Sometimes, as parents we just don’t know where to turn when it comes to supporting our children, teens, or even ourselves with anxiety and low moods. It can be difficult to know where to turn. In Limerick we do have a range of community and HSE services that can work with children, young people and parents across mild, moderate and severe psychological challenges. For more information about the services available in your area go to www.limerickservices.ie.
To enhance these services, Primary Care Child and Family Psychology Service Limerick, has created a Bibliotherapy resource with a focus on supporting children, adolescents, parents and families. When young people are dealing with psychological difficulties such as anxiety or low mood; or if they are facing difficult life experiences such as loss and grief or bullying, it can be challenging for them to make sense of what is happening and challenging for parents and caregivers to know how to best support them.
Bibliotherapy is an established and evidence based method using books and stories to encourage positive emotional and psychological well-being. The use of literature to promote positive mental health has been used for many years and is recommended by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) UK as a helpful early intervention in the treatment of mild to moderate anxiety and depression amongst other mental health conditions. Bibliotherapy offers adults, young people, parents, and caregivers’ helpful resource suggestions to better understand and manage emotional challenges.
Bibliotherapy can offer suggestion, guidance and direction in these situations. For children in particular, reading a story about a similar situation that they find themselves in can increase their self-awareness, help them to learn from the experience of others and can provide them with new ideas and solutions in their own lives. Some of the books included will also provide practical techniques and strategies.
The primary goal of the Primary Care Psychology Bibliotherapy resource is to provide a list of books that can offer a deeper understanding of a particular difficulty, and offer self-help and useful supports to parents/ caregivers, children and professionals. The Bibliotherapy has been curated by professionals in the field of psychology and each book has been specially chosen to help deal with the relevant topic. It is intended as a conversation starter and should be used to open up communication between caregivers and young people. The guide is organised by topic and each topic is then subdivided for the target audience (parents, children, adolescents). Each book is accompanied by a brief description of the book and photograph of the cover.
All of the books included in the resource can be accessed through Limerick Libraries, or through your local library. The first pages of the Bibliotherapy give more detailed information about how to join your local library. You can join the library and borrow books free of charge. Some of the books included in the Bibliotherapy are available through Limerick Libraries in Ebook or Audiobook format. These books will have the appropriate interactive symbol listed beside the description. If the book you are looking for is already on loan or is not available in the particular library you visit, you can speak to library staff in order to request a copy or to borrow the book from another library.
The Bibliotherapy resource is available on the HSE website and can be easily found by googling “HSE Limerick bibliotherapy”.
This article was written by HSE Mid West Primary Care Child and Family Psychology Service, St. This service is a member of Parenting Limerick.
