The Pile of Rubbish

by Sandra Cañizares Ormeño, Grisel Miranda (Illustrator)

Overview

During my years of work as a counsellor and psychotherapist, and thanks to my academic background as pedagogue, it became very apparent how little emotional education children generally get, which, in my opinion, is one of the significant factors responsible for our suffering as adults. This suffering is inherited from generation to generation together with maladaptive coping mechanisms to deal with problems and emotions.

 

This has been very present for me for a long time and I can confidently say I see this in most of the clients that come through my practice doors. The most common way to cope with issues and unpleasant emotions is avoidance. We avoid, dismiss, brush under the carpet, deny, and neglect our mental health and all of a sudden it takes its toll and it becomes too much, it becomes unmanageable and we don't know what to do. We can't avoid anymore because avoiding becomes futile and we get lost, we only know we want to fix it now, we don't want to look at what is happening and what is there, and often we go to therapy looking for quick fixes.

 

I work with metaphors a lot, I am a visual person and, as the book warm I am, I love stories, one day I came up with a metaphor, called the pile of sh** (yes, I do use swear words in my practice sometimes, especially if I know my clients will relate better to that, and because sometimes there is not a better word to describe something).

 

I used this metaphor so much with my work with adults. It basically means to explain that issues can accumulate quite easily if we avoid them or don't look after our mental health and that in order to process our issues the only way is sitting on them, facing them, looking at them, exploring them, being uncomfortable, basically, the only way is through, there is always a limit to how much we can avoid an issue or an unpleasant emotion.

 

So, I started to think how could more people benefit from this metaphor, how could I share this message for it to reach more people than just my clients? What if we also share it with the little ones? Can they become adults who manage emotions and life difficulties better? Is there a way to facilitate, encourage, or make easier, early and healthy conversations about mental health and emotions between parents and their children?

 

The Pile of Rubbish, a story about a little boy who discovers he has the superpower to transform his problems and negative emotions into objects to pile them away and forget about them, is here to do all that and help you reflect about your own pile of rubbish.

This book also shows us how we sometimes cope with emotions and problems, how easy they can accumulate if we don't look after our mental health and the massive impact this can have, and how important it to ask for help when needed. Ulises' story makes it clear to both children and adults that it is never too late to start your healing journey. 

This beautiful book, with reach full illustrations all hand painted, is for all ages, and parents, mental health professionals, educational organisations and schools can greatly benefit from it. You can read more about the book on www.thepileofrubbish.com 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781919654843
Publisher:	BestYou Therapies Ormeno
Publication date:	09/12/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	26
File size:	27 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	6 - 12 Years

About the Author

Originally Spanish I grew up in a big family. Since I was very young I was fascinated by anything to do with the human psyche. As a book warm I used to spend my days in the psychology section of my local library struggling to pick up only the 3 books I was allowed to take home.At the same time, I was a super lively and creative little girl. My mum used to call me (with all her love) "the little silly girl of the plastic bag" because everywhere I went I had to carry a book to read, a notepad to write and draw, a colouring book and pencils, my roller skaters and an a skipping rope! And when I say everywhere, I literally say everywhere, even to the cinema! Ha! But my favourite thing to do was by far writing, I even used to write poetry!Anyway, when it was time to go to University, psychology was excessively popular, reason why the cutting grade to access it was as the one on medicine. My whole world shattered when I found out I wasn't going to be able to fulfil my dream of becoming a therapist. Little I knew back then what life had on store for me. I had to settle studying Pedagogy (expert of Education, trainer of trainers), a degree with high psychology content where I discovered Personal coaching which is what lead me to Scotland over 15 year ago now. Although back then I was devastated because I couldn't do psychology, I now know this was one of my biggest blessings and the key to me becoming who I am today. Who would have known?In 2006 I moved to Scotland without knowing any English. I undertook an English course but not happy with my English after a year, I decided to go to university. I cried of happiness when I was told I could start the degree in Psychology from year 3 due to my Spanish degree. I completed my Honours degree and decided to continue fulfilling my dream of becoming a psychotherapist. Before completing my MSc in Counselling I got a job in a rape crisis centre working with complex trauma providing therapy for survivors of sexual violence. I haven't stopped working and studying since.As you can imagine writing books for the little ones (and not so little), to help in any way possible, has been one of my dreams for a long time. I am now privileged to combine my creativity with my passion to educate and help people navigate life and continue their development journey. And starting with children is the way to better impact the world.
Grisel was born in Argentina but she grew up in Barcelona, in Spain, for most of her life. Her passion for music and her sound engineering job took her to London in 2010, but it wasn't until she reached Scotland when she decided to use her artistic visual skills to pursue her dream of becoming an illustrator and character designer. The journey wasn't easy and straight forward as she was rejected by 3 different Scottish universities. However, this took her to qualify in Art and Design in Animation in 2018. After that she decided to take a leap of faith and set up her own business. She opened the doors of her first Illustration studio shop in Glasgow and, with lots of determination and hard work, she started working as a self employed illustrator and character designer.Now, Grisel is well stablished in a small village in Angus, North East of Scotland, where she has started a family and continued with her business opening up her beautiful and inspiring studio shop 'The Art Shed', a creative gift shop featuring her artwork as well as other 8 local talented artists' work. The Pile of Rubbish has been Grisel 's first project at the Art Shed.Grisel applied for the job position as an illustrator that Sandra posted back in October 2020 and she fell in love with Ulises' story. Additionally, Sandra and her instantly connected quite well and taking the job was an easy decision for her. Grisel could have done the Pile of Rubbish completely digitally, but she decided to challenge herself to a large size traditional acrylic painting for each of the pages, using very little digital touches. She managed do this within the initially stablished deadline in spite of having to juggle all this with her new born baby and her business the Art Shed shop.