Mallory Valalik White is a Licensed Professional Counselor residing in Greenville, South Carolina with her husband, five children, and furry four-legged companions. She's an advocate for children's mental health and specializes in cases involving foster care, adoption, and trauma.
Mallory's private practice, Stratigraphy Counseling, LLC, is home to the original Amy Hippo story and stuffed animal. Her clients design, cut, and stitch together their own brain-themed pink hippos and earn badges for Amy's collar at each milestone achieved in their counseling sessions. Once all badges are earned, then the superhero toolkit is full, and the newest Amy Hippo is ready for her graduation party before heading off to begin protecting her human, chaos-free.
My goal as an author is to spread joy to children in a way that helps them start to live with less anxiety and panic in their world. This book's concept was originally developed as a therapy course to treat anxiety and panic symptoms in children. The course soon transformed into a bedtime bonding activity for families that strengthened emotional resilience and increased healthy coping and emotional management skills for children and parents alike.
The success of the counseling course and increasing demand for Amy Hippo inspired this book with the goal of helping more children and adults to start living with less anxiety and panic in their daily lives. The 143-page book includes the fictional story, guided family questions, journal prompts, an adult's corner, and a color your-own Amy Hippo. Our superhero is a fun and concrete representation of the abstract parts of our brains that are related to feelings of anxiety and panic; the Amygdala ("Amy") and Hippocampus ("Hippo"). This story with workbook guide is meant to be enjoyed by children and their loving adults across multiple days to extend the fun and reinforce the new skills introduced. Counseling and educational professionals can also easily adapt this book to their practice.
This book is dedicated to every human that has ever battled feelings of anxiety or panic. I strive for this book to become a series that will tackle depression, trauma, and adoption in entertaining, relatable, and educational ways.
Lauren Ahl (hey, that's me!) is the Editing Consultant and Media Manager for Amy Hippo's book and website. She is also the co-author of Amy Hippo Curriculum Guide for Counselors and Teachers (And Parents, too!), developing, writing, and editing alongside author Mallory V. White to make a guide to introduce more children and adults to Amy Hippo skills and techniques, creating a new perspective on understanding and managing one’s emotions.
Lauren is a creative writer, painter, and freelancer specializing in making anything that will make someone smile! She is a Full Sail University graduate with a bachelor's in creative writing for entertainment. Outside of her creative endeavors, Lauren loves watching movies and taking care of her five cats!
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