I recently read two BRILLIANT books about the effects of early and extreme stress on the bodies and brains of young children and how we as practitioners can help children and families to overcome these effects and enable children to flourish. The first was The Boy Who Was Raised as A Dog by Bruce Perry and the second was The Deepest Well by Nadine Burke Harris.

In spite of the, sometimes crushingly sad, stories contained within both of these books I found both of them incredibly hopeful and beautiful as both authors have spent their entire careers seeking, and in many cases finding, solutions and ways to repair damage and enable children to reach their potential.  I started to think about how the ideas contained within The Deepest Well and that sense of hopefulness and positive change could be represented visually and I have created 2 versions of an illustration which I hope goes some way toward that goal.

The two versions feature children of different ages – one of primary/elementary age and the other a teenager.

I have had a number of requests to make these available for download and I am happy to do so.

Please credit me whenever they are used.

Click on the image below and follow the link to download full size files.