The Flying Child - A Cautionary Fairy Tale for Adults
Sophie Olson (2024)
"‘And then came the session where I felt I would give up. I felt frustrated as I’d worked so hard on trying to speak but the most important words; the worst ones, had simply not come out. I implied I would not necessarily come back the following week and as I got up to leave the room, Pat said,
‘Try detaching from it entirely. Try writing it as a fairy story. Start with the words, once upon a time there was a little girl’.
That evening, I tried. I sat on my bed and typed on the note’s app of my phone Once Upon A Time … and finally, four decades after the abuse began, the words started to flow.’
This book documents the therapeutic journey undertaken by Sophie and her therapist, Pat. It includes all chapters of the fairy tale and the drawings Sophie created to help her make sense of her experiences and to reconnect with herself. It also contains the many in-between session conversations Pat and Sophie had by email, WhatsApp, and texts, with important insights into how to work safely with trauma.
Essential reading for all therapists, counsellors, health professionals, educators, and social workers, interested in understanding or working with survivors of child sexual abuse, and for those who are survivors of sexual abuse, The Flying Child – A Cautionary Fairy Tale for Adults- Finding a purposeful life after Child Sexual Abuse through compassionate and creative therapy – is a must- have for your bookshelf.
Today, Sophie is a survivor activist, writer, founder and managing director of The Flying Child: a non-profit, National Lottery Community Funded organisation improving the awareness of child sexual abuse and the consequences of trauma. The core aim of The Flying Child is to normalise speaking about CSA. The Flying Child Project brings lived experience into the heart of professional settings, providing training in Education, Social Work and Healthcare.
Pat Walsh is an experiential and intuitive counsellor with over forty years’ experience of working in trauma. Her background in nursing and occupational therapy taught her that to heal properly, wounds must be deeply cleansed, and purpose and meaning must be established to build any long -lasting recovery. She brings these learnings into her therapeutic work with survivors of sexual violence and childhood sexual abuse."
'This is a powerful and inspiring account of one person's journey to recovery after childhood abuse. It gives hope to us all.'
Dr. Lucy Johnstone / Direct Quote
The mental health system declared Sophie disordered and irreparably ill, telling her that she'd never work again. This book - Sophie’s story, serves as a vehement rejection of psychiatry’s labels, and is a passionate testimony that true healing lies in relationship and connection.
Jo Watson / Drop the Disorder
This is a compelling and important piece of work - despite its challenging and sometimes disturbing theme, Sophie's book is an essential read for any adult working with children and young people, in schools, colleges, healthcare or the wider community. Sophie's story sensitively charts her own traumatic experiences and their long-term implications, reinforcing the absolute imperative that professionals should become informed about childhood sexual abuse. It reminds us to prioritise keeping children safe, prompts us to think the unthinkable, and shows us that any child could be suffering in silence. I hope this book helps to bring an end to childhood sexual abuse by highlighting its devastating consequences. It is our responsibility to notice children like Sophie, provide a safe space for them to be heard, and enable them to fly. My admiration for both Sophie and her therapist, Pat grew as the book unfolded. Sophie's honesty, courage and determination to embrace the future with hope makes her story one of light shining out of the shadows. I am grateful to her for writing it; it will make a difference.
Kate Regan / NSPCC
Sophie's book is an essential read for any adult working with children and young people, in schools, colleges, healthcare or the wider community. Sophie's story sensitively charts her own traumatic experiences and their long-term implications, reinforcing the absolute imperative that professionals should become informed about childhood sexual abuse. It reminds us to prioritise keeping children safe, prompts us to think the unthinkable, and shows us that any child could be suffering in silence. I hope this book helps to bring an end to childhood sexual abuse by highlighting its devastating consequences. It is our responsibility to notice children like Sophie, provide a safe space for them to be heard, and enable them to fly.
Dr. Clare Brunet / Direct Quote
The Flying Child is a remarkable, compelling and urgent book. Sophie Olsen has harnessed the fairy tale in the most ingenious and relatable way to portray the horror of her childhood, adolescence, and her journey into adulthood. Her writing is clear and clever, honest and evocative, and witnessing the abuse she suffered for so long broke my heart over and over. Sophie’s brilliance is to weave the threads of her therapy throughout, alternating the chapters of fairy tale and reality. This exchange allows space to breathe, not least for the reader, and is especially helpful in providing an independent voice so that we can understand what Sophie is going through at each stage. The insight, care and guidance of the therapist is invaluable; showing us how the mind works, what our memories mean, how we process trauma, and crucially how we can find a way out of the dark.
Joe Gibson / Author of Seventeen: A Coming of Age Story
The Flying Child – A Cautionary Fairy Tale for Adults is a courageous, powerful, and thought-provoking book about healing after Child Sexual Abuse and the harms caused in the aftermath of abuse by systems unprepared to respond to trauma. It illustrates the importance of bearing witness to Child Sexual Abuse survivors’ experiences, and the power of the wisdom held by survivors.
Dr. Siofra Peeren / Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College.
Life Challenges
- Grief
- Recovering from abuse
- Recovering when things go wrong
- Learning to belong
- Trauma and Rebuilding
Themes
- Independence
- Love and acceptance
- Transitions
- Identity
- Resurrection
What's Great?
- Absorbing Plot Line
- Great characters
- Beautiful imagery
- Emotional journey
- Surprising
