aPLACE4us

EFT has been shown to help adults and young people with test anxiety. Reiki is a genuinely powerful relaxation and stress relief technique being used around the globe today, often in places that serve families. It is advocated by licensed medical professionals.

Metaphor and language can help reframe a child’s experience. The adult world is not a young person’s world no matter how much we might think that it is. Children want love. We all do. We just don’t know how to ask for it or know what to do if we aren’t able to experience it in acceptable ways wherever we may be.

Meditation helps with focus. If a child is distracted, relaxing and then learning to focus may feel extremely empowering. This can allow a child to feel safer and more able to cope with whatever is troubling them.
Movement is a part of every child’s life. When we ask young people to sit still, we are doing great damage. The brain works better when we move. Probably no one knows this better than athletes, dancers, performers, musicians, and great orators, who may have felt repressed in school until they came to some aspect or class that allowed them to express themselves while standing, using their limbs, and moving about the room. Recess is not sufficient for this, although it invigorates the brain and being with fresh air and sometimes an encounter with nature. Physical education, valuable as it is, is not concerned with that which is being addressed in this article.

Educators have a great responsibility toward those they teach, because everything they do and say has a lifelong impact upon their students. For this reason, it is very important that homeschooled and public school children and youth be empowered by allowing them to make their own decisions, within a set structure, and teaching them how to best deal with the outcomes of their decisions. It is important for young people to be encouraged to develop a close relationship with their inner selves, their sense of themselves that they carry inside, and to become aware of reactions and feelings each may have in a group, especially in school.

APlace4Us is committed to helping children through a variety of means. In addition to the above types of activities, APlace4Us has links to other options. Melanie A. Stinson, the web master of this site, has developed art and writing designed to work with young people. She uses children’s imaginations and an attitude of play to enable children to discover what works best for them in addressing their symptoms and concerns. Children may talk, share, write, draw or investigate through nature, working with stones, plants, or images, and learning the language that they speak but may have been unable to articulate to other “grown ups” and authority figures.

The way an artist works with a child is not what a therapist or guidance counselor does, although similar techniques might be incorporated in such sessions. Even though we have greatly evolved, children can still sense a stigma with regard to seeing a therapist or school counselor, or even speaking to their teacher, especially if those around them hold a sense of unease or disrespect for the techniques used by these professionals.

Melanie is looking to connect to those people and organizations who can best help her reach  young people in need of the services she offers. If you or your child could benefit, please contact Melanie. She works with children individually, and her services are geared to your resources. She will speak to you clearly about the situation that she encounters.

An Ohioan, Melanie is available for school visits in northwest Ohio and in New York City (when she is there visiting or arrangements have been made for her to be in the area). She loves to compare notes with teachers about what they notice in the classroom and can often help teachers reach new solutions for the situations that may have arisen.

Through a special long distance technique that can be set up via e-mail or phone, Melanie can work with children who are not in the same location as she is. She has worked with a sick baby in Jakarta and a teen in Virginia who was later diagnosed as having ADHD.

Melanie is hoping to adapt some of her methods as podcasts, DVDs or Internet videos. More information about those will be available in the future.

Please visit The POFFF for some free options young people may enjoy in privacy as they encounter the world of global connection.