Children • Family • Faith • Healing
Helping children
understand emotions.
Building brave hearts.
A heartwarming story that helps children name their feelings, understand change, and know they are never alone.
The Book
A gentle guide for children navigating big feelings and life’s changes.
“Victoria, you did nothing wrong. Mommy has an illness that affects her feelings and thoughts.”
Brave Little Hearts follows Victoria, age 8 — a tech-loving, piano-playing girl whose world changes when her mother develops a mental illness. Through Victoria’s eyes, young readers discover that feelings are like weather — they change — and that with the right support, every heart can find its rainbow.
- 10 beautifully illustrated chapters following Victoria and her family through confusion, acceptance, courage, and hope.10 counselor-guided activities — Feelings Weather Chart, Coping Toolbox, Courage Tree, Circle of Support, Family Memory Book, and more.The weather metaphor gives children safe, non-shaming language for complex emotions — sunny, cloudy, stormy, and rainbow feelings.Written for ages 6–12 and ideal as a family read-aloud, classroom resource, or counseling tool.Grounded in doctoral research — written alongside a PhD in Christian Counseling dissertation integrating clinical science and biblical wisdom.
Written For You
A message for every reader.
Parenting through mental illness — your own or your partner’s — is one of the hardest things a family can face. You may be managing medication schedules, explaining hard things to little eyes watching everything, and wondering if your child is okay. Brave Little Hearts was written to help you answer the questions your child may not yet have words for.
This book gives you a shared language — the weather metaphor — that lets your family talk about difficult emotions without fear or shame. Victoria’s story shows children that a parent’s mental illness is not their fault, that feelings are allowed, and that love does not have to be perfect to be real.
Read it together. Let your child ask questions as they come. There are no wrong answers — only brave conversations.Use the Feelings Weather Chart. Make it a daily check-in — “What’s your weather today?” normalizes emotional honesty for the whole family.Build your Coping Toolbox together. Chapter 6’s activity helps every family member name what helps them — including you.You deserve support too. Dr. Johnson offers faith-based telehealth counseling for individuals and families through Kingdom Authority Counseling & Wellness.
What your child may be feelingConfusion, fear, loyalty conflicts, loneliness, and love — all at once. This book names every one of those feelings and tells your child they are normal, understandable, and not their burden to carry alone.What you can say tonight“This book is about a girl named Victoria whose mom got sick. It’s a story about feelings and how families help each other. Want to read it with me?”Children spend more waking hours with their teachers than almost any other adult in their lives. When a parent is struggling with mental illness, you are often the first to notice — the quieter child, the one who can’t concentrate, the one who cries without explanation. You cannot fix what is happening at home, but you can create a classroom where brave little hearts feel safe enough to breathe.
Brave Little Hearts is designed as a classroom read-aloud and discussion resource for grades 1–6. It opens conversations about emotions, family, and help-seeking in language children can hold and use.
Use it as a read-aloud. The weather metaphor translates naturally into classroom emotional vocabulary — post the Feelings Chart and refer to it daily.Pair with social-emotional learning. The 10 activities align with SEL competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and responsible decision-making.Build a Buddy System. Chapter 7’s Buddy pairing activity can be adapted for your classroom — creating peer support structures that reduce isolation.Share with school counselors. The Circle of Support activity in Chapter 4 maps naturally to school counseling referral conversations.
What to watch forWithdrawn behavior, difficulty concentrating, emotional outbursts, excessive worry about going home, or a child who seems to be carrying adult responsibilities. These may be signs a family is struggling.What you can say to a child“I noticed you seem to be having a hard time. You don’t have to tell me everything, but I want you to know — I’m here, and you’re safe in this classroom.”Classroom discussion starter“Victoria feels lots of different feelings in this story. What feelings did you notice? Have you ever felt like the weather inside you was stormy?”Children who live with a parent’s mental illness often carry their experience in silence — out of loyalty, shame, or simply not having the words. Brave Little Hearts was developed alongside a doctoral dissertation in Christian Counseling and is grounded in peer-reviewed clinical literature on attachment, family systems, emotion socialization, and resilience.
Each of the 10 chapters is paired with a counselor-guided activity. These activities are designed to be used in session or assigned between sessions as structured narrative work — giving children a safe, projective distance to name experiences they may not yet be able to speak directly.
Use as a bibliotherapy tool. Victoria’s story provides projective distance — children can respond to “what Victoria feels” before they can speak to what they feel themselves.The 10 activities are session-ready. Feelings Weather Chart, Circle of Support, Calm the Storm, Courage Tree, and Family Memory Book each have clear therapeutic targets and debrief prompts.Family systems application. The Family Support Tree and Family Coping Toolbox activities can be assigned as between-session homework for the whole family, not just the child.Faith integration. Each activity includes language that is accessible in both secular and faith-based clinical settings. The Courage Tree and Garden of Hope activities translate naturally into spiritually integrated practice.
Clinical groundingThe BLH Integrative Model is built on four evidence-informed anchors: Attachment (Bowlby, Ainsworth), Emotion Literacy (Gottman et al.), Rituals (Mordoch & Hall), and Community (Van Schoors et al.). Full clinical references are available in the companion dissertation.Therapeutic targets by chapterCh. 1–2: Psychoeducation & normalization • Ch. 3–4: Affect labeling & help-seeking • Ch. 5–6: Coping skills & resilience • Ch. 7–8: Community & safety planning • Ch. 9–10: Integration & advocacyConsult with Dr. JohnsonFor speaking engagements, clinical training, or church-based implementation of the BLH curriculum, reach out through Kingdom Authority Counseling & Wellness.This book is for you. It was written because you matter — and because sometimes big feelings are hard to explain, and hard things happen in families that are nobody’s fault.
In this story, you will meet Victoria. She is eight years old, and she loves playing piano and figuring out how things work. One day, her mom gets sick in a way that is hard to see — and Victoria has to learn some really important things. Things that might help you too.
Your feelings are like weather. Some days are sunny. Some days are stormy. All of your feelings are okay — and they change, just like the weather does.It is not your fault. When a grown-up in your family is sick or having a hard time, it is never because of something you did. You did nothing wrong.You are not alone. There are people who love you and want to help — at home, at school, and in your community. You do not have to carry this by yourself.Brave does not mean not scared. It means trying anyway. Victoria is brave. And so are you.
Victoria’s Feelings Weather Chart☀️ Sunny • ⛅ Cloudy • 🌧️ Rainy • ⛈️ Stormy • 🌈 Rainbow
What is your weather today?RememberYour feelings are real. Your story matters. There are people who love you — and this book was written just for you.
Inside the Book
Ten chapters. Ten activities.
One brave little heart.Each chapter of Victoria’s journey is paired with a counselor-designed activity that children, parents, and educators can use together.
My Feelings Weather ChartChildren learn to identify and name their emotions using the weather metaphor — sunny, cloudy, rainy, stormy, and rainbow — giving feelings a safe, understandable shape.
Circle of SupportChildren map the trusted adults in their lives — at home, at school, and in community — building a visible, concrete picture of who is in their corner.
Calm the StormA grounding activity that teaches children simple, repeatable strategies for moving through big emotions — breath, body, and belonging.
My Feelings Weather ChartChildren learn to identify and name their emotions using the weather metaphor — sunny, cloudy, rainy, stormy, and rainbow — giving feelings a safe, understandable shape.
Family Support WebAn activity that reveals how family members already support one another — strengthening connection and naming the invisible threads that hold a family together.
Garden of Hope & Family MemoryThe closing activities invite families to tend something growing together and to build a shared record of their story — a testament that healing is possible and that love endures.
Order the Book
Brave Little Hearts
is coming June 8, 2026.Available on Amazon. One book can open a conversation that changes everything.
June 8, 202641Days:01Hours:18Minsuntil launch on AmazonAlso available wherever books are sold through Ingram Spark distribution.
Speaking Engagements
Bringing this message to your audience.
Dr. Melissa S. Johnson is available for speaking engagements, workshops, and training events for churches, schools, counseling practices, community organizations, and conferences.
Church & Faith Communities
Mental health awareness workshops, parenting through illness, and implementing the BLH model in congregational care ministries.
Schools & Educational Settings
Educator training on supporting children impacted by parental mental illness, SEL integration, and classroom resilience-building tools.
Conferences & Community Events
Keynote and breakout sessions on children’s mental health, faith-based counseling, family resilience, and the Brave Little Hearts story.
Clinical & Counseling Training
Professional development for therapists, social workers, and school counselors on the BLH Integrative Model and narrative-based clinical tools.
Available for in-person and virtual engagements nationwide.
About the Author
