Sam’s Big Secret: Coping with Fear

Many children are suffering from anxiety and fears these days, especially in times of COVID and post-pandemic life. Given our current context, having the resources to guide parents and children navigate these challenges becomes so important. Sam’s Big Secret is an ideal therapeutic resource to help children cope with fear and phobias. It teaches children tools to manage fear that is within their control rather than letting fear control them. For this book, I teamed up again with the very talented Elaheh Bos to write this therapeutic resource which is a not only a children’s story about fear but also explains what fear is and teaches seven different coping tools on how to conquer fear. This collaborative effort is a book I am very proud of as I hope it will help many children (and adults, too) feel empowered to overcome their fear!

Sam's Big Secret: Coping With Fear

Sam’s Big Secret Story Synopsis

Sam's Big Secret book. Thinking
Sam Thinking

Let me tell you a little about Sam’s Big Secret. It is a story about Sam, a brave turtle who has a BIG SECRET. He is afraid and even terrified of water. Whenever Sam approaches a pond or river, his heart pounds quickly, he has trouble breathing, he feels dizzy, and his whole body shakes. Sam thinks that he will faint and that something terrible is going to happen.

Sam running scared. Sam's Big Secret book

He tries to calm himself down by hiding in his shell so that he does not have to face the outside world. And as soon as he feels better, he comes out of his shell and tries to get away as fast as he can.

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Anger Thermometer for Children and Teens

Like any feeling or emotion, the experience of anger is subjective.  What is clear is that anger causes distress and in turn leads to reactions and potentially helpful or hurtful behaviours to manage the distress.  The purpose of an anger thermometer (or any other feeling thermometer) is thus to be able to quantify and measure the subjective experience of distress to help create a common language that can then be examined, processed, and discussed.

Anger Thermometers for young children, school age children, teens and adults
Anger Thermometers for young children, school age children, teens and adults

What is an anger thermometer?

An anger thermometer is essentially a tool that can be used with children, teenagers and adults to explore and learn about this challenging emotion.  Just as one uses a thermometer to measure temperature, the thermometer serves as an indicator of the anger temperature or intensity of the feeling experienced within.

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Hello!

Welcome to my website! Thanks for checking it out!! Allow me to briefly introduce myself. My name is Dr. Stephanie Margolese (but you can call me Dr. Stephanie if you like). I am a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in assessing and treating young children to older adolescents and their parents. To find out more, … Read more