The Fox and the Helper by Linda McGuire MA

The Fox and the Helper

© By Linda McGuire MA MIACP, images by Katie & Linda McGuire

Once upon a time there was a family of foxes, a Daddy Fox, a Mummy Fox and a little Fox called Sam. They lived in the country and had lots of land for Daddy Fox to work on and lots of space for Sam to play on and explore. Sometimes Sam’s friends would come to play too. They loved to visit because Mummy Fox baked the most amazing cakes!!!

When the boys were finished playing they would come in for a slice of warm cake and their favourite drink…..life was good.

1 The Fox and the Helper, © Linda McGuire MA MIACP email lindamcg1@gmail.com Images copyright of author. EMDR term ‘Helpers’ from Ana Gomez. August’20

Sam loved to help, and often helped Daddy Fox around the home and especially liked if they were going to bring things to help the older foxes in their family like his grandparents.

Now little Sam had lots of dreams, he loved racing cars…..in fact he loved them so much that he could remember even the smallest details about the cars and the drivers!!

2 The Fox and the Helper, © Linda McGuire MA MIACP email lindamcg1@gmail.com Images copyright of author. EMDR term ‘Helpers’ from Ana Gomez. August’20

Racing cars go really fast, and try to be the number one even over taking on bends to try to beat the other driver. This made the races very exciting for the drivers and the watchers.

When Sam watched the racing on TV with his parents he would imagine himself driving and speeding and overtaking to win!! One thing he really liked was to hear the racing drivers talk about how they had won when they talked at the end of the race….this was super interesting because Sam dreamt of being a racing driver so he was happy to hear anything the drivers, especially the winning drivers could tell him about how they had won. His favourite racer was called Silver Fox. Silver Fox was a very wise racer because he had been racing for many years

3 The Fox and the Helper, © Linda McGuire MA MIACP email lindamcg1@gmail.com Images copyright of author. EMDR term ‘Helpers’ from Ana Gomez. August’20

Now sometimes the racing cars had accidents, the drivers would be very fed up that they had to stop racing, sometimes not even thinking about the fact that their car had crashed.

Even though Sam the Fox had seen accidents on the TV he had never seen one in real life.

4 The Fox and the Helper, © Linda McGuire MA MIACP email lindamcg1@gmail.com Images copyright of author. EMDR term ‘Helpers’ from Ana Gomez. August’20

Then one day, Sam was in the car with Mummy Fox heading to the shops….they were chatting about what they would buy there as they were planning to make a special birthday cake that weekend. Suddenly there was a loud bang!!

Sam didn’t know what had happened only that it felt like the earth moved, the bang was louder than thunder and he felt very scared and began to cry. Mummy Fox got a huge fright too, she wanted to get to Sam but couldn’t open the door…this made Sam feel worse…..he thought the car might go on fire and felt so frightened.

5 The Fox and the Helper, © Linda McGuire MA MIACP email lindamcg1@gmail.com Images copyright of author. EMDR term ‘Helpers’ from Ana Gomez. August’20

The road they had been travelling on was quite small and narrow and the other driver hadn’t seen Mummy Fox and Sam’s car coming. Thankfully they weren’t very badly hurt, but they were very shaken by what had happened.

All of a sudden, Sam found it hard to sleep, he also found it hard to say the things he wanted to say…..when this happened he felt sad and mad because people couldn’t understand him and he gave up trying to say what he wanted to. This meant that his sad and mad feelings got trapped inside……

6 The Fox and the Helper, © Linda McGuire MA MIACP email lindamcg1@gmail.com Images copyright of author. EMDR term ‘Helpers’ from Ana Gomez. August’20

After another difficult day where Sam’s words wouldn’t come out he went to bed and after what seemed like ages finally he fell asleep.

While he was asleep he started to dream about what had happened at the accident and he began to feel scared, suddenly Silver Fox appeared and smiled saying, “Hello, Sam!” Sam was very surprised to hear Silver Fox speaking to him even if it was in his dream….”hello” Sam replied in a very low voice. Silver Fox went on to tell Sam that when he was little, he too had been in an accident…..he remembered the scary noise and he also remembered that he found it hard to get his words out afterwards…..Sam listened and couldn’t believe that his Racing hero had had an experience just like him!!!

Silver Fox went on to explain how he managed to get his words to come out again…..Sam was really interested to hear this….Silver Fox said, sometimes when we feel sad and mad and a little afraid our minds are so busy thinking that our body doesn’t catch up in time for them to work together……but its always important for us to find a way to 7 The Fox and the Helper, © Linda McGuire MA MIACP email lindamcg1@gmail.com Images copyright of author. EMDR term ‘Helpers’ from Ana Gomez. August’20

let out our feelings so that we can feel better inside. He did this with a helper, a very wise owl.

Silver Fox said, “Sometimes we need helpers that can be there with us when feelings feel big and get in the way of us living our best lives.”

Sam listened carefully as Silver Fox asked him to think of a special place or space that he feels happy and safe to be in or think about……..He asked Sam to nod his head to let him know when he had thought of this place.

Then he asked Sam to take in three slow deep breathes and let his eyes gently close as he began to see this space or

8 The Fox and the Helper, © Linda McGuire MA MIACP email lindamcg1@gmail.com Images copyright of author. EMDR term ‘Helpers’ from Ana Gomez. August’20

place, allowing it to become clearer, and clearer in his mind….

Silver Fox asked him to notice what you can see, hear and even

smell

as

the

picture

becomes

even

clearer

still…….notice how your body feels. As Sam thought of his special place and did his breathing, his body felt more relaxed and his head wasn’t so busy with thoughts, especially the ones that didn’t make him feel so good….

Next, Silver Fox asked Sam to cross his arms in front of his chest and to gently tap each shoulder slowly for a count of 10-20 as he kept the image of his special place in his mind……When he had done this Silver Fox said, “now any time you feel anxious or upset, all you have to do is gently 9 The Fox and the Helper, © Linda McGuire MA MIACP email lindamcg1@gmail.com Images copyright of author. EMDR term ‘Helpers’ from Ana Gomez. August’20

cross your arms over your chest, think of your special place and tap slowly like we have just done…….this will help you to feel relaxed and safe.”

Sam couldn’t believe how relaxed he felt…..how had nobody shown him this before? Silver Fox said this had helped him when he struggled to get his words to come out……then he asked Sam to give it a try…..

So Sam did the relaxation all by himself!!!! When it stopped he felt very relaxed and happy inside….”thank you, Silver Fox……I never knew that you would be a helper for me, it is so good talking with you!”

10 The Fox and the Helper, © Linda McGuire MA MIACP email lindamcg1@gmail.com Images copyright of author. EMDR term ‘Helpers’ from Ana Gomez. August’20

Sam fell in to a deeper, relaxed sleep and dreamt of having fun with his friends and going on a long drive to the beach to have a picnic and swim in the sea……and guess what??? The bad feelings had disappeared….and now the feeling inside was one of excitement about going to the beach!

When Sam woke up the next morning he felt good, after a big stretch he ran into Mummy and Daddy Fox’s bedroom and shouted, “you won’t believe who my helper of feelings is” Mummy and Daddy Fox looked at each other before saying, “who?” “It’s my super Formula One Superhero, Silver Fox!!

Do you know, when he was little he had some problems just like me, he also had a helper and together they figured out how to feel better inside, he showed me how to do this and I 11 The Fox and the Helper, © Linda McGuire MA MIACP email lindamcg1@gmail.com Images copyright of author. EMDR term ‘Helpers’ from Ana Gomez. August’20

feel great” said Sam. Mummy and Daddy Fox couldn’t stop smiling, because Sam had spoken clearly and without a break since he ran into their room……..

As they continued to chat and get ready to go for breakfast, Sam looked out of the window…there in the blue sky was a cloud that looked just like Silver Fox….and as he looked he saw Silver Fox Cloud wink and smile before it gently faded out of sight, leaving the sky cloud free and our friend Sam ready to enjoy his day.

12 The Fox and the Helper, © Linda McGuire MA MIACP email lindamcg1@gmail.com Images copyright of author. EMDR term ‘Helpers’ from Ana Gomez. August’20