Children’s mental health & wellbeing: Heather Welch from Edx Education in conversation with Hannah Peckham
Episode 43 – Heather Welch from Edx Education today we will be in conversation with Hannah Peckham, Children’s Author, voice-over artist, Social worker founder Little Bodhi Books.
Hannah first book was Conker the Chameleon who is a little different to all the other chameleons and is desperate to fit in. He goes on a lovely journey, with lots of great messages for children in the book. However, Hannah has just published CLIMB her 2nd book in November which is very exciting.
Today we are chatting with Hannah about children’s mental health and well being, her journey.
Here are the highlights:
{4:35} Dealing with big emotions
{11:03} Learning to embrace our differences
{15:05} The importance of unstructured play on mental health
{18:52} The challenges of working from home
You’re listening to edx education in conversation, Education is evolving, join Heather Welch from edx education, chatting with teachers, psychologists, parents, authors, creatives, and other experts to keep up with the trends and what’s happening from around the. This podcast, series edx education, discusses home learning, school readiness, being creatives, changing in education, discussing what’s next hands-on learning.
Or as we like to say, learning through play.
Heather Welch
Welcome everyone. I’m Heather Welch from edx education. And today we’ll be in conversation with Hannah Peckham, children’s author, counsellor, or should I say, therapist? And Hannah’s released one of her issues released two books now, but her first book was Conker the chameleon. Who’s a little bit different or the other chameleons, and is desperate to fit in.
He goes on a lovely journey and has lots of great messages for children in the book, which Hannah will talk about today. However, as I just mentioned, Hannah has just published her second book Climb, which is another lovely story about an elephant. We’re going to chat with Hannah about children’s mental health and wellbeing and her journey to being a children’s author.
Welcome, Hannah. It’s wonderful to have you here
Hannah Peckham
Thanks, Heather. Thanks so much for having me.
Heather Welch
Can I ask you, Hannah, to introduce yourself to our listeners and what brought you on this journey of being a children’s author?
Hannah Peckham
I’m Hannah Peckham. I’m a mother of one and I am a counsellor.
I’m a person-centred counsellor, um, which is a talking therapy rather than kind directional therapy. growing up, I grew up dyslexic and never really thought being an author was an option for me. Like I used to love writing poetry and creative writing. Expressing myself in that way, but it just really wasn’t in my, I just didn’t think it was an option for me.
Then trained as a counsellor. To become more self-aware and more confident in me and started seeing that maybe dyslexia was a bit. Gift, you know, it didn’t just come with the downsides that, you know, there’s loads of good stuff about being dyslexic as well. And then I had my son and I just realized that there was this key stage of learning when that they’re really little, we often leave them alone to navigate their own feelings and self-regulation, and you know, what helps them when they’re feeling certain things.
And I just thought that was a real gap there. And left to their own devices. They can end up developing negative coping strategies. And I just thought it’s a way to reach young people is to create these books with activities at the back where you can start to help them navigate their feelings and giving them these tools so they can start coping with their feelings.
So that was kind of. Um, that’s the long answer. Would you, rather than the shorter answer,
Heather Welch
I did read that you also did actually do some scriptwriting and some voiceover, so actually, all of the skills have sort of come together with what you’re doing now has being a children’s author.
Hannah Peckham
Yeah, absolutely. I used to write scripts for, and then, so I’d write the scripts and then I’d voice them for the continuity in between programs. So that was, yeah, it was kind of something, something for the ego and something for the soul. My counselling was kind of very different to this kind of more media, um, sense of things, but it has, it’s all come together and tied up really nicely because those skills that I learnt, uh, have, have bought me nicely to, to, to this point.
Heather Welch
I have to tell you, my youngest child has, as you mentioned before he’s having these big emotions and finds it hard to self-regulate. This has been a really hard path for him over and we sort of seeming to be getting there now, especially over locked down. You know, he’s landed with language improved and all these things, but he did have these really big emotions that we’ve been working on and we do, Conker the chameleon.
And we actually talk about the regulation of emotion. So we use the colours and play with toys then talk about them. So it’s actually been quite a good tool for me. Personally to use with my children.
Hannah Peckham
I love that. I mean, but that’s the thing, isn’t it like we all have big emotions and it’s, it’s really difficult to expect people not to have emotions because you know, life is filled with these kinds of appointments, happiness and sadness, and, you know, frustration and, and all that, that stuff. And, and it it’s learning, you know, not to kind of amputate these emotions cause that that’s just not going to happen.
It’s that kind of before. Often, like how do I, you know, lay the foundations beforehand, you know, what helps when you’re feeling like that and what can I do and what can we do? And then obviously afterwards as well, then revisiting it, like, okay, so what went wrong? What happened? And how could I have helped better?
And yeah, it’s just having nice conversations and, and validating them and giving them the opportunity. To look at those feelings, but we’ve concrete gives me a storyline, a pathway to do it because it’s something I can refer back to. That’s not sort of scary, even if it was his failings. Hey, so sometimes they’ll be scared.
Heather Welch
He doesn’t want to talk about it, but if it’s feelings, you can talk about it. Do you understand, you wrote a really nice pathway back to have that conversation about. So I think that he’s read and it’s a really positive story in the end and all these lovely things happen, but it’s not going to venture as well.
I don’t want to give away too much about the story, but listen, I love Conker the Chameleon, can you tell me about your inspiration for the story?
Hannah Peckham
Conker was really my first one. I was actually sitting in. Pregnant. And I was sitting in a therapy room with someone and we were, we talked about chameleons and, and, and it just, it just, I was like, oh, there’s a little story there.
And it just started to grow in my head and I was doing research and I actually found out that chameleons change their colour because of their feelings. And I was like, oh my gosh, like, This is just perfect. So Conker is a chameleon that can’t change his color, and he really wants to be able to express himself like the others, but he has to learn other ways to express himself because he can’t change his color, but also just the chameleons have stopped talking and listening to each other because they think they can just do it by, by looking at colours.
But actually that leads to confusion and, and some, some problems. So, yeah, that was the inspiration. I do. I really
Heather Welch
Do love that because it does. It seems to me, as I was saying to you before I do reach my little boy and it’s, you know, I didn’t actually, I didn’t know that, um, chameleons change their color for feelings because it was scared and they’re supposed to, they’re supposed to change a color into what they’re standing in.
Hannah Peckham
Most people. And in fact, in the book, it does say a common misconception. Where is it? What common myths can search and why chameleons kind of change take place? I can’t remember it off by heart. I’m trying to look for it. But anyway, so most people think chameleons change color to camouflage, and that is one of the reasons they do it, but they do it because of their feelings.
Brilliant. I think.
Heather Welch
What about Climb? How did you, what was your inspiration for this story?
Hannah Peckham
Okay. So when I published Conker it was, quite well-documented that I was dyslexic. Now climb is very loosely based on my experience all my feelings of, of growing up as, as, as dyslexic. I mean, obviously it’s a forest elephant living in, so it’s not, it’s not autobiographical or anything, but it’s about a little elephant who can’t Climb trees. And in the Congo basin, your, your worth is judged on whether you can climb. And she can’t. And that was just a bit like my experience, you know, I, I grew up with a really academic sister and, you know, all my friends and, and I just, you know, I didn’t read a book till I was a teenager and I just, I, I just.
Do what? And it was all in my head. I, you know, like I just couldn’t get it on onto the paper. And it was, it was, it was just so frustrating and, you know, embarrassing at times because I felt stupid. Okay. And so I just wanted to write something that kind of express to young people, you know, just because you don’t fit into that box of worth that everyone else kind of might try and shove you into.
Sometimes you will find your own unique talent and that is going to be. Beautiful. You know, it might not be the happy ending where yet yes, you, the elephant learns to climb a tree because that’s just not going to happen, but she finds her own special happy ending. And I just thought that was something important.
Heather Welch
It’s becoming comfortable with your, your own talents. Isn’t it? you’re a very creative, innovative person, judging yourself on academia, not having these amazing talents, now they’ve brought you on your amazing journey.
From doing voice artists and writing scripts to doing, helping, counselling, then you’ve got the, the books as well. So, I mean, it’s actually, they’ve all these skills are so important to where you are today. It’s kind of made you that human being, but there’s a really lovely, there’s a really good book if you ever had a chance to read it.
And it’s from sir, Ken Robinson he talks about finding your passion and he’s got a whole lot of stories there and he talks about how, you know, say for example, we were over-diagnosing ADHD people, but we weren’t actually finding what they were good at. We’re all judging them. Everyone had to be a nurse or a doctor. People were actually looking at other creative talents and he talks about all these really good success stories where yes, say someone was dyslexic or someone had ADHD, but actually it became a superpower for them. And so, and their superpower wasn’t to become a doctor or nurse or a lawyer, it was to become a dancer.
You know, one of the most creative dancers alive, you know, that’s ever been. It’s done card choreography and all these things. So, I mean, it is one of those things. If you ever have a chance, it is a really good book to listen to, to, to read, to read. It’s called finding your passion by Sir Ken Robinson. Sadly he actually passed away last year.
I think of a long battle with cancer. It’s definitely a good book. If you’re looking at differences in the way that the human brains work and he talks to really lovely case studies in there as well.
Hannah Peckham
I suppose activities at the back of Climb are very similar to what you’ve been talking about in terms of, you know, we are all different in some ways. what makes, what makes you different? What’s your special uniqueness and what do you admire about other people that are different? It’s about broadening those horizons as well. it’s not just like accepting your own differences, but exactly. Oh, the people’s differences. And, um, although they might not be able to do, uh, you know, run as fast as you, they might be an amazing artist, but, but, and we don’t have to be amazing and we can’t be amazing.
Heather Welch
We have to remember is that like our friends. We make friends that aren’t like us that are different and we become, you know, much more eclectic, I suppose community, which is really lovely, but since you’ve become a mum and I suppose, what are your strategies to deal with?
You know, the big emotions of your angels.
Hannah Peckham
Yeah. It’s about laying the foundations. I mean, my son Bodhi, he, one of his first sentences was Conker the chameleon because he, he grew up with me reading it to him every night. I had all the pages before it was illustrated, stuck into another book and I read it to him.
So it’s about like, Laying those foundations and talking to him before his kind of having a complete melt meltdown. And then talking to him and, and, and, and validating him as a human being the other day, you know switched the tele off before it was the end of his, his program.
Not that he watches laser tele, but, and, and he got really upset with me and I suddenly. I suddenly thought, oh my gosh. Yeah, of course. You know, if someone switched my program off before the end of the program, you know, that would really annoy me like, and so I apologized and I think it’s also about, you know, blueprinting your own kind of mistakes and kind of going actually, that was really bad.
Mommy. I’m really sorry. You watched the rest of the program and then we’ll wash your hands and have tea or whatever it is. And also, you know, mommy’s, mommy’s really tired today and I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m really struggling. So let’s all be really gentle with each other. And I’m going to get an early night and have a nice bath and tomorrow we’re going to have a really great day.
So yeah, I think it’s about laying foundations, blueprinting, the, you know, how to regulate your own emotions and how. Take care of yourself and, and talking to them really, but having that open channel of communication, where they understand and understand where they stand with you as well. So it’s not confusing for them.
Heather Welch
I have to ask has Bodhi asked for a chameleon as a pet.
Hannah Peckham
I almost put a little disclaimer in the back of the book saying, chameleons take a lot of responsibility, don’t go out and, suddenly buy one!
Heather Welch
Would it be an extinct animal or, you know, something on the extinction list and people are no, that’s good. So he hasn’t asked. Maybe when, if you ever go to Australia, there’s lots of little, like, I don’t know you there’s these tiny little lizards that lose their tail.
Like we used to call them skinks, if you touch the back of their tail, they lose it. Then it grows back.
Hannah Peckham
Oh, my gosh. That’s amazing. I did. I’ve never, I’ve never been brave enough to it. Cause I did go to Australia for a year. I never touched, I never touched a tale of a fellow that would have frightened. You know
Heather Welch
It’s probably one of those places in Australia’s.
You don’t really touch a snake or a spider or anything like that because you know, 90% of them would be dangerous. I have to say, you know what edx we love learning through play, or as we like to say, play, learn and create.
How important do you think this is to children’s mental health, having that unstructured free playtime?
Hannah Peckham
I think it’s imperative. That’s how children learn best. Isn’t it in a play environment with a multi-sensory kind of environment and yeah. And just that to be allowed to kind of let that. No imagination, just.
Go wild. I mean, in fact, actually in my therapy sessions, um, sometimes with my young clients, we do a lot of play because, you know, you’re, it’s not, sometimes it’s really difficult and in a session to kind of go, right. And now we’re going to sit here for 50 minutes and talk about our feelings, you know like anyone would just run away.
Like it’s, it’s difficult. So a lot, a lot of it is like in, in, in a really gentle. Autistic or, um, with different animals and representing, you know, your family and, and, and how you are and how you’d like it to be different. And that’s all kind of in, um, with, with younger clients. So, yeah, I think play and mental health go.
Heather Welch
Do you think we’re ever too old to play?
Hannah Peckham
I tell you what I have just it’s like someone has breathed like life back into me since having my son, because. You know, you get, I went through the teenage stage of like, just trying to be really cool and, you know, you know, I didn’t really lose that through my twenties and thirties and having, um, my son has allowed me, you know, I love half the films he watches, um, I love playing Duplo.
I mean, Duplo. I had to wait for him to go to bed once because he kept on ruining this thing. I was building, I waited for him to go back to bed and then I was allowed to play with his Jeep, like on my own, I’ll have to play his game for like an hour. It was amazing. Um, and painting and, you know, walking on walls and skipping and, and, and, and, and going outside and making.
And digging the holes and I just love it. I don’t actually know what I’m going to do when he grows up and he doesn’t.
Heather Welch
I think you’ll just have to hear, you just have to play different games that have to be, you can go to board games, you can go to twister, you can go to twister with my oldest son, things like Twister and actually to be fair, he’s got his brother there’s quite a big age.
We still go back to messy play and I hate to, and he loves it. He still gets involved. He’s actually my oldest, one’s the messier one than the little one it’s quite funny. And one of them is really structured and focused. The other one’s just really all over the place and loves it, but has the best time of his life.
Brilliant saying that when, you know, when I look around, all I see is mess, but when they look around, all they see is look at the fun they’ve had for the day. You know? So it’s that the totally different eyes are seeing it in a different way, but, you know, they, hopefully he doesn’t lose that sense of play for a long time.
Hannah Peckham
I’ve always hidden. Like I love hiding. That’s the one thing I didn’t lose too. Like I just, unlike by I’m quite good at hiding and we have a really small house. We want to be moving house, but, um, I found the best hiding place the other day. So, um, I don’t think he, he welded. We all hide from each other quite often.
I think he just thinks it’s what all people do because now, you know, now, now when we see people, like he runs off to hide and people are like, oh, what’s he doing? It’s like, oh, we were highly does in this family.
Heather Welch
You’ve been hiding. So when you’ve been working from home over the past time with everyone at home, have you all had your own little hiding spots? So when you actually need to work, you can. Tucked away in a nice little corner.
Hannah Peckham
Uh, yeah. I mean, what yeah. Working from home was, uh, has been, uh, well, has been tricky, just got back into I’ve just started seeing clients face to face.
That was more tricky. I actually went for a while to live with my mum during the first lockdown. And I was doing a lot of my work from one of her cupboards. Um, I was in, I was in a cupboard they wrapped around me. So, so yes. Yeah, we should be moving soon.
Heather Welch
It’s been an adventure. I was reading a story that someone bought like a little, camper van and put it out the front of his flat in London and got a parking thing. And that’s where they worked from because they just couldn’t work within the house with three kids at home.
As he said, it would never be large enough. So it was quite funny. So people have been very young. Innovative in the way that they’ve worked. I’ve been on lots of phone calls where, or even we’re on a, um, we’re hosting a webinar the other day, and a lady was in her wardrobe and she’s, she did just openly say, excuse excuses.
It’s the nice part of my wardrobe, but it’s actually the best sound in the whole of that. And spirit everyone. There’s about 300 people watching is she’s doing this really funny.
Hannah Peckham
It really is. I actually, I went, so when, cause I was doing voiceovers for television, when we first went into lockdown and we were, they suggested it.
First of all, they tried my car. They said, look, either do it in your car. Cause that’s a bit like a voiceover booth. But because we live in the country, like you could hear all the bads and like. Um, so, so then I had to move to, to inside, yeah. Inside of wardrobe with a DV and the tail. And then I actually either set up my own little kind of voice booth when, when it, when, when it went on for a bit longer, but, um, inside of wardrobe or inside a car is the best sound.
Heather Welch
I’ll remember that next time, but can I ask you for someone that’s looking at maybe even becoming, not even becoming an author, but writing a book or just doesn’t really have the confidence to do it yet? What would you say to them? Because this is something that you’ve managed well, that you’ve, you’ve just published two books.
Heather Welch
Conker is an award-winning book and also climb has known, the good toy guides been recommended. So you’ve done really it’s an amazing job. So what advice would you have with someone that’s, you know, maybe thinking about doing this?
Hannah Peckham
I would say. Just do it finding the time and I’ll get it. I didn’t even know the full story of Conker. And the first time I wrote it, it was very different to how it is now. So just get it down and if it’s not, you know, it’s a, it’s a process, you know, if if it’s not right. Put it away for a bit and then get it back out.
And it does take, take time. And, and also I bought the, um, writers and artists yearbook, and that was like my Bible when I was getting to the stage where I was thinking of sending it to publishers and stuff, that was kind of a really good little, um, book to have by my side. So yeah, that’s my top tip.
Heather Welch
Well, thank you so much.
It’s really lovely. I think, look for me, climb, I’ve actually got climbed for my son for Christmas, We still do the Rainbow Pebbles with Conker as well. So we still use the Edx Education It does, as I was telling you works really well with one of my sons is at sort of the perfect age. He’s four and he has got big emotions. Really beautiful emotions, but there are some big ones and then he stops and he’s just, he’s learning that self-regulation but he can understand if you talk about in a third party, like a Conker rather than Eddie, because otherwise for him wants to con confrontational and that’s when he won’t talk to you.
So it’s been a really good tool for me, not only a learning tool, but his older brothers read it to him as well. So it’s, it’s actually really sweet. I should take a photo and send it to you
Heather Welch
They do really well but listen, thank you so much. And I would really appreciate if you could if you could tell anyone on this listener where they can find Conker and climb, cause we’re coming close to Christmas and holiday season and also starting school as well.
So, you know, be a really good book for someone who’s starting school and you know how to get in touch if they can, can they get in touch with.
Hannah Peckham
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Yeah. obviously, it’s, uh, on Amazon, but there are also some smaller shops,, that sell it. yes, but has just started stocking.
I know if for teachers and stuff, they, they, uh, stock it as well. But yeah, Amazon is, is the Easier one. Um, and there’s also some little small, independent bookshops and gift shops as well, but, um, if you want to, um, check out that there’s my website and also I’m on Instagram and there are loads of links. And I often run competitions and stuff as well sometimes to, um, Give a copy away. So come and find me there. And I’m sometimes on Twitter and I do have a Facebook page as well. So I’m kind of, or I’m all over the place virtually.
Heather Welch
Thank you so much. It’s lovely having a chat with you today and have a really nice, I hope you get a break over the new year and have some time with your family, especially, it sounds like you’ve got a house move coming up too.
So I think we all need a break with that, but lots of hiding spaces seem to be.
Hannah Peckham
I can’t wait, thank you so much for having me. It’s been, it’s been wonderful and I, you know, we first spoke back when, Conker was launched and you were such a font of knowledge and honestly, you are great.
You’re my little angel. So thank you for having me on and thank you for, um, giving me your time and expertise. Oh.
Heather Welch
Hannah, we look forward to, we look forward to working with you again with climb, and I think Conker such an important, such an important story and messages, and so is climb. So you better keep up.
This is amazing work for everyone
Hannah Peckham
Just before we go, you were talking about, uh, Australia and I travelled there for a year and, um, the rainbow lorikeets might be making an appearance. Conker next chapter, but that’s, that’s, that’s just a little secret for you.
Heather Welch
I’ve got lots of books on strange Australian animals that you could include.
If you ever need any research, I’ve got lots. I’ve been trying to indoctrinate my children to actually Australian animals. Cause neither of them have grown up there.
Well, I look forward to reading it, take care. There are so many exciting developments happening right now in Edx education would love to hear from you. So do get in touch for subscribing to our podcast, which is available on apple or beans, Spotify tune-in and so many more. This podcast series is brought to you by Heather Welch from edx education.
She’d like to say let’s create lifelong learners.
