Blog
Ollie and the Golden Stripe Book Reviews
A readers review Alison has done it again, we join Ollie on the next stage of his journey, this time he discovers Empathy and how he can use it to help himself and others.Alison has a knack for for sharing knowledge through Ollie without lecturing.This book is a must read not just for children though, many adults do not have empathy perhaps the world would be a better and safer place if they did.The phenomenon that is Ollie is growing, he must reach into schools and other agencies that look after young people, please embrace this book. David Thompson -...
Find an 'Ollie' Coach near you
Ollie Coaches Our Ollie Coaches are highly trained, highly experienced therapists in their own rights and now they also know how to speak "Ollie”! The Ollie concept is designed around providing a method and a language that helps children to take control of their emotions rather than be controlled by them. It gives them a way of making emotions real and have substance so that they can choose what they want to feel and how much of that they want to feel. But most importantly why they are feeling it in the first place. So often we say that child...
Ollie Coaches first training day
Ollie Coaches Saturday 2nd July was our first training day for Ollie coaches. And what a wonderful day it was. In the morning we had Ali show us the techniques she uses with kids. This included lots of facial expressions, lots of hand movements, lots of jumping around, sitting on the floor and lots of laughter. Its amazing how adults can do very good impressions of 10 year olds when asked! In the afternoon we got a bit more serious going through the basics of Safeguarding, the responsibilities of being an Ollie Coach and then the opportunities that are...
Ollie and his Super Powers goes into Schools
The Launch of Ollie and his Super Powers. To coincide with the publication of Ollie and his Super Powers, Ali and Ollie went into St Lukes School, Cambridge, on Monday to talk to the kids of the school about how they can use their super powers to help them cope with everyday pressures of being a kid. Unprompted and unrehearsed, one little man wanted to tell Ali about how Ollie has helped him. What the teachers think "I think that Ollie is a really exciting opportunity to help children to explore some of those trickier things...
The Language for Children
Watch what you say - making sure you're speaking the right language Young children are very nominal in their thought process and language skills. By that I mean they either win a race or they lose, they are loved or they are not, its black or its white. They just don't "get" any grey elements of their reality. It’s important to know this and be mindful of it when working with children. They are very literal in their understanding. That's why things like : "your a bad kid" when what we mean is “what you did was not really the...
All behaviour serves a purpose…..
All behaviour serves a purpose I work with both children and adults and the above is very true in both. No matter what someone wants to change because its holding them back or causing them a problem, I can pretty much guarantee that the issue they are struggling with is actually trying to serve a positive purpose for them. Here’s an example. A young lass aged 10 was bought to me because she was suffering from acute IBS. Now IBS can be associated with medical issues which had been checked out and given the all clear, and of course it...
Ollie makes an awesome anchor
We use anchors in therapy to help you get to the emotional state you would like to be in an instant. What is an anchor? Well do you watch any sport? Lets say rugby. The number 10 – the person who kicks the conversions. If you watch an international game, well any game really, the kicker will go through a little routine before kicking the ball. What they are doing is getting themselves in the zone. They are cutting out all awareness of the crowds and the pressure. Chances are they have worked with a therapist like me to do...
How the concept of the super powers came about.
I like to think my body is a democracy but every now and then I have to step in and remind it. See I believe I am made up of parts - like fear, love, willpower, wisdom, and a hundred other parts that make me who I am. Most of the time these parts work well as a team. Fear acts as a body guard and keeps me alert but common sense stops fear taking over. Compassion wants to do good stuff but wisdom stops compassion giving my house away. So, by and large, all these parts of me steer me along...