'My therapy sheep have helped children negatively affected by phones'

From the fields of Eccup to the screens of Channel 5, Leeds therapist Grace Olson is turning lessons learned from her remarkable flock of therapy sheep into children’s stories.

The tales inspire by her ewe-nique muses hope to create a powerful message about happiness, friendship and finding joy beyond a phone screen.

Belle Finds Her Power is an adventurous story about a little girl who becomes more and more miserable thanks to her new phone, until she’s reminded that happiness is found with real friends and in the wonder of nature.

Grace, who is based in Eccup on the outskirts of Leeds, says she wrote the tale after working with several children and young teens who have been negatively affected by phone use.

“Since being on The Yorkshire Vet so many times, I’ve been contacted by parents of children who have been badly affected by smartphone addiction and social media or cyber bullying,” the 52-year-old says.

"It’s been extremely disturbing to see how damaged these kids are by their phone use and also extremely fascinating to observe how my sheep have been able to reach them...

“As a result of seeing first hand how toxic phones and social media is for kids, I wrote a book. I hope the story will enable a child to see for themselves how damaging it can be to spend too much time on their phones and realise that real friendships matter and that nature is their playground.”

Grace, who offers coaching, meditation, and healing sessions, assisted by sheep, horses and nature, first began writing during the Covid-19 lockdown. She launched a blog on social media, sharing honest tales of her mental health struggles and adventures on horseback, as an adult returning to riding.

"The children’s stories - full of joyous escapades - are written in such a way as to subtly impart valuable messages to encourage young minds to grow into self-confident and happy adults, able to form meaningful relationships with healthy boundaries,” she says.

The first in the series was launched during the filming of The Yorkshire Vet, a show Grace became a part of after vet Julian Norton was called out to tend to one of her sheep.

"Since the show, I’ve been getting more interesting people coming for therapy. I’d never treated kids before, I was mainly working people who were terminally ill, so this has opened a whole new dimension for me, working with children.”

- Grace’s latest book Belle Finds Her Power is available now. Visit graceolsonauthor.com