Laura is a children's mental health advocate, founder, illustrator, and author of My Emotions Activity Book (MEAB).
Laura created ‘My Emotions Activity Book’ using her watercolour animal illustrations to help her nephew express himself during the Covid-19 lockdown as he suffered from anxiety.
Following the positive response from children, parents, and caregivers, Laura built a website to make the activity book more widely available as a free-of-charge printable.
The book encourages the development of children's emotional literacy skills through creativity and reflection. The activities are suitable for children across different age groups between the ages of 4 -11.
My Emotions Activity Book is widely trusted and supported by many leading childcare specialists such as Great Ormond Street Hospital Play Team, Women’s Aid, Barnardo’s, NSPCC, Kidscape, The Buddy Bag Foundation, as well as by the Kent Police force in their work in safeguarding children and young people.
Laura also works within a Financial Crime Team as a Due Diligence Consultant in the City of London for the American Bank, Wells Fargo, where she also volunteers passionately as a Mental Health Inclusion Ally and as a Program Coordinator within the EMEA Well-being team.
The Journey of My Emotions Activity Book
Supporting Police Custody Work
It was a great honour for Laura to be invited by the National Police Custody Forum to share the inspiring journey of 'My Emotions Activity Book' with Police Custody Teams across Scotland, England and Wales at the University of Sheffield and share the potential in its ability to support children and young people that arrive within Police Custody as a rehabilitation aid and the positive outcomes that the Kent Police Force has found since using it within their work.
The Buddy Bag Foundation Awards - September 2023
On Friday, 16th September 2023, Karen, CEO of The Buddy Bag Foundation, honoured the work of ‘My Emotions Activity Book’ at The BBF 2023 Awards, awarding Laura as a CSR-A Associate.
As an individual, Laura was recognised for delivering social responsibility within the CSR-A Four Pillars of Environment, Workplace, Community and Philanthropy as the founder, illustrator and author of 'My Emotions Activity Book', supporting children to express their thoughts and feelings.
Community - July 2023
'My Emotions Activity Book' supports families with fun and engaging wellbeing workshops on Camberwell Green for the SE5 Forum for the Mind & Body Feel Good Festival. The festival was supported by King's College Hospital Charity and Changing Lives, Lambeth Council's Social Values Fund.
Light in the Lakes - June 2023
‘My Emotions Activity Book’ supports families at ‘The Light The Lakes’ event, which sees teams of police officers, staff, retired officers and police friends light up the famous Wainwright fells of Cumbria in memory of colleagues that have died as well as to raise awareness and donations for the charity Care of Police Survivors.
Supporting Ukrainian children - May 2023
Five hundred children participated in 'My Emotions Activity Book' masterclasses in remote villages in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. The feedback is that the children need the book to express their feelings and talk about the trauma of war. Laura welcomes partnerships in funding to get more activity books to children and families.
MEAB Turns Two - March 2023
‘My Emotions Activity Book’ turns two! Celebrating 730 days of supporting children and young people to open up and express themselves and who they are with freely available resources to nurture well-being and emotional literacy.
Kids Industries - March 2023
Laura attends the family-focused marketing agency Kids Industries Global Family Conference, where Kids Industries shared what they learned from listening to over 5000 families worldwide. Gary Pope (Co-Founder of Kids Industries) also shared his support publically for 'My Emotions Activity Book' with conference attendees.
Greenwich Mencap - Feb 2023
Greenwich Mencap invited Laura to present the story of 'My Emotions Activity Book' to parents and carers for their Greenlights project that supports children and young people with specific additional needs.
Kent Police - Jan 2023
The Kent Police starts an initiative to provide copies of 'My Emotions Activity Book' to children and young people that have arrived in police custody. A project that Laura and ambassador, Vinny Wagjiani are working to develop across police forces in the UK.
Festive Activities - November 2022
Laura launches festive holiday activities for children and young people that support developing empathy and kindness, which include popular Bookmarks and Door Hanger activities.
Empathy Bookmarks - November 2022
As well as the 'Festive Activities', Laura also launches 'Empathy Bookmarks', which have been popular as school lesson and assembly activities for children to gift to each other
MEAB Resource Hub - November 2022
Laura launches the MEAB Resource Hub, which hosts other freely available activities to support children's emotional well-being, such as Empathy Bookmarks, Festive Activities, Lesson Plans, and more.
Meet our new Ambassador - October 2022
Detective Sargeant Vinny Wagjiani becomes an official Ambassador of 'My Emotions Activity Book'.
Bruno the Bat - October 2022
With the success of the 'Friendship Friday Bookmark', Laura partnered with Kidscape once again to create the 'Bruno the Bat activity pack'. The pack features the story of Bruno, a bat who learns that making a mistake doesn't mean he's bad - he's just sad!
Anti-bullying Week - October 2022
'My Emotions Activity Book' is included in lesson and assembly plans for Anti-Bullying Week for children in South East London as a gentle way to talk about thoughts and feelings.
SNA Zone - Amygdala Magazine - Sep 2022
'My Emotions Activity Book' receives support from Ireland's first national magazine dedicated to special needs assistants for its ability to nurture children and young people talk about their thoughts and feelings.
Supporting Ukrainian children globally - May 2022
With the support of online document printer DoxDirect.com the Ukrainian version of 'My Emotions Activity Book' is sent to Ukrainian children free of charge to Croatia, Austria, Germany, Poland, Netherlands, Ireland, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, United States, Spain and Greece, England and Belgium.
Storytime - April 2022
Laura shares her personal story with Givey on how 'My Emotions Activity Book' began and her plans for the future to support children and young people and their wellbeing.
Laura is on the radio - April 2022
Laura speaks to Dotty McLeod on the Cambridgeshire BBC Breakfast Radio show about the activity book's positive impact on children and young people within the UK.
MEAB turns One - March 2022
My Emotions Activity Book turns one! Celebrating 365 days of supporting children and young people to open up and express themselves and who they are.
Elliott Rae - March 2022
Elliott Rae is a husband, dad, speaker, author and founder of MusicFootballFatherhood.com (MFF), the parenting platform for men. MFF is all about open conversations around fatherhood and was described as the ‘Dad’s version of Mumsnet’ by the BBC. Elliott shows his support for the 'My Emotions Activity Book' signposting it to his network.
I am loved - Feb 2022
Laura works with The Buddy Bag Foundation to create bespoke Pyjama sets for children that have arrived at emergency safe housing to have comforting nightwear for their first-night stay using illustrations from 'My Emotions Activity Book'.
City Mental Health Alliance - Jan 2022
'My Emotions Activity Book' is signposted in the toolkit for parents by the City Mental Health Alliance. The Toolkit for Parents is designed to provide an overview of critical topics, signpost further information from trusted sources, and share insights from parents and young people who have been through it. This toolkit was produced in collaboration with CMHA members PwC, Morgan Stanley and the Bank of England and leading mental health organisations Place2Be, Young Minds and The Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People.
Karen Williams OBE named as Ambassador - Jan 2022
Karen Williams OBE becomes an official Ambassador of 'My Emotions Activity Book'.
Community Gallery - Dec 2021
Laura launched a 'Community Gallery' to share images received from the My Emotions Activity Book (MEAB) community. Check out the gallery to see all the latest in what the MEAB community has been up to, and email Laura if you would like any of your images showcased within the gallery.
Promoting friendship - Nov 2021
Bullying prevention charity Kidscape partners with Laura to launch a free printable bookmark that promotes kindness and empathy for the bullying prevention initiative 'Friendship Friday' using Laura's illustration of 'Simran the Seahorse'.
Women’s Aid - July 2021
Women's Aid promotes the 'My Emotions Activity Book' to their Family Support Workers as an activity to thoughtfully support the children and families they work with.
Suicide prevention - June 2021
The Jordan Legacy signposts 'My Emotions Activity Book' in their website's help and resource section to support parents and carers worried about their children.
Supporting vulnerable children - June 2021
The Buddy Bag Foundation adds copies of 'My Emotions Activity Book' into their resource packs for family and child support workers working with vulnerable children who have entered emergency care.
Hospital Play Teams - May 2021
Many hospital play teams across the UK, including Great Ormond Street, share and use the 'My Emotions Activity Book' with their patient families.
Wellness for Educators - April 2021
The National Education Union invited Laura to present how the activity book can support lesson plans in school.
The beginning - March 2021
Laura created ‘My Emotions Activity Book’ to help her nephew in the UK lockdown articulate his feelings. Laura started to share the activity book outside of her network. With the positive response from children, parents and caregivers, Laura built a website to make the activity book more widely available as a free-of-charge printable resource.
My Emotions Activity Book is trusted and supported by:
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