Bottled Book promotes mental health conversations with children

An education professional and graduate from the University of Chester has written and designed a book with his brother to help young children talk about their feelings.

Joseph Brassington, graduated from the University of Chester with a degree in Fine Art with Education Studies before completing a PGCE Primary and starting his teaching career.

Together with his brother Tom, who is also a primary school teacher, he has created Bottled Book, which he describes as a rhyming children’s picture book which can be used to support conversations with children about their feelings, mental health and the importance about being emotionally honest.

The brothers have partnered with Unbound, a crowd-funding publisher to turn their dream of making the book into a reality for distribution to classrooms across the country.

The book has been written and illustrated by Joseph and Tom. Already more than 60% of the publishing costs have been raised through crowdfunding.

Joseph, who works as a primary school teacher, said: “After mental-ill health impacted our close family personally, I was left reflecting on our role as teachers in developing the emotional navigation of our pupils. As a result, I started using picture books to open conversations with young people about their feelings and their mental health. After a while, I decided that we needed a picture book focused on emotional honesty. This is how Bottled Book was first created. 

“I studied at the University for many years and am now a primary school teacher thanks to the great training I received at Chester. It was the combination of my knowledge of teaching and my own artistic skills which allowed me to contribute to the creation of the book, both of which, were rooted in my study at the University of Chester. 

“We believe this picture book, written and illustrated by myself and my brother, is a useful tool as part of a wider toolkit which can help to develop more happy and healthy children in our society.

“We’ve had a great response to the crowdfunding but publishing is expensive and there is still a long way to go.”

To find out more about how to support Bottled Book visit https://unbound.com/books/bottled/

Twitter @BottledBook

Pictured - Tom and Joseph Brassington