- Taming Your Lion - Let's raise confident, happy and resilient children!

Fun, self-paced, online therapeutic programme designed by a child psychologist and packed with proven and fun techniques and activities to prepare your child for the turbulent teens and beyond

Watch Intro Video

Is your child struggling with panic, meltdowns or rages?

Give your child the skills they need to get in control of these big feelings with our six week child psychology programme.

30-40 minute self-paced online sessions for children to complete alongside an adult.

Each session is designed and guided by experienced child psychologist, Dr Andrea Shortland, allowing adults to enjoy the journey.

Fun and engaging bitesized lessons to fit busy family/classroom life and short attention spans.

Adults and children learn new techniques; regain a sense of control; reconnect and enjoy quality time together; and grow in confidence.

Give your child the best foundation for possible for entering the turbulent teens and preteens when these things get so much more difficult!

Meet your psychologist

Clinical Psychologist Andrea Shortland

Dr Andrea Shortland is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist chartered with the British Psychological Society and registered with the Health & Care Professions Council. Andrea has worked with children and families for over 20 years and also supervises and trains other psychologists and therapists. She has worked with the media and was an onscreen psychologist for 'WifeSwap the Aftermath'.

Andrea is known for her innovative thinking and compassionate, friendly and fun approach to therapy. Andrea specialises in the assessment and treatment of trauma, anxiety and attachment difficulties in children, adults and families. She combines latest approaches such as ACT and Compassion Focused Therapy with EMDR, CBT, attachment therapies and systemic approaches.

When should we start the programme?

Taming Your Lion can be done while waiting for therapy, instead of therapy or at the same time. You will learn the techniques and exercises used in therapy (but in a more fun way!)

⚡nip problems in the bud before they get more serious and require therapy e.g hitting out or a gradual increase in anxiety, avoiding doing things or obsessive routines

⚡ get a head start and prepare for therapy while you wait for therapy to start

⚡use alongside therapy to have ideas presented in different ways, making therapy more effective (we are happy to send a summary of the programme to your therapist, just drop us an email)

What teachers, psychologists and social workers are saying about Taming Your Lion

Highly recommended to parents and teachers looking for interactive, therapeutic online self-help materials

Dr Laura Smith, Consultant Psychologist, CAMHS; editor of Clinical Practice at the Edge of Care.

Taming Your Lion is a fantastic new programme for children and families looking for online mental health support, developed by the highly qualified and experienced team at Pocket Family Psychologist.

Taming Your Lion offers empowering and engaging support for children and families. Course materials are well-designed, interactive and entertaining.

The programme offers a useful resource for parents and teachers supporting children who may be struggling with anxiety, anger or relationship issues; for early intervention services; and for school-based mental health workers.

The videos and workbooks include fun and accessible content that is underpinned by evidence-based psychological research and practice.

Taming Your Lion is highly recommended to parents and teachers looking for interactive, therapeutic online self-help materials.

Invaluable resource to very many children

Dr David Trickey, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Co-Director of UK Trauma Council

Andrea combines her personal warmth and evidence-informed principles to guide a child and an adult through this programme that helps children to cope with strong emotions.

It is incredibly well put together and will no doubt be an invaluable resource to very many children.

Invaluable programme for children, families and professionals

Fran Thompson Advanced Practice Paediatric Physiotherapist, Whitstable Children's Physio

Invaluable programme for children, families and professionals working with children, navigating growing up in today's world.

It is easy to use contains wonderful language and imagery both visual and metaphorical to help make the intangible landscape of our emotions understandable. More than that it has easy things to do to move families through the challenges they are facing.

Most importantly for me it is clear that Andrea deeply understands children and the experience of childhood and that shines through in her wonderful gentle approach in these sessions.

Vibrant, practical, interactive and developed from evidenced based approaches

Dr Paddy McNally, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Specialist in Trauma and Learning Disabilities

Taming Your Lion is a very vibrant, practical and interactive package that will help young people understand how their emotions work.

I appreciate how the content is developed from evidenced based approaches to help young people take control over their 'big emotions'.

Good mix of activities and visuals - fun, positive, safe, helpful and super easy to understand

Rebecca Cockerton, Specialist Teacher and mum of 7 & 12 year old children, Pilot tester of Taming Your Lion

All feels very positive and safe. Both kids and I liked the visuals. Good mix of activities, it kept you engaged. We all had a really good conversation about emotions at the end of Session 1.

Also, really loving the analogies. Bookshelf and balloon super easy for kids to understand - and adults too I think. A good reminder that we are not our feelings and love idea of having a bag of tricks. Silly songs are GREAT (brought a smile to our faces!) As are getting kids to think about what their superpowers are.

I loved it! Very engaging and accessible

Lucy Willetts, Clinical Psychologist

The animation and audio is fantastic, really engaging. I loved all the things you need to click on etc, very interactive.

It is great to have an intervention that combines CBT and ACT types strategies for this age group. I would certainly recommend it to some of the families I see.

Fantastic! Engaging, fresh and professional

Dr Ananda Van Den Heuvel, Clinical Psychologist

It is fantastic! Very engaging, fresh and professional. I love the interactive graphics. It has a real science-y feel to it but is still light and accessible.

Fun and accessible

Robin Logie, Clinical Psychologist and EMDR Consultant

This programme would be really helpful for children and their parents/ teachers. It is fun and accessible, being presented in bite size pieces. The graphics are fab. The knowledge received and guided practice will be of long lasting benefit to all who take part.

Reviews

From the mouths of our Lion Tamers

5 star rating

The programme was very helpful in giving us a language to...

Deena Tunmer

We both liked the very tactical, practical lion taming tools and the variety of words, music, videos, and interactivity.

We both liked the very tactical, practical lion taming tools and the variety of words, music, videos, and interactivity.

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5 star rating

It helped us to get talking, explore difficult feelings a...

saskia raymond

The course has been a really positive experience for me and my son. I liked that it created space for us to have time alone together and to focus on his feel...

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The course has been a really positive experience for me and my son. I liked that it created space for us to have time alone together and to focus on his feelings, to really think about his fear and discuss it, rather than it just coming in and out of our day as it usually does. My son really liked the interactive bits and the examples of other children struggling with big emotions.

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5 star rating

engaging valuable fun

Rebecca Cockerton

Love the practical tools which are both easy for kids and parents to do and even better they are effective!

Love the practical tools which are both easy for kids and parents to do and even better they are effective!

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5 star rating

Easy to use, helpful and understanding

Rachel weeks

We liked the steps and the party.

We liked the steps and the party.

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5 star rating

Helps a child understand their emotions

Jade Johns

We loved the interactive nature of the programme. The child really benefited from understanding her emotions better. She learnt how to talk about her feeling...

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We loved the interactive nature of the programme. The child really benefited from understanding her emotions better. She learnt how to talk about her feelings. Staff were able to help her apply the techniques to tame these feelings that previously felt too scary to even think about.

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5 star rating

Taming your lion is a very vibrant, practical and interac...

Paddy NcNally

The course has been designed in a way that is engaging for young person and not just teaching material.

The course has been designed in a way that is engaging for young person and not just teaching material.

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4 star rating

Evidence-informed accessible

David Trickey

Andrea's warmth makes it through the screen

Andrea's warmth makes it through the screen

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5 star rating

Fun and beneficial for everybody

Robin Logie

the graphics

the graphics

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5 star rating

Insightful, informative and user-oriented

Anne Gilmour

I found it useful and enlightening and really enjoyed the process

I found it useful and enlightening and really enjoyed the process

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5 star rating

An engaging, high-quality and evidence-based programme, w...

Laura Smith

The course is accessible and interactive.

The course is accessible and interactive.

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5 star rating

Engaging, fun, practical!

Romy Sherlock

Andrea’s explanations, the many coping strategies

Andrea’s explanations, the many coping strategies

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Less than the price of two therapy sessions! £199

We want to make psychological therapies easily accessible and affordable for all families

We know psychological therapy can be expensive, difficult and sometimes unnecessary for busy families to access.

Taming Your Lion gives you 6 online self-paced sessions, our manual and parent guides. You can ad on a consultation with a psychologist.

That is less than the price of two therapy sessions with a psychologist! The cost of 6 therapy sessions with a clinical psychologist is normally somewhere between £500-£720.

Watch Intro Video

Taming Your Lion: Managing big emotions

At Pocket Family Psychologist we are all about bringing the latest psychological ideas and treatments to families in a way that is engaging, accessible and affordable. Our programme is:

  • Based on research from developmental child psychology, neuropsychology and latest evidenced-based therapeutic interventions

  • Time efficient - only 30-40 minutes a week for six weeks

  • Can include the child, the parent and the teacher - we like to cover all angles

  • Gives you the knowledge and understanding you need to manage big emotions

  • Facilitates conversation and connection between you and your child

  • Gives you and your child the tools and strategies to manage big emotions

  • Fun and engaging for children with interactive graphics and bitesized videos

Watch Intro Video

What to expect

on your 6 week lion taming journey

Taming Your Lion: What is covered

  • Deepen your understanding of the psychology of big emotions and recognise when there is a problem

  • Befriend and understand your lion: develop the confidence and skill to feel and manage emotions

  • Personalise the tools and resources - develop your unique map and most effective strategies and share with a teacher or other supporting professional/family member

  • Learn how to support your child with confidence

  • Manage common snags and pitfalls

  • Follow 4 children throughout the programme and learn about their difficulties and journey to taming their lion

Bonus material

  • Parent guide

    Get our parent manual and additional guides and resources to help you best understand and guide your child.

  • Child Lion Taming Manual

    Download our child Lion Tamer's Manual to keep. This ensures your child has all they need to manage big emotions for years to come.

  • Teacher resources

    We provide resources for you to adapt and share with your child's teacher or other professionals. This ensures that everyone important in your child's life is best able to support and understand.

FAQ

  • Is it only for 8-12 year old children?

    The content is designed to suit a typical 8-12 year old whilst still being interesting for parents. Several of our families who tested the programme found they could use it with 7 year olds with a little parent support and explanation.

  • Do I complete the programme with my child?

    It is up to you. We suggest that you complete most of the programme with your child although sometimes we ask you to complete exercises individually. However, it is completely fine if you would like to complete the programme separately. Do what works best for you.

    We think younger children (7-9 years) may struggle to complete it alone and would benefit from adult support to get the most out of the exercises.

    There are some parent specific resources, we will let you know when they are.

  • Is Taming Your Lion therapy?

    Taming Your Lion includes topics, explanations/education, strategies and exercises typically included in our psychology therapy sessions. However, it does not provide the individual attention, assessment and support of a personal therapist and therefore cannot be considered therapy.

  • Are there circumstances in which you would not recommend completing this programme?

    Yes, if your concerns are severe or your child is at risk of harm we recommend you seek the advice of your GP and/or personalised assessment and intervention from a qualified child psychotherapist or psychologist.

  • Could my child and I do this course at the same time as having therapy?

    Absolutely. We first thought about creating this programme as something families could do whilst waiting to start therapy or to support the beginning of psychological therapy.

    We include a resource in Session 6 that you could share with a therapist to summarise the work completed on the programme.

  • How long will I have to complete the programme?

    You have 60 days' access to the programme.

    We allow a couple of weeks at the end of the programme to catch up just in case life gets in the way. We wanted to make sure busy families get around to completing it. You can always get in touch to request an extension if you need a little more time.

Schools and teachers!

Taming Your Lion can be used to teach emotional literacy or provide additional support to students struggling with anxiety and anger

We provide additional support and guidance to teachers delivering Taming Your Lion in schools and reduced costs when buying for groups.

Share content with parents to ensure a whole-systems approach to supporting the child.