What is Worry bowl?

Worry bowl uses a normal bowl and a handful of ordinary stones to help children aged 8-16 talk about and work through their worries, difficulties and adversities.

It uses the powerful symbolism of a light-filled bowl. This light represents all the positive things in the child's life and their unlimited potential. The stones, that they place inside their bowl, represent the worry, problem or adversity that they are experiencing. The bigger the stone they place, the more it blocks their light and everything in it.

The benefits of using a Worry bowl

Worry bowl helps youth:
- communicate their worries or problems
- express their emotions
- foster self-awareness and understanding
- build resilience
- nurture flexible thinking and a positive mindset
- problem solve 

World change comes from changing our children's worlds.

The ancient Hawaiian teaching

Worry bowl was inspired by the ancient Hawaiian teaching of the Bowl of Light, which says that every child born is given a bowl of pure light - of unlimited potential.  But that sometimes in life we experience bad news, disappointments and tough situations and it's as if you are given a stone in your bowl. And this stone blocks your light. The bigger the stone, the more light it blocks.

Worry bowl uses this powerful symbolism and gives children practical steps to use when they feel their light is blocked by stones and helps them discover all that their light holds.

No worry left unheard. No child left unhelped.

The five-steps to using a Worry bowl

The five-step Worry bowl tool gives practical steps to use when a child feels their light is blocked by a stone, helping them break it down, understand it better, view in differenty, put it into perspective, challenge what they think about it, and problem solve or cope with it. By the end of the five steps the child either has a much smaller stone in their bowl and a plan to cope with this, or are able to remove it completely.

The five-step Worry bowl practice, uses a simple bowl and handful of stones to help children:
1) Identify their worry or problem
2) Understand the various factors related to their worry or problem
3) Reframe their worry or problem so that it seems smaller and more manageable
4) Challenge and change negative thoughts around their worry or problem
5) Create a plan of action to solve or cope with their worry or problem

Limited Company Registration Number: 13163486

Britannia House, Caerphilly Business Park, Van Rd, Caerphilly CF83 3GG

support@worrybowl.org