There are other relaxation tapes available but yours is the only one that seems to follow the most logical procession, i.e. teaching them progressive muscle relaxation and breathing techniques before going to visual imagery. It has demonstrated excellent results in my classroom."

H.V.
Selma, N.C.

Counselors

Many counselors and therapists now believe that talk therapy is not the most effective and efficient way to create positive change in the lives of those seeking help.  Right brain therapies using imagery, relaxation, art, and music as well as some of the energy psychology programs such as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) now being utilized by many therapists, bypass the conscious mind, and in so doing, uses the subconscious mind to creates change much more rapidly.

Old Me New Me is one of these innovative right brain therapeutic programs on CDs and is like no other on the market.  It is an evidence based program and has been well received by children, parents and counselors alike. These stories focus on changing thoughts, feeling and behaviors so that children and teens are less stressed, have less anxiety, gives them more control over their emotions and calms them so they are more able to learn in the classroom.

The Old Me New Me has been the subject of  over sixteen research studies  by several universities for over thirty years. A study with the children of Katrina was published in June in the Journal of International Image and results were presented at the American Psychology  in July  2006. This study can be downloaded in .pdf here.

The program  has been revised a number of times since its inception and published by several major publishing houses during these years.  These studies show significant changes such as a decrease in hyperactive behaviors, impulsivity, aggression, ADHD, anxiety and worry and an increase in focus, resilience, more positive relations with others and self esteem.  The program  uses basic relaxation exercises and after those are mastered, a number of short stories using imagery, music, and sound effects teach better ways to deal with stressful situations that build  resiliency and self confidence, better decision making  and teach children and teens the ability to stop and think before they act.

An art therapy program, for use by counselors  is now  available for use with this program. The art program helps to reinforce the concepts in the short story program and is a means by which the child or teen can more fully express certain emotional issues without words. 

EFT is a new field of energy psychology which utilizes the subconscious mind.  Practitioners believe that all emotional problems are caused by an imbalance in the body's energy system and that by using  EFT, the body's energy system is once again balanced.

An EFT component is also available to be used with the Old Me New Me to help bring to conscious awareness the underlying troubling thoughts and feelings that may be an issue for the child or teen and may be the cause of undue anxiety or worry.  These feelings may be the root of the emotional or behavioral problems for which the youngster has been medicated but may be thoughts and feelings that have never have expressed. These problems are then addressed using a tapping program  to balance the energy system in the body and in so doing, dissipates the emotional issue and sometimes lessening the need for medication. 

 The EFT program in combination with the Old Me New Me makes this a very highly effective program. This combination of  programs is  innovative, easy and effective  for the children and or teens using the program.  The students are eager to use these as they are fun, and interesting activities. They can feel the difference within themselves after a short period of time and often ask to use the program.  Often parents are asked by therapists to purchase and utilize the program at home for more reinforcement.

Schools today are looking for programs that are effective, inexpensive, easy to use and one preferably that helps learning, improves test scores and makes a positive change in the lives of their students.  Old Me New Me can provide these benefits for the school counselor and can also be helpful for private therapists that parents may have contacted. This innovative program has been used by parents, schools, therapists and children's hospitals since the early 70s.

Children and teens today, more than ever,  have a tremendous amount of stress in their daily lives and often parents and teachers are unaware of how stressed these youngsters are or how this stress causes or contributes to behavioral, or emotional problems, anxiety and worry. Children can not learn effectively when stressed or worried. Grades will go down from too much anxiety or stress.

Children's anxiety comes from a number of sources including family problems, divorce, competition in sports, concern about grades, learning problems as well as concern about belonging and be loved and cared for.  Old Me New Me helps young people develop the inner resources to help deal with many of these issues.  When child or teen anxiety decreases, often times the need for medication is also decreased and since many children and teens today are medicated, sometimes unnecessarily, that is another positive outcome.

The Old Me New Me program can be used in the time frame of 50-60 minutes. The time would allow for the use of a story, the art component and a short time allowed for the EFT component.  Homework can be given to reinforce the lessons learned and to help integrate those into new behaviors.

This  program works well in many settings, can be used with a single child or in a group setting, has been used with children and teens from ages five to sixteen, and is low cost so that every therapist and every school counselor  can afford to own the entire program.  Every child who is stressed, or whose behavior or emotions are creating problems for him or herself, needs to have access to this important life tool. 

I use OLD ME, NEW ME in both my learning disability center and in my private practice. I found these tapes to be very effective in increasing self esteem and self control, and decreasing anxiety and aggression. I highly recommend that parents use them with their children at home.

Lendell Braud, Ph.D.
T.S.U. University, Houston, Texas

        Old Me New Me Series