A MUM-OF-TWO is putting a stamp on her new career after launching what is believed to be Britain’s first “positive psychology lifebook” for children.

Lorna Park watched as her son Charlie went from a confident, happy young boy to developing a very negative mindset.

Charlie, now 11, was about eight years old when he started suffering from severe anxiety, believing he was failing at everything – even when he was excelling. Suffering from stress and a lack of confidence, he would give up on tasks at the slightest hurdle.

Lorna, of East Linton’s Dunpender Road, said the experience left her feeling “helpless”.

She said: “Charlie was becoming increasingly frustrated with life and was becoming a victim of his negative self-talk, stress and worries, and I wanted to help him understand how his brain was working and how he could take control.

“As soon as he started to understand that he could change his behaviour, Charlie’s self-belief, resilience, persistence, stress levels and overall health improved significantly – I was amazed at how much he drank in at just nine years old.”

Lorna, who previously ran the village’s Post Office for five years alongside her husband Chris, has embraced her new career.

The 45-year-old was introduced to the approach of positive psychology via positive psychologist and global success coach Niyc Pidgeon.

She started to identify with Charlie’s struggles and understand his behaviour more, seeing many of these fixed mindset qualities in herself. By identifying these, she then, in turn, helped him re-calibrate how he viewed himself, alongside a new teacher who was also teaching growth mindset in the classroom.

She added: “Once we as parents also understood how to support Charlie better, our parenting style totally changed and we started to praise effort and hard work rather than natural ability and we encouraged mistakes so they could be learnt from.

“Amazingly, the results were immediate; his confidence started to grow, as did his persistence and resilience, and alongside this his ability in things he was not naturally good at also grew.”

Having seen first-hand the impact of sharing with Charlie what she had learnt on growth mindset, positive psychology and mindfulness, Lorna hunted for child-friendly content. However, after finding nothing, she turned her attention to creating My Great Big Positive Life – The Ultimate Guide to all things happy.

The activity-based journal aims to let children to navigate their own way through emotions. Starting out as a small guide, it soon turned into something much more substantial as Charlie kept asking for more and Lorna discovered many parents were facing similar obstacles.

My Great Big Positive Life Superstar Edition (for ages nine-plus) consists of a three-in-one book, journal and planner, guiding its owner through various principles using methods such as reading, creative writing, activities and exercises.

Lorna, who also has a six-year-old son Jacob, said: “Whether from the endless succession of testing them from a very early age, the rise of social media and the constant comparison that comes with it, or the never-ending need to be entertained, I feel that, sadly, not only are the days of having a carefree childhood gone, but that children are not able to switch off in order to create a clear and calm space in which to grow.”

The book is available at mygreatbigpositivelife.co.uk