Chapter 6 - Session 1: Initiation into Feeling and Body Investigators

Summary

This chapter is where the action starts! We provide a step-by-step guide for clinicians to lead the introductory session for FBI including sample dialogues and examples of how to integrate the therapeutic materials provided (e.g. parent/child workbooks, worksheets, and coloring pages). Therapists are given accessible language to present the case formulation of visceral hypersensitivity as a collection of sensory superpowers that enable children to experience the world and their bodies through a lens of curiosity and excitement rather than fear. Children and parents begin their training as body detectives, Feeling and Body Investigators that harness these superpowers. Children create a “Body Map” a tracing of the child’s body that summarizes the many wisdoms of the body. Children are introduced to their first body characters. Examples include Henry Heartbeat, Samantha Sweat, and Gassy Gus. Children perform their first Body Investigation, a Henry Heartbeat exploration in which they compare strategies to raise and lower their heartbeat. A resulting body wisdom might be: my heart is smart- it knows to beat faster or slower depending on what I need. Body Brainstorms worksheets facilitate generalization of new learning to the outside world. Families are given home-based practices and worksheets to reinforce what they learn.