Sunderland, Margot

PERSONAL:

Female.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Centre for Child Mental Health, 2-18 Britannia Row, Islington, London N1 8PA, England. E-mail—info@childmentalhealthcentre.org.

CAREER:

Centre for Child Mental Health, London, England, founder and director of education and training; adult and child psychotherapist, United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy; founder and lecturer, Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education; London Metropolitan University, senior lecturer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Mental health section award, British Medical Association Book Competition, 2002.

WRITINGS:

GUIDEBOOKS FOR ADULTS

(With Kenneth Pickering) Choreographing the Stage Musical, illustrated by Philip Engleheart, J. Garnet Miller (Malvern, England), 1990.

Draw on Your Emotions: Creative Ways to Explore, Express, and Understand Feelings, Winslow (Bicester, England), 1993.

Helping Children Pursue Their Hopes and Dreams, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2000.

Helping Children Who Have Hardened Their Hearts or Become Bullies, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2000.

Helping Children Who Are Anxious or Obsessional, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2000.

Helping Children Who Bottle Up Their Feelings, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2000.

Using Storytelling as a Therapeutic Tool with Children, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2000.

Helping Children Locked in Rage or Hate, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2003.

Helping Children with Fear, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2003.

Helping Children with Loss, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2003.

Helping Children with Low Self-Esteem, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2003.

Helping Children Who Yearn for Someone They Love, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2003.

Science of Parenting: Practical Guidance on Sleep, Crying, Play, and Building Emotional Well-Being for Life, foreword by Jaak Panksepp, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2006.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS

A Nifflenoo Called Nevermind, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2000.

A Pea Called Mildred, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2000.

A Wibble Called Bipley (and a Few Honks), illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2000.

Willy and the Wobbly House, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2000.

How Hattie Hated Kindness, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2003.

Ruby and the Rubbish Bin, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2003.

Teenie Weenie in a Too Big World, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2003.

The Day the Sea Went Out and Never Came Back, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2003.

The Frog Who Longed for the Moon to Smile, illustrated by Nicky Armstrong, Speechmark (Brackley, England), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Margot Sunderland is a child psychotherapist who founded the Centre for Child Mental Health and the Institute of Arts in Therapy and Education in London, England. Recognized as an expert in the field of child neurodevelopment, Sunderland is a prolific author who has written books for both children and adults, many of them guides for overcoming various challenges common to childhood. In a series of books produced by Speechmark Publishing, Sunderland addresses issues such as low self-esteem, bullying, obsessive behavior, anxiety, fear, loss, and grief. She provides not only guidebooks for child professionals and teachers but also accompanying storybooks designed to provide children with the tools necessary to overcome painful feelings or difficult scenarios. One book in the series, Using Storytelling as a Therapeutic Tool with Children, describes how storybooks can be used to help children cope with feelings and also how children's own stories can interpreted. Paediatric Nursing contributor A.K. Dearmun remarked that the book would be "interesting to parents wishing to experiment with different styles of communication with their children."

Sunderland's extensive research into the early development of children's brains led to the premise behind Science of Parenting: Practical Guidance on Sleep, Crying, Play, and Building Emotional Well-Being for Life. She proposes that the choices that parents make in early childhood have a direct effect on how a child's brain is hardwired, and that techniques such as controlled crying (letting a child cry him- or herself to sleep) can cause physical damage to the brain. In a review for BookPage, Katherine Wyrick wrote: "Though backed up by hard science, this accessible book is in part a how-to book, offering guidance on how to handle many types of parenting challenges." Booklist critic Keir Graff provided the following assessment: "In well-organized, easy-to-read chapters with plenty of photos and sidebars, Sunderland argues for a hands-on, nurturing approach."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 2006, Keir Graff, review of Science of Parenting: Practical Guidance on Sleep, Crying, Play, and Building Emotional Well-Being for Life, p. 31.

Paediatric Nursing, May, 2002, A.K. Dearmun, review of Using Story Telling as a Therapeutic Tool with Children.

ONLINE

BookPage,http://www.bookpage.com/ (May 25, 2007), Katherine Wyrick, review of Science of Parenting.

Centre for Child Mental Health Web site,http://www.childmentalhealthcentre.org (May 25, 2007).