Abstract

Self-esteem, communication skills, positive thinking, healthy friendships, and dealing with anger, stress, anxiety and grief are all crucial parts of being resilient and having strong life skills.

Join forces with superheroes Steemy, Link, Zen, KipKool, Holly and Hally, Beau and Angel in this 10 session programme to boost resilience in children aged 7—14. Each session focuses on a key theme, and a superhero character helps to teach each skill, from overcoming anxiety to dealing with grief. A creative hands-on activity closes each session, and session summaries and tips for parents encourage children to continue learning and building their skills between sessions. An engaging comic strip story about the superheroes runs throughout the program. Sessions are flexible and easily adaptable for use in different settings and with younger or older children, and include photocopiable worksheets.

This imaginative resource is a complete programme, ideal for teachers, counsellors, therapists, social workers and youth workers.

Stephanie Azri is a clinical social worker from Brisbane, Australia. She has over 10 years' experience teaching resilience skills and addressing early symptoms of depression, anxiety and mental health issues in children and young people. Sid Azri is a freelance illustrator from Brisbane, Australia. As a devoted comic book fan, he particularly enjoys drawing superhero themes.
The main strength of this book lies in its logical, systemic and concise nature. Each session is explained in detail, with a clear rationale for its purpose, and the activities are creative and engaging and of an appropriate length for this age group. The use of a superhero themed comic strip throughout, with characters representing a particular skill, is also a useful way of providing continuity whilst maintaining interest... I would suggest that this is a valuable resource for anyone involved in groupwork with this age range but not exclusively so, as it could also be used by those working with children on our individual basis. The programme encourage children to build strong life skills, manage emotions and communicate effectively, and as such it is an interesting read for parent too. Anything that encourages our young people to have an increased level of self-awareness, resilience, self-esteem, an social and emotional intelligence can surely only be a good thing.
BACP Children & Young People
This visually attractive book is intended as a manual for a structured programme which can be run by organisations and it provides clear guidance on management and structure... This is a useful source of activities to promote better self- awareness and self-confidence in children... Each section also includes weekly tips for parents, with two or three activities to reinforce the module the child is working on... this programme could act as a powerful tool for change for children in need of support.
SEN Magazine

The book is a 10 session group programme which is well laid out and a wonderful resource for anyone working with children. The material covers a number of topical issues such as anxiety, bullying, anger, grief and encourages children to form and maintain healthy relationships. The book uses a CBT framework but also seem to tap into a number of other useful therapeutic approaches.

Although the programme is written for a group, many of the therapeutic tools and exercises within the text could easily be adapted for working with individuals. In addition, the material also includes some very useful tips for parents which sadly, are often neglected in other therapeutic material aimed at this age group.

The material is set out in a way that will appeal to children and provides a nice blend of information giving, practical exercises, and shared activities. It also draws upon all of the main learning styles including visual, auditory, and kinetic which research suggests assist in helping engage children and young people.

Overall, this is a great programme which fits in with the government's "Every Child Matters" initiative and will assist in helping young people reach their goals, develop social skills, self-esteem, and personal resilience.

Laurie Seiler, CBT therapist and author of Cool Connections with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy