Mum And Parenting Coach Says Sleeptalk Could Be The Answer To Curing Our Children’s Anxiety

An ex-Deputy Head, and mum, from Ilkley, West Yorkshire who’s spent the last 8 years supporting parents and children with coaching around anxiety, emotional intelligence, and behavioural challenges is embracing a new psychological practice which focuses on ‘sleep talking’ children’s anxieties away.

Committed to supporting the well-being and mental health of the whole family, through a host of different modalities, Anisa Lewis has helped children and parents overcome communication challenges, re-building connection, finding routines and rhythms in their homes, unpicking and helping behavioural challenges, empowering them families on a neurodivergent journey and supporting anger and emotional overload. Using her knowledge and expertise but she often felt that there was more to do, to really get to the root of the problem - their subconscious mind and helping children to feel good about themselves.

Anisa, 47, has an international upbringing which saw her training to be an early years teacher in Australia. She has taught young people for over 2 decades in primary and international schools and is now excited to be adding a new string to her bow, using a Method which has been developed in Australia by 2 psychotherapists to tap into children’s subconscious whilst they’re asleep.

By training in this modality which parents have referred to as ‘miraculous’ Anisa has seen how it’s possible to influence a child’s already ingrained negative beliefs to create a different reality - by supporting them at an unconscious level, whilst they sleep. Working with Anisa for a 3-5 month period, parents can support their children, helping to embed more positive beliefs, to then help them tackle challenges in life through a different lens.

Anisa Lewis

Anisa said:
“Through speaking to a child at a certain point in their sleep cycle we can tap into their subconscious and use the power of neuroplasticity to reset neural pathways - in basic talk that means we can help children and young people get rid of unhelpful negative beliefs around not being good enough, not being loved, not feeling worthy, and instead empower them by resetting these beliefs. It’s about tapping into the subconscious at a level that helps get rid of the negative filters which over time children have accumulated from different life experiences.

“The Goulding Method was established nearly 50 years ago by a mum who needed to support her own child - and for nearly 50 years she’s been making an impact with her work in Australia and now on a Global level - however, this is a relatively new Method to the UK. There are only 17 of us in the UK accredited to practise this, and I’m so excited to be one of them.”

Statistics tell us that it is now widely accepted that as many as 8 to 11% of children and adolescents suffer from anxiety that affects their ability to get on with their lives. (https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/publications/anxious-child) and 20.5% of youth worldwide now struggle with anxiety symptoms, according to a meta-analysis of 29 studies reported in JAMA Pediatrics. (American Psychological Association (APA))

Anisa who is an accredited and certified Positive Parenting Coach feels passionately that this is only going to get worse if more parents are not empowered to support their children through mental health challenges.

She said:
”I see time and time again parents who are very concerned about their child's wellbeing, as they are displaying behaviours which they find hard to understand or relate to. This can be difficult for the parent-child relationship, especially when parents are from a generation where mental health was not widely spoken about. Empowering parents to help their children has always been a key focus of mine, and so I’m excited to be able to offer this new level of support.

“I specialise in empowering and positively transforming the lives of parents and children, who are facing stress, anxiety, or just day-to-day challenges of parenting - working with them directly, in group environments, and through corporate channels. I’m hugely passionate about using my skills, and knowledge, to find ways for parents and children to move through the challenges they face in life, together. I’m here to help bring about multi-generational change as I believe we often get stuck in the patterns from the past, following the path we ourselves tread, which isn’t always the right one to support our children and I’m here to help families work things out, so they get to know that parenting does not have to be hard.”

By expanding her services Anisa, who also works with parents through their workplaces, with organisations such as Lloyds and Aviva, is further fulfilling her passion for looking after the mental health of the whole family and playing her part in the awareness drive around the importance of ‘whole family mental health’.

Having become a recognised expert, ‘The Positive Parenting Coach’, over the last 8 years she has relished the opportunity to support parents more directly in their journey of bringing up their children working closely with families who are experiencing stress and parenting challenges to create positive change in their home lives.

To find out more or access her free resources click here