My Little Cheeky

Hi! I am Mariana Pinheiro and many of you know me from My Little Cheeky now I'm also a Counselor at Calm Kids.
 
At Calm Kids, we provide a safe, supportive environment for your child/adolescent to explore their challenges and discover their own ability to heal through a variety of tools, strategies and experiences. Trusted relationships are everything when it comes to healing, all counsellors are highly experienced in connecting with young people of all ages.
 
I will provide your child with the opportunity to experience a range of healing modalities so that your child can choose what feels right for them.
 
Art, yoga, talking, psycho-education (learning about their minds and bodies), play, somatic experiences, and relaxation are all ways in which a child can explore their internal challenges and create a healing space with the support of our counsellors.

As a Calm Kid Counsellor I offer support for children & adolescents who are experiencing:
• anxiety 
• depression
• social challenges
• ADHD/ASD/ODD
• family conflict
• behavioural challenges
• trauma
• body issues
• lack of confidence
• transition challenges (eg. new school)

Send us a message, we are here for you!

How is your week going? Time for checking in.

How are you feeling today? Take a second to check in with your body - are you feeling anxious, or sore? Tight? Or are feeling energised?

How's your mind? How clear is everything? Do you feel overwhelmed or peaceful?

How's your spirit? Are you feeling motivated or maybe a bit disconnected from it all?

However you're feeling, it's okay. There is a lot happening in our worlds at the moment. The important thing is taking the time to look at yourself and understand how your body, mind and soul feel give it a bit of love and make a plan to work on the things that are bringing you uncertainty.

Don’t forget to move your body, do something fun that brings you joy and reach for help if the weight is too big.

What are you going to do for yourself, today?



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Like most conditions, anxiety can manifest itself in a multitude of ways, one of which is called high-functioning anxiety.

Someone with high functioning anxiety may be the picture of success. You might arrive to work earlier than everyone else, impeccably dressed, with your hair neatly styled.

Coworkers may say you are driven in your work—you've never missed a deadline or fallen short in a given task. What others might not know is that beneath the surface of a seemingly perfect exterior, you're fighting a constant churn of anxiety.

It may have been nervous energy, fear of failure, and being afraid of disappointing others that drove you to success.

Here are some tips you can try on your own to reduce your anxiety.

- Commit to spending 10 minutes a day working on your mental health.
- Before you do any cognitive work (changing your thoughts), look at lifestyle changes such as limiting caffeine, eating a healthy diet, and getting regular exercise.
- Sleep hygiene is important too, such as sticking to a regular bedtime,
- When you notice a negative thought, try countering it with something more realistic or helpful, such as "I always make my deadlines, and even if I miss this one it won't be the end of the world."
- Find coping strategies for nervous habits such as biting your lip or chewing your nails.
- Practicing deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation can help control tension.

It may take some adjustment, but you will find a new groove that gives you a healthy balance between your mental well-being and getting things done. We are here to support you through the process, send us a message!





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There’s no perfect thing to say in the most difficult situations, but we can support each other by opening dialogue, expressing compassion, and listening with the goal of understanding.

Science supports what we intuitively understand: Strong relationships enhance the quality of our lives. We have all felt our outlook brighten after a meaningful conversation and our moods sour after conflict. Social support not only boosts our mental health, research has found, but it also softens the impact of stress.

When we are not equipped to support loved ones through a hard time, our discomfort can compel us to point out a bright side or offer a simple solution, which may come across as dismissive.

As a counsellor, I help patients assert their requests for emotional support to friends and family members. You can’t be expected to mindread and know what will comfort every person in every situation. Acknowledging that and asking, “How can I support you?” or “What can I do to help?” expresses a desire to assist without presuming you know what is best for them.

Support doesn’t require you to fully understand a problem or provide a solution. Often, it involves nothing more than validation. When being there for others, we can ensure that the support we are providing is the support that they need; not what we think they need. Remember context and influence matter, when supporting others.

When you offer emotional support to others, you’re telling them they aren’t alone. Over time, this message may have even more of a positive impact on mental health than temporary mood-boosters or forms of support.



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Let's get SMART! 🧠

Goal setting is important for those who want to improve their life. Setting goals helps you remain accountable for the things you want to achieve. Setting goals can not only impact mental health, but it can also help you overcome depression and help you with rehabilitation.

How to use SMART goals:

S- specific. Ask yourself, what do you want to do? Be specific and break it down into smaller goals if needed. (e.g. if your goal is to 'get healthy' - break it down to specify and define what that means to you.)

M- measurable. How will you track your progress? We need to know we are on track to keep us motivated.

A- achievable. How will you achieve this goal? Is it actually achievable? Unrealistic goals can cause us to give up as they are too out of reach. We also need to consider, that goals that are too easy can be boring and keep us from being motivated to achieve more.

R- relevant. How is this goal relevant to your life right now? And how is this relevant to your ideal self?

T- timely. Set a specific time frame to meet this goal and checkpoints along the way.

Goal setting acts as a roadmap for you to follow when it comes to overcoming challenges and achieving things in life.

Let’s make positive changes together. What are your goals for this month?

🌱 Grounding Technique

Grounding is a practice that can help you pull away from flashbacks, unwanted memories, and negative or challenging emotions.

Occasionally our anxiety gets the better of us, for many, this may feel overwhelming and difficult to manage. The physical sensations of anxiety such as changes in our breathing, rapid heart rate and experiencing tunnel vision, can make us feel out of control with our own bodies.

How to use this technique list:
- Things you can see: Start by listing bigger items and then try to notice smaller things like the pattern on the carpet.
- Things you can feel: Notice the sensations of the clothes on your body or the wind on your face.
- Things you can hear: Pay attention to the sounds your mind has tuned out like the ticking of a clock.
- Things you can smell: Try to notice smells around you, like an unlit candle or coffee.
-Thing you can taste: Try to notice the taste of the inside of your mouth. If you often experience panic attacks, it can be helpful to carry gum or lollies to focus your attention your month.
- Bonus – finish by stating one good thing about yourself.

Grounding techniques tend to involve using the five senses to become aware of the present surroundings. Just like everything, these things are better with practice. Don't give up 💫

And if you feel like talking to someone, we are here for you! 💛




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Considering that more than half of our communication is nonverbal, it is really no surprise that both adults and children use behaviour to communicate pretty much every moment of every day. As adults, the facial expressions and the gestures we make communicate for us.

Unsurprisingly, children rely heavily on nonverbal communication. You might be familiar with the tantrums, maybe even biting, hitting and screaming that a toddler is very capable of? These are common happenings when raising a toddler. Your child is using behaviour to communicate with you while they are developing their understanding and use of the verbal language.

Often this challenging behaviour manifests out of frustration at either not understanding a situation or being unable to verbally express their wants, needs and feelings. As children get older and develop appropriate vocabulary, sentence structure and social skills, these high-level behaviours reduce.

At the end of the day, we all want to be understood. For you to understand your child and to more likely prevent the continuation of challenging behaviours, you need to focus on meeting their needs. Meeting your child’s needs across the day is a preventative strategy to challenging behaviours, and we can work together to focus on all the good things, encourage appropriate behaviour, and help your child grow and develop in a positive environment.

Send us a message, we are here for you!

Have you ever felt like a fraud? As if you don’t deserve your achievements and accomplishments? Or have you ever belittled your success, experience or expertise?

Imposter syndrome is described as a psychological experience that leads us to feelings of incompetence in our abilities...despite evidence contrary to or indicating otherwise.⁠

Imposter syndrome is usually based on old and outdated information. It’s like a record that has gotten stuck on repeat, saying the same old thing over and over… “Everybody's better than you” or “you don't know what you are talking about.” ⁠⚠️

It can be useful to explore our beliefs and the story we have around those beliefs 🔍⁠
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Examples of questions to explore with a counsellor:⁠
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🚨 Why do you feel as though you need to be better than others?⁠
🚨If you deserved recognition what would happen?⁠
🚨If you are successful what would happen?⁠
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The answers to these questions will vary for each person.
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Counselling and therapy allow us to work with the residue from our past. ⁠
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By understanding the experiences that have shaped our beliefs and behaviours when it comes to imposter syndrome we can start to recognise what has contributed to our imposter syndrome and confront it with support.

Relate to imposter syndrome?

In what kinds of situations do these feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy tend to come on? School? Sports? Social media? Something else?

If those feelings are familiar to you, you’ve probably experienced what’s called “impostor syndrome” and⁠ we are here to support you.




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👨‍👩‍👧 Youth and Family Counselling helps young people who may be experiencing conflict with their parents, other family members, partners or friends, and supports the development of healthy relationships.

🌟 We offer youth counselling support, assessment and treatment for a variety of presenting concerns for teens.

We can help you with:
- difficulty managing anxiety and/or anger
- challenging and/or risk-taking behaviours
- friendship issues and bullying
- depression and other mood disorders
- family breakdown and conflict
- parent and adolescent relationship challenges
- grief and loss
- learning difficulties
- exam stress and study stress
- school challenges
- self-harm thoughts or actions
- self-esteem issues

💛 We aim to provide you with a safe, non-judgmental space where you can reflect on what’s happening for you, gain a better understanding of yourself and others, and feel more empowered to make choices that support your overall wellbeing.

Contact us now!

When children are under the influence of an anxious brain, their behaviour has nothing to do with wanting to push against the limits. Behaviour that on the surface seems like anger can be a mix of uncomprehended feelings.

If we could see what was happening in their heads when anxiety takes hold like this, their behaviour would make sense. We would want to scoop them up and take them away from the chaos of it all. Their angry behaviour makes sense, and it’s important to let them know this, but there will always be better choices they are capable of making.

Once kids have a more solid understanding of why they do what they do, they will be well on their way to finding a better response. Here’s where the adults in their lives will make a critical difference. Parents, grandparents, teachers – anyone who is able to understand and respond to their behaviour as something driven by anxiety, rather than ‘naughty’ behaviour, will be helping them to find healthier, stronger, more effective ways to respond to the world. All kids have it in them to do this, but anxiety can have a sly way of stealing the attention from their strengths.

We are here to help navigating through this hard times with the correct tools and experience. Send us a message, we are here for you.