I initially started out making dolls for my daughter and her friends. I wanted my daughter, a child of a clinician (LCSW), to develop her emotional intelligence early and have tools to process feelings, thoughts and set boundaries. Here was my opportunity to help my only child become a solid person. We certainly need more grounded people in touch with their feelings and needs on this planet, right? So, as an artist and a therapist, I began creating little dolls that had different objects that came with them, different facial expressions and words. I would play with my daughter and her friends and we would make up stories and have the dolls express themselves and solve problems. I went to several craft shows with my dolls. It seemed that once people found out that I was a therapist, suddenly they seemed not as interested due to the association with mental health and the possibility that if they used them there might be something "wrong" with their child. A lot of parents were uncomfortable with anything that had to do with mental health and their kids. I get it, but as a professional you forget how uncomfortable a lot of people are with expressing just basic feelings.
After renting booths at close to 10 craft shows, I realized I was barking up the wrong tree. i would continue to work with my own child around feelings and boundaries, but I would not try to fit this social work/therapy tool into craft shows. I was ready to try to connect my tool to the world of mental health. i really wanted to share my product with clinicians and mental health workers that can make great use of it.
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