New mental health tool encourages users to get in touch with their feelings by literally touching them.

MICHIGAN CITY, IN, UNITED STATES, November 18, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Deal Feel Heal Playing Cards™ (DFHPC), created to overcome the ill effects of low self-esteem and bullying, are a new mental health tool encouraging users to get in touch with their feelings by literally touching them. After six months of development during the Covid shut down, DFHPC are making their official launch via Kickstarter today. The goal is to bring these Social Emotional Learning playing cards to parents, grandparents, counselors, teachers and youth advocates with the intent to transform, both youth and adults, into emotionally healthier hue-man beings^®, classmates, friends, bosses, leaders, etc. Once you can make friends with your feelings you can be kind to yourself and others. Kindness and empathy are two feelings much needed in today’s divided world.

The playing cards feature whimsical characters all depicting emotions we daily navigate whether in school, at home or in the board room. Based on the philosophy that all feelings can be narrowed down to two categories…Love and Fear, the 52-card deck has 25 love energy cards and 25 opposing fear energy cards with two ‘Gratitude’ wild cards. We chose gratitude because scientists say it increases happiness.

“I created the cards to help the millions of us who were told to stop crying or we’d get something to cry about when we were young,” explained Betty Hoeffner co-founder of Hey U.G.L.Y., the bullying, racism and suicide prevention nonprofit. “That was, at least for me, the foundation that led me to deny and stuff my feelings while battling that voice in my head which told me I wasn’t good enough. That voice wreaks havoc on the mental health of so many and can lead to depression, relationship problems, substance abuse, inability to hold a job and suicide. According to the CDC, suicide is the second-leading cause of death among high school-aged youths 14–18.”

"Children experience wide ranges of emotions, often without being able to identify them,” notes Licensed Psychologist Natalie Hartney. “This can have a negative impact on mental health, leaving a child feeling confused, and out of control. The beauty of the Deal Feel Heal deck of cards is that rather than classifying feelings as good or bad, we are exploring feelings as energies originating from either love or fear. For children, this distinction has the power to open entire avenues of self-understanding without the stigma of being right or wrong. Introducing children to a wide range of emotions, and teaching through play that emotions named can be emotions tamed, will help countless youth as they learn to master emotional regulation."

“Stuffing our pain is dangerous because what we stuff has to come out sooner or later,” said Hoeffner. “It’s like a bottle of soda after you shake it up. When you take the lid off … IT EXPLODES. That’s what happens when you misdirect your stuffed inner pain at others in fits of anger and malice. I know, I used to do that. I hurt myself and I hurt others by not being in touch with my feelings.”

With the help of a list of 100 Feelings given to Hoeffner by her therapist, she began to excavate all of the feelings she had stuffed deep inside. She was instructed to, at the end of every day, check off all of the feelings she felt. That first night she checked – alone, afraid, abandoned, and worthless. Hoeffner had no idea she was living her life in such a dark place and wondered how many other people were doing the same thing. With a lot of work, tears and that amazing list of feelings, she learned to purposely live her life mainly in the emotions of joy and gratitude. She didn’t want others to have wait until middle age to discover their inner goodness and joy, which is the genesis of the Deal Feel Deal playing cards

“When children engage in Deal Feel Heal playing card games, they are practicing life skills, in particular, how to adapt inner feelings to an outside stimulus," explained retired school principal, Dr. Sue Bryant. "The tasks practice higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills, and the social and gaming aspects cement the learning as gamers have fun recognizing their best selves!”

For additional information, visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dealfeelheal/deal-feel-heal-playing-cards

Betty Hoeffner
Hey U.G.L.Y., Inc. NFP
+1 219-814-4224
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Deal Feel Heal Playing Cards in Action

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