The 'Blowaway' Technique

Devised by Neil French and Described Here by IAPH Therapist Kathleen Freeman

The Blowaway technique was devised particularly for use with children from the age
of around seven or eight to sixteen although it can be very successful with younger children as long as they have a reasonable attention span. It is a very gentle non-intrusive therapy that produces positive cumulative results within a short space of time.

The child needs must be accompanied by at least one, preferably both parents.
Where this is impossible then a responsible adult, with whom the child feels happy
and at ease, must be present.

What Can It Help With?

Excellent results have been reported in a variety of problematic areas including:

• Coprophobia
• Blushing
• ADHD
• Eating disorders
• Aspergers Syndrome
• Autism
• Tourettes Syndrome
• Asthma
• Blushing
• Tension
• Anxiety
• Sleeping Problems
• Stuttering/stammering
• Withdrawal
• Aggression
• Bed-wetting
• Nightmares
• Sleep problems
• Thumb sucking
• Low self-esteem
• Confidence issues

How Does the 'Blowaway' Technique Work?

The Blowaway is designed to help children resolve their emotional or anxiety-related conditions. It is very difficult for a child or teenager to express what is happening within their emotions as they do not often have the vocabulary or indeed the understanding of their thought pattern or behaviour to do so.

In some cases the cause of their problem may give them reason to feel embarrassed, guilty or ashamed to discuss the issues with anyone especially during puberty whene all their hormones are going wild and they are unable to understand why they feel the way they do. In younger children with such things as enuresis (bed wetting), they will have no idea why this is happening and a talking therapy may take forever. Therefore a non-verbal therapy is very powerful as it enables the child to release trapped emotion without the embarrassment of putting their thoughts into words.

Some problems such as learning difficulties such as ADHD Attention Deficit Disorder may be the result of emotional challenges as follows, challenge…struggle to complete the task…stress….overwhelm…switch off a behavioural pattern is formed and the attention goes onto something else.