Welcome to Dealing in Feelings

My Story

My name is Julie Dini founder of Dealing in Feelings. In 2019 I created the Dealing in Feelings emotion cards to help children recognise and understand emotions.

I’m an Educational and Developmental Psychologist from Adelaide, South Australia and I have been a psychologist for over 27 years.

I am particularly interested in children’s emotional development and how parents, teachers and carers can help children understand and express their emotions.

For most of my career, I have worked with children with intellectual disabilities, autism and their families. I have a particular interest in the impact of trauma on children with disabilities.

In 2007  I was honoured to be awarded a Churchill Fellowship to travel overseas to research therapeutic foster care programs for children with disabilities. You can read more about what I found during my Churchill Fellowship here; https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/project/to-study-therapeutic-programs-developed-for-foster-carers-caring-for-children-with-disabilities/

 I have first-hand experience with the importance of early intervention and how it can greatly impact a child’s development.

My son was diagnosed with a severe developmental language disorder when he was 3 years old.

Fortunately, he was able to attend an outstanding preschool program where he received intensive therapy from a team of wonderful speech therapists and preschool teachers.

This early therapy made a profound difference to his speech and language and his behaviour.

Why I created the Dealing in Feelings Cards

I’ve always used games in therapy because I know how much children love to play.

I have also worked with many children who find it hard to talk about feelings.

Some children have difficulties recognising emotions in their bodies, while others find it hard to read facial expressions and body language. Some have language delays or are anxious about talking to others.

I was looking for some emotion cards that could help the kids I saw in my therapy practice express how they were feeling inside. I couldn’t find anything that realistically showed children’s emotions.

So in July 2019, I decided I would create my own cards and the Dealing in Feelings emotion cards were born!

Since then they have gone on to sell all around the world.

Feelings and Me

Last year I wrote Feelings and Me, a very cute picture book for preschoolers.

The book is unique because it’s illustrated with photos of very expressive animal characters, all with different feelings.

There’s an angry lion, a shy mouse, and a silly giraffe just to name a few.

It has been written as a fun way to introduce young children to emotions, but it also includes a helpful tips section for parents.

I have had such lovely feedback from parents telling me their pre-schoolers love looking at the animals and naming their feelings.

I was extremely proud when Feelings and Me was shortlisted in the Speech Pathology Australia’s Book of the Year Awards for Birth to 3-year-olds in 2021.

In 2022 it was shortlisted in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards for their Grand Prize and it also received an Honorable Mention in the Children’s Book Awards.