I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Andrea Gordon the other day and she wrote a wonderful piece about my new kids book “Just Like You”. I can’t thank Andrea and The Star enough for having my work featured. If you didn’t get a chance to catch the article here it is.
Childhood anxiety: Just Like You storybook sheds light on what it’s like to be a child with anxiety
May 15, 2012
ANDREA GORDONFAMILY ISSUES REPORTER
Brooke is a little girl who loves to paint pictures, jump rope and play with her friends. But there’s something else she wants you to know.
Sometimes her hands shake, her heart races and she has a gazillion butterflies in her tummy. Often she cries for no reason. All because of the anxiety monster.
Brooke, a fictional character who narrates the new picture book Just Like You, puts into words what it’s like to be a child living with chronic anxiety.
While she isn’t real, her disorder is. And her 32-page illustrated story will likely resonate for many wrestling with the same anxiety monster.“It can’t actually hurt me,” Brooke explains. “It just has a way of making me really worried even when everything is okay.”
Author Darlene Wierski-Devoe, 41, of Milton, writes from personal experience. She also hopes to shed light on what has become one of the most prevalent mental health issues among children.
Her 9-year-old daughter, Sydney, was diagnosed with a social anxiety disorder at age 4 after years of terrors, clinging and crying. Wierski-Devoe, a certified life coach who also has a 12-year-old son, has struggled with anxiety herself.
She learned from experience that one of the keys to coping is having peers, parents and teachers who understand.
