Photography by Ana Pascos
"Lora and I hope to inspire you and your kids to embark on a joint journey that will enhance your relationship with one another and enrich your lives with meaningful and memorable experiences. Thank you for choosing this workbook and for making it part of your family’s life!" |
Meet Dessy & LoraDessy Marinova, Ph.D. (left), is a school and clinical psychologist with over 20 years of experience with children, adolescents, and adults. Dr. Dessy maintains a practice as a psychologist, provides consultations to schools and mental health professionals, and delivers workshops for parents and teachers. This book is the culmination of more than twenty years of professional experience with children, adolescents, and their families on two continents: Europe and North America.
Lora (right) is the daughter of Dr. Dessy Marinova. Starting at age 4, Lora helped her mother create the main characters in this book, and by age 11, they both have translated evidence-based strategies into language that kids can easily understand. Lora also created all the illustrations and provided many examples from her own life, and her observations of her peers, to help clarify and explain the various lessons and practices. In her free time, Lora loves to read, swim, and design characters to cheer up her friends. Dr. Dessy and Lora live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. |
"I helped my mom design the main characters in this workbook: Aimie (the emotional part of our brains), Brightie (the thinking part of our brains), and Dooie (the action part of our brains). We started working on them when I was only four. Since then I have been learning, little by little, many strategies to cope with stress and big feelings. While my mom wrote this workbook, we often brainstormed how to help you easily understand and use the coping skills in your life. I also drew all the illustrations in this book. The drawings helped me express my feelings and thoughts and also kept me motivated to use anxiety strategies daily. " |