A godson’s throwaway comment helped kickstart an entrepreneur's business.
Amy Smythe, from Runcorn, is the brains behind The Worry Wizard - a counselling psychotherapist programme which prides itself on helping children in Merseyside and beyond “to move from worries to well-being”. The programme uses “invisible” therapeutic techniques to help support a child’s well-being and allow them to build a positive sense of self.
As a mum of three boys: Joseph, 14, Ethan, 12, and Alfie, seven, Amy knows all too well spending too much time overthinking about her children’s welfare.
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With this in mind, and already having just over 17 years in clinical practice under her belt, it was when her godson Jack gave her a nickname that inspired her to start her company.
The 45-year-old told the ECHO: “I didn’t go out and call myself a worry wizard. The idea was from my godson Jack. I was helping him with his worries as he was struggling to share them and one day his primary school teacher asked him where he found his new courage from and Jack said my auntie Amy is a worry wizard and that’s where it all came from.
“I’m lucky to have lots of children around me and they very much informed my drive to help with children’s mental health.”
Amy explained how it is “vital” for children to engage with their mental health as young as possible as this stops the likelihood of them needing support when they reach adulthood.
She said: “All the research clearly demonstrates early intervention significantly reduces the scale and duration of support required for children. Mental health for children is an absolute crisis at the minute and so is funding, so the work we do enables children to do the work early so that they develop their emotional literacy.
“They get to talk about their feelings, they get to share conversations with their key grownups and hopefully support their mental health in a way that will enable our children not to need support later on.”
Since starting the business in 2020, Amy believes she has helped 53,000 children. Despite this, she appreciates the figure is only the “tip of the iceberg”.
She added: “We need to try and receive more funding to enable more primary schools to receive the program. That's a big drive for us. We also want to focus on supporting adults and children to have open conversations about grief and loss. It's just really difficult in general for adults to know how to speak to children about it and to be confident.”
Amy’s hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed as she is currently in the running to be crowned Merseyside Woman of The Year 2023.
Asked what it would mean for her to win, she said: “It was a massive surprise truthfully. The more people know about our work the more children we can help and that’s the hope honestly. It would help us have a greater impact."
You can find out more about the nineteen Merseyside Woman of The Year finalists here.
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