Cuddle Therapy - Kind words
Kind words about my work:
From a family who have been helped by Cuddle Therapy:
"They
came to me last month and told me about this family ~ mum had lost a baby
boy when he was fourteen weeks old ~ the little girl (seven years old)
took his death particularly hard and began to self harm. The idea of a
reborn and cuddle therapy was brought into the arena by her child
therapist so they came to the group looking for help ~ the mum requested
an open eyed doll as she couldn't cope with a closed eyed one ~ so i began
to liase with the family and made the reborn for this little girl.
Three weeks later ~ the little girl is still delighted with her baby and
the self harming stopped the moment the doll was placed in her arms! the
mum is feeling positive the doll has brought peace and the little girl is
able to now (after only a few short weeks) talk about her baby brother and
is beginning to accept he is safe and well in heaven. I don't think there
is a stronger case i have been involved in
From a lovely lady who attended my workshops
Since
doing Ruth's Cuddle Therapy and Life after Grief workshops, I have felt
better than I have felt for a very long time. Ruth has done more for me in
the few months that I have known her, than anyone else in my life. She
fully understands the emotions and depths of sorrow you go through after
the loss of a loved one and had helped me to understand that death is not
the end of a loved one, it is only the beginning! Without Ruth I would
still be struggling daily with my feelings of despair and loss, instead I
feel whole again, I know that the loss of a loved one is something we will
live with for the rest of our lives but with Ruth's help, you can 'live'
with that loss and enjoy life, in the knowledge that we are all connected
and will one day return to the place where our loved ones wait to welcome
us with open arms.
God bless you Ruth. You are an angel on earth. xx
A wonderfully talented sculptures who
owns Precious Dreams nursery sent me this touching story about how a
family were helped with using these ‘babies’. The family new nothing
about Cuddle Therapy, yet, unknowably they were helping heal themselves by
using just that.
One such case was a portrait sculpt I made for a family who's baby had grown his angel wings at just 28 weeks gestation, he had fought for 4 weeks, but could not fight any longer. The grandparent of the tiny baby contacted me and told me their story of how this little baby had affected their lives, and how they missed him so much that the entire family were no longer talking. I set about sculpting a memorial baby for the family, and when he arrived, the entire family gathered to hold the new baby, just being able to hold those memories in their arms and cry tears which had been hidden away bought the family back together.
Ruth's sculpt
Baby Dolls Help Brighten The Lives Of Alzheimer's Patients
By Heike Schmidt
DENVER, Colorado (dpa) - Peggy Regnier's wrinkled hands are shaking, the 90-year-old is slumped in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank parked next to her and her mind wanders in and out of consciousness the whole day long.
It's hard to gain her attention but when therapist Gail Shirley places a baby doll in the patient's arms, Peggy Regnier's thoughts bounce back to the present.
At Briarwood Health Center in Denver, Colorado the plastic toys with their doe-like eyes are one of the latest weapons in the arsenal against Alzheimer's Disease. Experts believe the life-sized dolls can rekindle maternal instincts and halt the loss of long-term memory - at least momentarily.
"My patients have lost virtually everything in their lives," said Gail Shirley. Their memories have faded and they can no longer recall the things they have learned. People they once knew are suddenly strangers to an Alzheimer's victim.
In this situation of helplessness a doll can be a way of dissipating stress and fear. "The patients need help but have no one to care for themselves. The dolls give them back this satisfying feeling."
I
took Cassie and Sophie into see a lady called Lizzie, who had cancer ,
her partner had asked if I would visit her as they remembered my
‘babies’ from a show they had seen me at.
On my first visit she had been in surgery , but it was so advanced
there was little they could do except make her comfortable……when I
arrived she was very distraught and frightened…..the nursing staff asked
me about the dolls and I gave them my usual explanation….finally got the
dolls back from the staff....
Lizzie wanted to hold Sophie , so I laid her in her arms, she
immedietly started to hug her to her, stroking her face and talking to
her. telling her how she felt and how upset she was feeling. I was able to
use EFT with Lizzie to enable her to 'let go' of these negative emotions
she was holding back, giving her body every chance to be 'clear' to
heal. When I left Lizzie about 2 hours later, she was much calmer
and rested. She asked me to bring Sophie back to see her.
On one of my visit to Lizzie she was in a hospice with very little time left and again she wanted Sophie……Sophie and me doing surrogate tapping helped Liz to fall asleep…..where with both her and her partners permission I was able to surrogate tap…..lots of issues came to the surface, and I found myself very emotional and tapping for ‘Even though I never got to see my grandchildren….’. and ‘If they would just go home and allow me to pass over…’. Lizzie died the next day, peacefully in her sleep….she never regained consciousness after Sophie and I left.
I first saw these lifelike baby dolls about 4 years ago. My staff and I were very impressed and how 'real' they appeared. we took the dolls to a number of our residents, and were so impressed with the reactions the dolls generated that we did actually order one from Ruth.
Our residents, especially the ladies, seemed to believe the dolls really were babies and held them as though they were. They gained a lot of pleasure from cradling the dolls and there was an obvious look of contentment on our residents' faces as they rocked and loved the 'babies' Some of our residents were very interested in how the 'babies' were dressed, because the clothes were quite different from the baby clothes that they would have dressed their own babies in over 60 years ago.
We also had relatives of our residents visiting at the time, and they to were surprised at the reactions these dolls had on their loved ones.
I believe these dolls would be beneficial in many care settings, my home cares for sufferers of Dementia and the dolls did seem to have a calming effect on my residents, and also provided them with a sense of emotional wellbeing.
Little Cody