“Beautiful, heartfelt stories for the whole family, with gorgeous illustrations.”

Story is at the root of my work; helping people tell theirs, and writing my own.

In 2023, my second series of Therapeutic Fairy Tales launched, beautifully illustrated by Sarah Pimenta, and published by Speechmark. In each book, a child is helped by an animal guide to connect to nature, inside and out, to support them with difficult feeling-states. These books can support children, aged 7+, as well as the ‘child’ in adults, serving as useful conversation-starters.

Book covers of 'Into the Forest', 'The Waves', and 'The Sky Fox', showcasing colorful illustrations with a child and nature themes.
  • ‘Into the Forest’ – shows how nature can support us, when feeling anxiety
  • ‘The Waves’ offers mindfulness ideas to support children living with OCD
  • ‘The Sky Fox‘ looks at how nature connectedness can help with loneliness
A young boy riding a bicycle with large, patterned wheels under a bright yellow sun, as an owl flies above him.
An illustrated scene featuring a child embracing a large, cartoonish seal on a beach, with colorful waves and the words 'WHAT IF' floating in the sky.
An illustrated scene featuring a girl sitting on a branch, observing a spider in its web, accompanied by a fox, set against a colorful background.

Also out is Rewilding Children’s Imaginations, 99 Creative Activities Inspired by Nature and Folktales from Around the World. Following the seasons, this manual offers teachers creative activities to help children connect to nature. Artist, Sarah Pimenta and fiction writer/ex primary teacher Tamsin Cooke co-wrote this book.

An artistic arrangement of natural materials, with some circular shapes and a blue background.

In 2020, Volume 1 of Therapeutic Fairy Tales launched, illustrated by Sarah Pimenta. In this series, animal guides support each child character through difficult life transitions.

A colorful illustration of a child sitting on the back of a large turtle, pointing towards the sky with birds flying overhead, surrounded by lush greenery and a vibrant sea.
Illustration featuring two children standing together, gazing at a colorful, large bird in a whimsical, vibrant background.
A child riding on the back of a polar bear, depicted against a vibrant, abstract background of blue and green colors.

To accompany these books, I co-wrote the Storybook Manual – an introduction to working with storybooks therapeutically and creatively, with Sarah Pimenta, to serve as a practical resource for care professionals. Here is an author Q&A on the initial concept for the Therapeutic Fairy Tales, and our article on how storybooks can help children give voice to difficult feelings.

‘Sometimes I Feel‘ is a box-set of 48 story cards, I illustrated to help children explore different feelings, challenging and positive. On the cards, a boy and a girl embody emotions including anger, shame, fear, friendship, jealousy, indecision, joy, calmness, tenacity, pride. The story card format can be used in flexible ways.

Cover of the book 'Sometimes I Feel...' by Pia Jones, featuring colorful illustrations of children expressing various emotions.
A collection of illustrated cards representing various emotions, arranged around a book titled 'Sometimes I Feel...' by Pia Jones.

Published reviews:

***** Amazon review: “We love these cards. The ‘Sometimes I Feel’ cards are being used to support emotion intelligence with adult caregivers – supporting them hold emotion coaching relationships with their children as part of a collaborative health and care school readiness project in Somerset.”


THE MOVING THEATRE – Award-winning feature film documentary

A woman smiling while holding a puppet that resembles a young girl, both are facing the camera. The woman is dressed in a hijab and a vest, engaged in a warm interaction with the puppet.

In 2017, I worked as story director with film directors, Ben Mallaby and Eugene Hughes, on artgym’s award-winning documentary The Moving Theatre. The film shares life-changing moments of migration through the use of theatre and puppetry. We used arts therapy techniques to support our real-life storytellers to tell their stories. In March 2018, The Moving Theatre was voted best feature documentary at the National Film Awards.

Award-winning feature film documentary logo and selection badges from various film festivals.

SCHOOL VISITS & INSET DAYS

  • Please email me if you’re interested in book readings for school children and/or class assemblies based on the Therapeutic Fairytales series. These stories explore how a mindful nature-connectedness can support our wellbeing when feeling loneliness and anxiety.
A workshop space with a circular arrangement of fabric swatches on the floor, surrounded by chairs. Natural light enters through large windows, illuminating the room where two people are engaged in activity.
A person interacting with colorful paper cutouts displayed on a circular frame, set against a window with natural light streaming in.
  • Please also get in touch to enquire about Internal Staff sessions, or Inset days training on Freeing Creativity, or Creativity for Wellbeing. These experiential creative sessions are designed for teachers to build their own confidence around creativity for wellbeing, and learn new tools to support a range of creative writing, art making and mindfulness activities in class. I blend creative facilitation, guided imagery and arts therapy techniques. These are not technical art or writing sessions, but designed to connect teachers to their own intuitive expressive and creative writing skills.