Creating Moody, a Doll for Emotional Management by Jennifer Ginty

Today we're talking with Jennifer Ginty, and she is a childhood abuse survivor living with complex PTSD and major depressive disorder. Throughout her life, she has learned many skills to cope with her symptoms and has even developed a therapeutic doll to help children better cope with their frustrations. She also has a YouTube channel featuring her moody talks. Each month, she features a different emotion and discusses how we experience that feeling, along with some coping skills using dialectical behavioral therapy. All right, well, welcome, Jennifer.

Jennnifer [00:01:06]:
Hi, Amy. Thank you so much for having me on.

Amy  [00:01:09]:
Of course. I'm happy to have you tell me a little bit about what led you to this point to have your own program and what you've been through.

Jennnifer [00:01:20]:
Sure. So, as you mentioned, I live with complex PTSD and depression from childhood trauma. I'm a single mom, and one day I was in a therapeutic group, and I was so frustrated with my symptoms that I said, I wish I had a monster that I could just rip apart and throw across the room and bang against the walls. And people in the group were like, yeah, you should have that. So I went home, and I'm not a seamstress or a tailor in any way, but I put together this monster, and I made their head and arms and legs with Velcro so that you could rip them apart. So I started with that one doll and realized as I was using it that it could help others also with their own frustrations, especially children, because children have such big feelings and they don't know what to do with them, and we don't really either. Adults have the same problem. You know, like, a lot of us grew up where we're told not to show our feelings and to hide being angry.

Jennnifer [00:02:29]:
Don't cry in front of people. Cause you'll make them feel bad. You know, like, don't make people uncomfortable. So I thought that Moody would be a great tool for families to be able to better communicate about emotions and how they can develop coping skills, help with them.

Amy  [00:02:48]:
Yeah. I've got three grandchildren, and I thought, I've got to get that and give that to them because they need something to rip apart some days when they're mad with each other.

Jennnifer [00:02:56]:
Right, right. And I've used moody so many times and actually have a lot of adults who use them as well.

Amy  [00:03:03]:
Oh, I can imagine.

Jennnifer [00:03:04]:
Yeah. Therapists have had a great use for them in their own office as well as classrooms. Teachers have been finding that it's great for a kiddo to take a break. You know, maybe a kid who's got a little. Little mutton more going on, you know, who needs to get up and move around. And so they're using moody to get that excess energy out, and then they're able to go back to the class and, you know, do what they need to do.

Amy  [00:03:31]:
I know. I wish I had had this when my daughter was little. She has ADHD, and she's on the spectrum, and she could definitely have used something like that when she was younger. She probably could still use it today. She's 13, but she really could have used it when she was younger.

Jennnifer [00:03:46]:
Yeah. And, you know, my oldest, he had a lot of behavioral problems, and he did get a diagnosis when he was four of Asperger's. And I really do wish that we had a moody so that he could have that frustration, he could pull it apart, get that frustration out, and not have that shame spiral at the end of it, because a lot of children go through that. They feel badly that they did that well.

Amy  [00:04:14]:
And that's what I loved about your website was I saw one of the pictures says you can tear the doll apart and you don't have to feel bad about it because it'll go back together. So I thought that was great. So tell me a little bit. You said you've got some great coping skills that you've come up with as well on your own for dealing with the CPTSD. What other things do you do to kind of help with that?

Jennnifer [00:04:37]:
Well, I have found that DBT dialectical behavioral therapy is just great for the coping skills that I need personally for my PTSD. DBT was created for people with PTSD and as well as not bipolar, but borderline personality disorder. So it seems that people with PTSD and borderline personality disorder have very similar aspects of their. Their. Their issues that they have around coping. So DBT has really opened my world up because there are so many skills that they give you that you can use in the moment and also skills that you can build. So you're building a toolkit for yourself. So I found that.

Jennnifer [00:05:30]:
I found that DBT really can give you a lot of different ways that you can learn how to identify the emotion you're feeling and then to have a skill set already in place so that that can help to ease your symptoms.

Amy  [00:05:49]:
Yeah, I've actually heard of people with bipolar using DVT as well, so.

Jennnifer [00:05:53]:
Oh, that's great.

Amy  [00:05:54]:
Yeah. So I think it's a very. Oh, what is the word? Not flexible. But it's definitely something that can be used because it's skills. So, you know, a lot of people could benefit from that, yeah.

Jennnifer [00:06:09]:
And while I was working on Moody finding the best prototype, getting that together, I decided to put together a YouTube channel with moody talks using those DBT skills that I know so that I can share them with everyone and they can get to make their own toolbox with DBT as well.

Amy  [00:06:28]:
Yeah. That is wonderful. How long have you been doing that?

Jennnifer [00:06:32]:
So it's been about three years.

Amy  [00:06:34]:
Oh, wow. That's great. Have you heard any stories about any kids that you've helped?

Jennnifer [00:06:39]:
Oh, absolutely. So I have heard a lot about autism spectrum children. Really do love Moody, and Moody has a lot of tactile feel to him, and they also have that ripping sensation and sound. And it really has been helpful for a lot of kids to pull them out of the. Maybe they're feeling it in their chest and they're able to pull it out and have something to actually hold on to and use.

Amy  [00:07:06]:
Yeah, you're right. That tactile aspect to it. Are there different materials that make up Moody?

Jennnifer [00:07:15]:
Yeah. So I'm going to pull them over here so you can see them. So this is Moody.

Amy  [00:07:20]:
He's so cute.

Jennnifer [00:07:22]:
So he's got a lot of, like, squishy and soft aspects to him, but also this is all like, a different feel.

Amy  [00:07:31]:
It's, ah, that's great. You can feel his teeth and eyes.

Jennnifer [00:07:35]:
Yep, yep.

Amy  [00:07:36]:
That's great.

Jennnifer [00:07:38]:
I don't know if you can hear it, but the sound.

Amy  [00:07:42]:
Oh, I couldn't hear it, but I can imagine the velcro coming apart. Yeah.

Jennnifer [00:07:46]:
Oh, yeah, yeah. It's got that. That sensation. It's got that sound, and it makes. It makes people feel like they've actually done something to get it out.

Amy  [00:07:55]:
That is wonderful. Where can you find Moody? Just on your website or.

Jennnifer [00:08:00]:
Yep. So actually, I just sold out of my first bag. Oh, no. Yeah, well, no, I have a pre order going. Pre order Moody. And when I get them in, then they will be sent right out to you.

Amy  [00:08:13]:
Oh, great.

Jennnifer [00:08:14]:
Yeah. And Moody has a backpack, a mode of transportation, and a coloring book that talks all about big feelings and how they can help.

Amy  [00:08:24]:
I saw that. I thought I had to get that for my grandchildren, too. That was too cute. And it was. It was so affordable. It was like $3.99 or something for the coloring book?

Jennnifer [00:08:34]:
Yes. Yep.

Amy  [00:08:34]:
Yeah, that was great. So what is your website?

Jennnifer [00:08:38]:
It's www.mymoodiemonster.com all along.

Amy  [00:08:43]:
I love it. Is there anything you'd like to leave our listeners with or anything that you'd just like them to know?

Jennnifer [00:08:52]:
Yeah, absolutely. I think that the most important thing to understand when you're on a healing journey, and hopefully you're working through what you need to work through. But also remember that healing isn't linear, that we have a lot of ups and downs when it comes to, you know, how we feel day by day, hour by hour. You know, it's not something that will just, you know, be the ride up to the Rotola coaster. There's also the downtrack and all the different parts of feeling that you need to give yourself grace and understand that you're going to have good days, bad days, okay, days. But you. You can develop skills for yourself, coping skills, specifically.

Amy  [00:09:45]:
Right.

Jennnifer [00:09:45]:
And you can. You can learn to better understand how your body feels when you're feeling different emotions. And I think that's really important. One of the things that I do in the moody talks is the very first week of each month, I go through the words that you can use, descriptive words that you can use for that emotion, and then I have put them on a word scale of intensity. So why I do that is, I believe that it's really important for us to understand how we speak about our emotions and knowing which ones are more intense than the other so that you have an idea of what kind of skills you may need when you're feeling that. And I also go through body sensations and actions you may take if you have that emotion. And I think it's really important for you to understand how your body reacts to your emotions.

Amy  [00:10:43]:
Oh, yeah. What a valuable program. So is this set up for parents to listen to, kids to listen to, or both?

Jennnifer [00:10:50]:
I would say it's more of a parents one. I do actually do moody story time for kiddos. So Moody and I, yeah, we read a book every week about feelings and talk about it, and, you know, just give. Give kiddos a chance to sit down, and maybe after school, they need some transition time. They can turn on a moody story time and just sit down and watch Moody read along.

Amy  [00:11:16]:
That is great. I can't believe you don't have this on, like, Netflix or something yet. I can totally see this being popular with the mass audience.

Jennnifer [00:11:25]:
Well, that would be phenomenal. Yeah, definitely. Follow me on my YouTube channel. And, you know, I add things all the time.

Amy  [00:11:34]:
Okay, well, great. I really appreciate you coming on and educating us and letting us know what you have available. And I will definitely be getting the coloring book in one of the dolls, so. Yeah. Thank you, Jennifer. All right, you have a great weekend.

Jennnifer [00:11:49]:
You, too.

Amy  [00:11:50]:
Thank you for listening to another episode of advancing with Amy and thank you to Jennifer Ginty for sharing her story and her doll moody with us. I hope you all have a great week and keep on advancing warriors.