The Feel Brave Series of Books – By Avril McDonald

Read about Avril McDonald’s inspiration for this amazing series of books

I wrote the Feel Brave Series of books for a couple of different reasons. On a personal level, like a lot of women approaching 40, I had climbed the corporate ladder, had children and started to crave more meaning in what I was spending my time and skills on. I wanted to create something that was both beautiful and that served the world in some way. My heart was knocking to return to my passion for writing and I feared that if I didn’t listen to it, something inside of me would die.

Growing up with panic attacks myself (when little was known about anxiety disorders or mental health, or at all for that matter!), I had felt very alone with it. It wasn’t until I was in my late teens that I was awash with relief when my sister (who was training to be a nurse) came home with some academic information that explained everything that I had experienced. This gave me an insatiable curiosity about the mind/body connection. I discovered such things as neuro-linguistic programming and cognitive behavioural therapy, and found thought leaders such as Tony Robbins who taught me about the ‘Science of Achievement’ (that you can pretty much achieve anything you want to in life if you just find someone who’s doing it really well and ask for their recipe!). I loved the idea that you can find the answer to anything if you just look hard and be brave enough to ask for help.

When my daughter had her first nightmare, managing that came very easily to me because of the strategies I had learned and applied in managing my own anxiety. I listened to her story and then re-told it back to her but made some key changes. We made the scary monster from her dream small and cute which immediately re-framed her feelings about it. This simple cognitive behavioural therapy technique worked so well she wanted me to tell that same story every night until, soon enough, the nightmare disappeared.

I wondered why we often wait until adulthood to find and learn these simple yet powerful techniques and don’t teach them to children when their brains are so fresh and open to learning. From this, Feel Brave was born with the aim to give all children access to the tools that help them manage tough emotions and reach their potential. I wanted to curate all of the great science and research we now have access to and bridge it into the mainstream (without children ever even realising!).

Each book in the Feel Brave Series tells a story about a real life situation that children may face (such as being left out, having worries and anxiety, being bullied or going through change, loss and grief) and offers a really simple solution to cope with it. They are ‘Little stories about big feelings’. I also wrote an accompanying Feel Brave Teaching Guide to help teachers weave emotional health into their classroom.

I hope that children can fall in love with Wolfgang (a kind wolf with a big heart) and his friends and learn some helpful little tricks to take with them and use on their own great life adventures!

Avril McDonald.
July 2016