books and resources to help children and teens heal

By: Sarah Rahal and Katie Preston Toepher

 My Invisible Line provides helpful tools for parents and caregivers to guide and empower individuals with disabilities. It offers practical solutions and communication prompts with specific scenarios with a strong message of drawing the line in challenging situations. 

By: L. Blizzard

 A story to help children find their voice after trauma. One of Superhero Madison's superpowers is helping boys and girls discover the courage to talk about scary things. 

By: L. Blizzard

Superhero Dallas & Her Sister’s Big Scary Thing was written for siblings of trauma victims. As a child, seeing your sibling go through all of the emotions that follow trauma can be confusing. Superhero Dallas can provide support and insight for siblings of trauma victims. 

By: Lizzie Charbonneau 

 Our first book is Your Whole Body, an inclusive book for preschoolers about the entire body. Your Whole Body explains and illustrates all of the major body parts, including the genitals. Teaching children the names of genitals is a core body safety principle. 

By: Doris Sanford

 At her grandmother's beach cottage, Annie reveals her father's sexual abuse of her to a dove who helps her heal and learn to trust again. Lists guidelines for adults to help sexually abused children. 

By: Patricia Kehoe, Ph.D.

 This book is intended to help an abused child describe what happened and understand that he or she is not to blame for the abuse. It provides anatomically correct names for body parts and talks in a nonjudgmental way about why an adult or older child might abuse a young child. Something Happened ... also acknowledges that it's normal to feel confused after abuse.  

By: Diane Hansen

Its primary message is: "America, please teach our young children about their sexuality before the child molester does." In just 12 pages of rhyme, the book gives parents a great starting point for having important, candid discussions with their children about recognizi common perpetrators of sexual abuse in clear, kid friendly language * informs children about the tactics perpetrators use to trick children * equips children with an action plan for telling trusted adults about abuse * empowers children to say "no" and to get righteously angry if abuse happensNOW AVAILABLE IN SPANISH, "Esas Son Mis Partes Privadas!" 

By: Agnes Wohl & Irene Wineman Marcus

  A unique book that uses engaging animal protagonists to help children deal with the profound emotional aftermath of sexual abuse. This allows the child to work through painful emotions in a less threatening and more effective manner.
 

By: Susan Farber Straus

Healing Days is a sensitive and reassuring story that covers the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that many kids have after a bad and scary thing happens. Healing Days emphasizes that children are not to blame for what happened, and that they can get help and look forward to a happy future.

By: Ross Szabo

An honest exploration of the symptoms of anxiety and what learning to manage it can look like. Ages 5+

By: Lindsay K. Krebs, MS Ed/CAS

This book is to help child victims of sexual abuse to realize that it is NOT their fault, to empower them to talk about the trauma that they have endured, as well as to help them begin to heal.  This book is for parents & caregivers of children ages 5 to 10. 

By: Dr. Daniela Owen, PhD

The kid's book that teaches children how to deal with worries and fears they might be facing... right now, in the moment. Brilliant "calming" technique for young children.

By: Marjorie McKinnon

 Enter a Six-Stage Program with your child to cross the Bridge of Recovery and make available a whole new world of hope  

By: Chandra Ghosh Ippen

    This story was written to help children and grown-ups understand how stress can affect children and ways to help them. 

By: Liana Lowenstein

   This therapeutic story and collection of creative activities are specifically designed to help children cope with sexual abuse and trauma. Therapeutic games, art, puppets, and other engaging techniques address the eight components of TF-CBT. 

By: Anne Malver, MA

 Adults call it their ‘Sixth Sense’ or a ‘Gut Feeling.’ Sometimes they call it that ‘Voice Inside Their Head.”… My Yucky Feeling addresses the fact that we have an internal alarm system when danger is near, this can be described as “My Yucky Feeling” and can help keep us safe when in harm’s way. This book can be used as a teaching tool, as well as a therapeutic aid.  

By: Jessie 

   Written and illustrated by a girl who was sexually molested by a family member, this book reaches out to other children by carrying Jessie’s message “It's o.k. to tell; help can come when you tell."   

By: Lexie Bean

 Tender and wise, The Ship We Built is about the bravery it takes to stand up for yourself--even to those you love--and the power of finding someone who treasures you for everything you are. 

By: Zack and Kimberly King

  Helping kids set healthy boundaries for their private parts can be a daunting and awkward task for parents, counselors and educators. Written from a kid's point of view, I Said No! makes this task a lot easier.   

By: Margaret M Holmes, Sasha J Mudlaff, Cary Pillo

A story for children who have experienced trauma or violence. Sherman Smith saw the most terrible thing happen. At first he tried to forget about it, but soon something inside him started to bother him. 

By: Trish Healy Luna & Janey Healy Hellier

 "Timbi Talks about Addiction" is designed to help children cope with a parent’s substance use disorder (SUD). Children learn that: addiction is a disease, it is not their fault, their varied emotions are valid. Timbi teaches them coping skills to give them a much-needed sense of control in a chronically stressful environment.  

By: Gabi Garcia

 Anxiety is not just a cognitive experience. When children feel anxious, their bodies respond physically to a perceived threat. They need to feel a sense of safety before being able to figure out what to do next. 

By: Debi Pearl

An award-winning author steps into troubled waters writing books for children instructing them how to respond if a sexual predator makes an advance.

By: Steve Herman

Fun, cute, and entertaining with beautiful illustrations WITHOUT being scary and specific about traumatic events, this is a must have book for children, parents and teachers to teach kids to understand and overcome traumatic events that they might experience.

By: Mary Nhin

Calm Ninja experiences frustration and anxiety until he learns how to find his inner peace by finding his breath and practicing the Ninja Yoga Flow. He learns how to calm his worries and stay peaceful under extreme circumstances.

By: Center for Prevention of Abuse

A tale that teaches young children about body safety. As Sister and Brother enjoy a day at the beach, they encounter a variety of friends who help them learn about safe and unsafe touches, consent, and boundaries.

By: Playstories

In a personalized book, your child will read about the emotion of anger, how it feels and situations that may trigger anger. The child playfully appears as the protagonist, learning how to deal with emotions in a healthy way.

 By: Playstories

In a personalized book, your child will read about the emotion of anxiety, how it feels and situations that may trigger anxiety. The child playfully appears as the protagonist, learning how to deal with emotions in a healthy way. 

 By: Playstories

In a personalized book, your child will read about the emotion of fear, how it feels and situations that may trigger fear. The child playfully appears as the protagonist, learning how to deal with emotions in a healthy way. 

 By: Playstories

In a personalized book, your child will read about the emotion of frustration, how it feels and situations that may trigger frustration. The child playfully appears as the protagonist, learning how to deal with emotions in a healthy way. 

 By: Playstories

In a personalized book, your child will read about the emotion of anger, how it feels and situations that may trigger sadness. The child playfully appears as the protagonist, learning how to deal with emotions in a healthy way. 

By: Hannah Louise Cartwright, RN, MA 

 Cartwright’s book tells the personal story of recovering from sexual abuse at the hands of a sibling. By sharing her story, Cartwright aims to help victims understand the impact sibling abuse has on survivors, provide tools to help them begin their healing journey and emphasize that survivors can leave the past behind and build happy lives ahead.  

By: William Lee Carter

Simple, effective exercises help teens learn about the different aspects of trauma, share the thoughts and emotions of other survivors, clarify their own ideas and beliefs, and explore new ways of feeling and relating.    

By: Patti Feuereisen

 A powerful source of healing for teen girls and young women who have experienced sexual abuse, Invisible Girls offers survivors agency and hope in an era when too many girls have suffered alone. 

By: Rachel Hutt, PhD

 Teens get help talking stress, anxiety and more in this solutions-based CBT workbook. 

By: Rachelle Cassada Lohmann, MS, LPC

& Sheila Raja, PhD 

The Sexual Trauma Workbook for Teen Girls offers healing, real-life stories from survivors and powerful, evidence-based tools to help you reclaim your life after sexual abuse or trauma.   

By: Ellen Bass &  Laura Davis  

 An inspiring, comprehensive guide that offers hope and a map of the healing journey to every woman who was sexually abused as a child—and to those who care about her. Although the effects of child sexual abuse are long-term and severe, healing is possible. Weaving together personal experience with professional knowledge, the authors provide clear explanations, practical suggestions, and support throughout the healing process.  

By: Laura Davis  

 In this groundbreaking companion to The Courage to Heal, Laura Davis offers an inspiring, in-depth workbook that speaks to all women and men healing from the effects of child sexual abuse. The combination of checklists, writing and art Projects, open-ended questions and activities expertly guides the survivor through the healing process. 

By: Carolyn Ainscough & Kay Toon

The Workbook can be used alongside the Breaking Free book or on its own, and lays a greater emphasis on practical exercises to work through the problems.

A Way Out provides many services including teen counseling. If there is something you would like to talk about, we have trained counselors on site.

We pair video games with clinically validated strategies to help kids build confidence and thrive. Mightier is an environment to experiment and practice calming skills in a fun, new way. Our programs were developed by clinicians and are designed to work with all families right at home. Clinically tested and developed at oston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

  Fort Refuge is an online community of abuse survivors aged 16 and older: the place where we come together and try to make sense of the trauma we've been through, the aftermath it left us with, and our coping with and recovery from both.   

   TeenCentral is a website powered by KidsPeace as a free and safe prevention and intervention resource specifically for youth. On TeenCentral, you can find information on a variety of topics. You can also submit a story or post about any crisis, problem or situation you’re struggling with and receive a therapeutic support response within 24 hours, safely, anonymously, and free of charge. 

Find resources for young survivors of rape and sexual abuse survivors. Membership at Pandy’s is only open to survivors who are 16 and older. This forum provides an opportunity to share resources for teen members and college students to meet and discuss issues related to these times of rapid transition. 

By Ascending Vibrations

Always wanted to know how to help your body, mind, & spirit with simple somatic techniques but don’t know where to start? Have you suffered trauma in the past? Have you been wanting to relieve unusual symptoms but can’t seem to get to the bottom of it? Stored trauma can often lead to physical pain and the psychological anguish that comes along with it. Trauma can be defined as anything that results in us being stuck in a physical, emotional, or behavioral pattern. 

Feelings Yoga is a rhyming children's book that introduces playful and calming yoga poses as a method for dealing with stress, anxiety, and frustration. This book is a great opportunity for children to explore their feelings by immersing themselves in the process of mindful movements.

Written by a registered children's yoga teacher, Feelings Yoga is part of the "Self-Soothing Yoga for Kids" series which is based on years of experience and is extremely fun for kids, promoting focus, flexibility, and supporting mental health while pretending to be various plants and animals! 

 Deck of 20 Positive Affirmation Cards for Children.
Illustrated with so much help and love from my 3 & 4 year old daughters.  We're not sure anything is truly toddler-proof, however these come close! Cards are 4"x5", semi-gloss coated on both sides, with soft touch laminate on one side. Each deck will be packaged in a 6.7"x4.8"x1.2" plastic case in the color of your choice.  

 By: Kirsten Voris and Brooklyn Alvarez

This deck of 50 yoga shapes was created for trauma-sensitive yoga facilitators and other counselors, social workers, and caregivers who work with children. Unlike a traditional yoga deck, this one is trauma informed, somatic focused, and ideal for use in a variety of settings including small groups, classrooms, and one-on-one. 

 This yoga mat is ideal for toddlers, children and teens. Designed to provide a healthy outlet that helps kids calm down and feel rejuvenated at any time during the busy day. 

By: Lisa Weed Phifer, DEd, NCSP, Amanda K. Crowder, MSW, LCSW,

Tracy Elsenraat, MA, LPC, ATR-BC, Robert Hull, EDS, MEd, NCSP

Over 200 Worksheets & Exercises for Trauma, ADHD, Autism, Anxiety, Depression & Conduct Disorders

By: Childswork / Childsplay

 The Trauma Reaction Cards is a therapeutic tool to assist children and adolescents in understanding and identifying their reactions to traumatic or stressful life experiences. These colorful and illustrated cards are categorized into the four domains of trauma reactions: Behavior Reactions, Body Reactions, Brain and Thinking Reactions and Feelings Reactions. To be used by qualified professionals. 

By: Kids Yoga Stories

 Breathing exercises can help soothe and calm children quickly, but where do you start? We aren’t taught to breathe properly, but these colorful Breathing Exercise Cards for Kids will show you and your children exactly how to slow down.