Worry Eaters make all the bad things go away…
I have always been an outside the box thinker and therapist since the beginning of my days of working. My friend Amanda Patterson pointed that out in her recent blog about Life’s Onion and how it was helpful in her practice. My newest find is something I cannot seem to stop using, or RAVING about!!!! These are magical little creatures that have invaded my office and are now invading the homes of my clients everywhere. They are called worry eaters!!!
Don’t know what a worry eater is? That’s ok let me explain. I was sitting around one night looking into different ways to work with anxiety, and recipes for using essential oils for my clients to feel better, when I typed in worry and anxiety, and up came this little cartoon of characters that looked so cute I had to click on it. I am naturally curious, and I just wanted to know more. So I get to the page by the toy company and there is this great video of a Licensed Clinician talking to children and adolescents about their worries and anxieties and what would it be to get it out of their systems, and how they could use these magical little creatures. Of course I thought her tactic was cute, but I wanted to come up with my own way of doing things. So off to find my Worry Eaters I went!!!
First I found them on Childtherapytools.com which is great but can be quite expensive considering shipping etc. Then I looked through Amazon, and I got confused because so many were different and was coming from the UK. I ordered 1 initially and got it into my office. The first day it was a hit! I brought it out at the end of session explaining to a 17 year old teenage girl that the anxiety she complains of is mostly bottled worries and things she keeps inside of her at all times, kind of like in the movie harry potter, and just like in the movie we have to remove it to help us feel better. She sat for 15 minutes compiling a page of 25 things that worried/gave her fear (anonymously) then fed them to the worry eater. I was able to get a small worry eater for her to take home and during her next session she wanted to fill up the worry eater at the end of session again, and this time a new list was there, with 20 new items. This past week she took home a small worry eater (ENO) and she is filling it until she sees me next time so she can put the worries with her bigger worry eater. She loves it and stated her big worry family takes care of her worries, so her little worry family can get her through the week.
Today I tried working with an adult and the worry eaters, and it was just as well received as with the teenagers. I found my client engaged and looking forward to putting away her troubles and sorrows, her worries and her anxieties. She was happy to get it off her chest and stated at the end, now no peaking. It was great!!!
No matter how old you are, or how old your client’s are the presentation of something new makes the difference. I can say I have my worry eaters all sitting together on a chair, and they are the worry family at this time. But the client’s seem to enjoy it and think it’s great. For now that is what it is. The worry family to help you get better!
Let me know if you have any great ideas or want to know more!!! Message me anytime at info@awakenedmindllc.com
worry eater family