The 10 worst things to say to your children:
SleepTalk™ Case Studies
Click the links below to read about specific case studies
Bushfire Affected Families
Joane is currently a member of the Yarra Valley Practitioners Project (YVPP) This is a group of professional therapists offering their pro bono services to members of the community that have been and still are affected by the 2009 February Black Saturday fires. For more information about the YVPP, view their flyer and newsletter.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Loss, Panic Attacks
I would like to take this opportunity to pass on my thanks to Yarra Valley Practitioners (YVPP) and Joane Goulding for offering the SleepTalk™ program to parents at Middle Kinglake Primary school.
I ‘m the mother of a 9 year old boy and we unfortunately lost our house in the Black Saturday bushfires. My parents also lost their home and together with the loss of the school and sadly, many friends of both mine and my sons, we have felt quite devastated.
We were unable to leave Kinglake on that night and we were forced to battle the fire when it came. This was very traumatic, especially for my son.
In October last year my son developed symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the form of frequent panic attacks bed wetting and eventually an eating disorder which made him unable to swallow many solid foods.
My son began to see a child Psychologist who helped him with many aspects of his PTSD, as did the school councillor. My son was still having trouble with separation anxiety, processing worries, bed wetting, confidence, being in large crowds, going to sleep and general happiness.
I didn’t know anything about Sleep Talk but I needed some way to help my son and after reading the information from Yarra Valley Practitioners I thought it was worth a try. Having the sessions in Kinglake made it possible for me to attend.
The change in my boy is amazing! I noticed a difference in him after only one week and he gets better every day. The separation, crowd and sleep issues have disappeared and there are improvements with his bed wetting. The thing that has meant the most to me is to see his confidence and happiness returning.
I have passed on Joane’s details to a friend who lost her husband in the fires and who has a boy who has not responded to other forms of counselling and is understandably very distressed.
I look forward to continuing to work with Joane, and I will be forever grateful to her for helping me to help my son.
Thank you for making this program available to assist our emotional recovery.
Adoption, Foster Care, PTSD, Discipline
Earlier this year, a number of opportunities were offered to our School to help families affected by the 2009 bushfires, among them, The SleepTalk program. As foster parents of a young, severely traumatised child we were interested to find out more about this program and in June attended our first SleepTalk session.
There are many "fix it" programmes out there and naturally we were a little sceptical about looking at yet another one. However, from the outset we found we connected strongly with Joane and after a brief introductory session we decided to give it a go. At least, we thought the programme could do no harm; at best, that it could really help.
We were not expecting the positive impact that this program was to have on the child in our care. We have now been using the process for almost six months with fantastic results. The behavioural changes and "happiness" that have become part of this child's life are a joy to see.
From a child who had quite severe PTSD symptoms and oppositional behaviours, and on whom normal methods of discipline had little effect, she is now calmer, happier and less intense. Although still a handful, she now initiates daily tasks and even enjoys them!
The constant, quiet, affirming nature of this program has benefited not only the child but also us as caregivers. Just repeating the individually designed phrases each evening gives rise to a feeling of calm at the end of the day.
Sincere thanks to Joane and her team for the ongoing encouragement and support, via email and phone calls, we have had throughout the time we have been associated with the SleepTalk program.
Release of Stress and Developing Calmness
My family used the SleepTalk™ for Children process and we have found that it’s very helpful for us as a family to release some of the stress as a result of the bushfire, and to feel calm again in our daily routine. We appreciate the time given by Joane Goulding in assisting the Yarra Glen Community.
Black Saturday – Feb 2009 Bush Fire - Survivor
Nightmares
As we all know the level of stress from the Black Saturday was incredible and as adults its hard to come to terms with it. My 7 year old daughter ‘A’ (the youngest of 4) had a really hard time. She was old enough to know but not old enough to rationalize. The nightmares continue well into May and June, it was only after we had some decent rain did the fear seem to go away. I was thrilled but only to be flawed when the first warm day we had and there was a “control burn” going on in the area did I realize the nightmare was still there. It was about this time I was introduced to the Yarra Valley Practitioners group. I discussed my daughter with the coordinator who advised me of a lovely lady that was helping the children of the area. Judy a professional therapist working with Kinesiology was only more than pleased to help ‘A’, which after the first session she claimed “I am no longer scared of fires, spiders or Lord Voldemort”. Even though we knew it would take longer than one session to help the worries it was a really positive step in the right direction. We are continuing to work with Judy and I am noticing an extra calm within ‘A’ these days.
I am also practicing the children program of “Sleep Talk” and I do believe between the aid of these 2 programs we are making good progress. These angels of assistance are truly a god send to my family.
Y.S. - Chum Creek 2009
