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Meet Renee Smola, the therapist who wrote the guides for our latest book

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Meet Renee Smola, the therapist who wrote the parent and clinician guide for our latest book.

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Renee Smola has been working with children in residential and in private practice since 1995. She is certified as a Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapist (TF-CBT) working with children who have been severely abused and neglected. Renee owns a midsized counseling agency in St. Louis where she supervises other counselors, provides counseling and offers trainings to Children’s Division, Parent Aides and school districts.

Additionally, she teaches part time at two local colleges. In her spare time, Renée volunteers as a board member for the Missouri Mental Health Counselor Association and is the President of … Read More...

No, Adoption is Not Like in the Movies…

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If you believe TV and movies, adoption is pretty easy, you happily somehow “sign up” to adopt, maybe get a home visit from a smiling social worker, or sometimes the situation is not realistic and suddenly you receive a made to order child. Maybe in the movies, but in real life, not so much.  Some movies that deal with this topic you may not even realize are very popular today, like The Blind Side, Elf, Disney’s Tarzan, Superman, Kung Fu Panda 2 and many more. Adoption is not like in the movies and is very challenging emotional and mental process. During the adoption process, you will find yourself … Read More...

Kids Say “We Aren’t Little Adults”!

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Back when I was in clinical practice I was often amazed at the insight young children had related to how others viewed them. The most compelling thing that kids would tell me was “adults just don’t think our feelings matter. They think because we are kids, our feelings are not important”!

I would ask them what they meant by that. They would explain that if they were sad or upset about something, often their very well meaning, probably busy and stressed parents would say “oh well tomorrow is another day” or “it will pass don’t worry”, without really asking them “what are you sad about” or “did something happen that … Read More...

The Therapeutic Value of Animals – It’s Not Just a Dog Story

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Having worked with kids in a therapeutic setting, I was always fascinated by the manner in which children will relate to animals when they are experiencing distress or uncomfortable feelings. This is what drove me to use Roxie as a character that would allow kids to discuss their own feelings in a safe and non threatening way.

Both real and fictional animals have been used for years to assist children and teens who are struggling with difficult situations, emotional issues, kids who are on the autism spectrum has shown to benefit from equine and canine therapy.

In the story and first book, the focus is about finding and moving to … Read More...