This book is from the reminiscences of Reddy Red Squirrel who hoped and dreamed of having a sibling. Reddy describes her own story:

"This is a story about when I really wanted a sibling, wanted somebody to play with so much! And one day I got my wish! My own adoptive parents brought home a newer, younger sibling.

"Soon after Little Grey Squirrel came to live with us, I felt disappointed. It seemed that having a little brother was not exactly what I had hoped.

"My parents noticed I was feeling disappointed, frustrated, and angry. They recognized that I really felt very jealous. They kindly asked me about my feelings. They helped name my jealousy. Jealous of the attention and the seeming importance of the new little brother."

In this primary caregiver (parent)-child therapeutic story the parent uses DDP-PACE to stay connected with the child's feelings. Reddy's parents noticed and named her feelings of disappointment as her hopes and dreams for a sibling were not as she expected. Through the story they offer Reddy acceptance, curiosity and empathy.

Together they explored her feelings of jealousy when her new sibling joined their family. The book walks parents and children back and forth through, the feelings of jealousy. Reddy, the already-adopted child initially had no words for her feelings. The parents saw that the behaviours at home were their child's best effort to ask for help with new confused feelings. Acting younger, she returned to earlier developmental stages trying to re-establish inner stability and security. Reddy showed her feelings in anger, sadness and worry. Through connection and co-regulation her parents helped her make sense of her jealousy and understood how she needed them by her side.

The book features full colour illustrations throughout.

About the Author

Nikki Linfield trained initially as a primary school teacher and then a youth worker while training to be an Art Psychotherapist. While working as an Art Psychotherapist at CAMHS she undertook additional training in Dyadic Developmental Practice (DDP). Through this training her interest in working dyadically grew and she undertook her DDP practicum.

Nikki developed a greater understanding of how her individual practice at CAMHS as an Art Therapist was missing a link to the child's key attachment figure and losing a potential for change and co-regulation.

DDP is an attachment-based therapy developed by Dan Hughes.

Nikki has looked at the dyadic training that is being offered now through BAAT and wanted to share some of her experiences of blending DDP into her Art Therapy. Nikki's shared this in her work with adopted families where a child has experienced early childhood trauma and significant disrupted attachments. In this work, she used story writing to work with jealousy.

Book Information
ISBN 9781839527869
Author Nikki Linfield
Format Paperback
Page Count 40
Imprint Brown Dog Books
Publisher The Self-Publishing Partnership Ltd
Dimensions(mm) 146mm * 189mm * 4mm