A range of personal and professional experiences have brought me to this new chapter of my life. I studied Psychology

(BSc) at the University of London and then went on to work as a Residential Support Worker for children with severe special needs and disabilities. Following this wonderfully rewarding and enlightening experience I was fortunate to work at Children's Services supporting the Social Workers with their case loads before becoming a Behaviour Support Worker where I helped families, carers and educators find positive solutions to children experiencing and presenting with challenging emotions and behaviours. I then embarked on my teaching career, training as a Primary school teacher and enjoyed many years of class room based teaching before having my own bundles of joy!  I progressed to the position of Special Educational Needs Coordinator and I have recently completed the National SENCo Award. I have trained with the Open College Network and have become a fully accredited facilitator for parenting programmes for the charity 'Care for the Family'. I regularly run parent support groups for 'Time out for Parents' and I have recently trained in the 'Attention for Autism Programme' (Gina Davies) and 'How to parent your Anxious child ' (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, CAMHS). I have also trained with BRIEF in Solution Focused Training. Alongside the range of professional experience which has inspired and motivated me to create my books is my own experience. As many others I have been part of a generation of children where emotional literacy skills didn't feature as a priority. Many parents, carers and educators had very little information about the needs and skills of how to talk to children and teach them about feelings, and meet their emotional needs. Equally there was very little awareness of how this could contribute to children feeling confused, anxious, powerless and unheard. Having learned so much through self-development both personally and professionally about emotional literacy and the impact it has, I feel so passionate about being part of a new generation where children can learn to name their feelings, understand them and be more aware of their emotional experience. By investing in emotional health it can help overall mental health, self esteem and relationships long term. So I hope that these books will help children and even adults as much as it is helping me and my children to be able to name, know, share and process their feelings in the most positive way possible and feel empowerment and freedom with the joy that comes from fully embracing our rainbow of emotions. 

Katie Flanagan