.com/book/ And then there are tons of discounts on all the CDs.

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In a recent email from Dr. Charlotte, titled Rescued Chilean Miner’s Kids: How to Help Kids After Trauma, she relates the salient points in an interview with Sheri Reed about her thoughts on kids and trauma in relation to the recent rescue of the Chilean miners.  The article is in a post on The Stir, a CafeMom’s Blog. The complete article can be downloaded here.

This is the take away in her interview with Sheri Reed.

(1) “Those months when the men were underground, the kids were trying to hold it together. And now even though it’s the happiest, happiest moment where they’re safe, it’s now that they can let it out.”

(2) 21 typical child crisis reactions are pointed out. “They (miners) are going to respond differently. So based on how they respond, their families, their kids are going to respond differently. We know that if the parents are okay, kids do better. If their dads or their brothers are suffering more, they’re going to suffer more.”

(3) “For these Chilean children, it’s all about reunification now. ‘Right now, the kids just need to be with their dads, brothers, or uncles’.”

(4) “One way kids can feel better when they feel powerless … is to help others. It could be something like raise some money, even just a little bit, so that (other) miners can have better safety. Donating lunch money, having a lemonade stand… Have some control of making things better in the future for other miners…”

(5) “Our kids in America can (also) send letters to the kids in Chile. You can go to Google Translate and write in English and then translate it into Spanish. ‘Send letters, send cards. They will appreciate it. Knowing… that the kids here are thinking of them, that’s going to make a difference in their life. Helping them feel they’re not alone’.”

(6) “For people in the armed forces overseas in Afghanistan or Iran, similar things happen. You have a dad or a brother over in Afghanistan and every day you’re wondering ‘Are they okay?’ That is continual stress. So (those) kids might send Halloween candy to the troops. This makes kids feel like they’re doing something… It gives a sense of: ‘I can do something. I feel a little bit more in control. I can contribute.’ Kids feel good when they help people.”

From Cafe Mom’s the Stir Oct. 13, 2010

A long time Imagery International member, Dr. Charlotte Reznick is on a book launching circuit talking about her book – The Power of Your Child’s Imagination: How to Transform Stress and Anxiety into Joy and Success. Her book made the Los Angeles Times bestseller list.

Want to learn more about her imagery laden approach to working with children? You are invited to check her website calendar where you will find links to radio and television interviews. She may be speaking in your area. Dr. Charlotte is heading for the New York Times Bestseller list. She deserves the recognition.

You can see her on a recent television show in the San Francisco Bay Area (California).