Headssup Community Interest Company

How many emotions can you name? How many do you think your children can name? Research suggests we learn around 6 emotion words when we are young to help express how we feel, then we stop! We don't learn anymore - even when we're teens or adults! We try to navigate life's ups and downs using approximately 6 words! No wonder we can feel a bit mixed up sometimes! Research also suggests that we are all born with the same set of emotions (primary emotions) and we learn others (secondary emotions) as we grow from the age of 2 or 3. These secondary emotions are learnt from our experiences, where we are from and from our caregivers. So after a number of years research, Headssup was set up in 2019 to do 2 things: 1. increase the emotional vocabulary of children from 6 words to 15 words & 2. to do that within a psychological framework that included primary and secondary emotions How did we do that? 1. We created a character called Emi (short for emotional intelligence). 2. Emi became a teddy (see left hand page). A soft, fluffy conversation starter or comforter. 3. We then created a children's book to help Emi explain what primary and secondary emotions are in a child friendly way. Helping our little ones to learn up to 15 words to help explain how they feel that are all psychologically framed - helping make more sense of how they and others feel. 4. Next we thought it would be nice to have Emi animated. So we created 2 minute animations to go with each story that you can log in to (see a short clip of one below). 5. But we didn't stop there. Communicating our emotions can be hard. And our emotions can be effected by our physical and social health. So Emi also helps children learn how to communicate their emotions in the next story ELASTIC and what they can do each day to stay physically healthy in the story HEALTHY ME and finally, how to stay socially healthy in the story BLOOM AND BLOSSOM. 6. ELASTIC, HEALTHY ME AND BLOOM AND BLOSSOM story books also come with a link to their own 2 minute animation. 7. Finally, for our cooler 9-11 year olds, we created a character called Feelix and his team. Feelix has 6 story books and animations and includes help with high school transitions and healthy friendships. 8. And for those over the age of 11 there is Wellmeing - see the link to Wellmeing near the bottom of this site.