'Decider skills' brought to book by Black Isle mental health practitioner; Cognitive Behaviour Therapy informs children's book published by Ross author
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A ROSS-SHIRE mum has published her first book for children on coping with mental health.
Den Keanie (36) from Avoch has had her first book printed about two rats named Max and Lucy in titles Resilient Rattie.
The rats work through the problems they come up against in every day life, by using good mental health thinking called Decider Skills
Mrs Keanie is a specialist mental health practitioner working in the field of personality disorders, and is also a mum of two. She hopes to publish six books in the series, which look at the situations that Max and Lucy get themselves into, and what choices they might make.
Mrs Keanie, who is married to Rikki, said: "In 2017 I was introduced to a set of skills called the Decider Skills, and started to deliver the training to adults in group settings, and later became an authorised trainer to help share the decider skills throughout services in the Highlands."
Decider Skills use Cognitive Behaviour Therapy to teach children, young people and adults the skills to recognise their own thoughts, feelings and behaviours, helping them to monitor and manage their own emotions and mental health.
"These skills have completely transformed not only my practice but also the lives of the individuals that I work with. Time and time again I hear people say: 'I wish I had learned these skills years ago', and that is where the idea for the books came from," Mrs Keanie continued.
"I have two children Rian and Ellie, who are 10 and seven years old, and I wanted to distil down the Decider Skills so that they would be able to use them in everyday life.”
Over the last three years, Mrs Keanie who works full time for NHS Highland, has been sharing the skills with more than 1400 mental health staff, Highland Council and voluntary sector partners.
The ideas for the books quickly came to fruition when Mrs Keanie entered a competition to have a book published.
She said: "I have been thinking about the books for a while, so when I saw a competition to have a book published, I entered it. It was with a newly-founded self publishing company Fi and Books, and they have been amazing in helping me get the books illustrated, edited and published, all within about three months.
"The only thing that has slowed things down has been the coronavirus, I have the books – but all the plans we had have had to be pulled back for now."
A number of groups and businesses already have the book such as Wee Wild Hearts on the Black Isle, and Women's Aid in Inverness.
