Donegal duo shortlisted for award for groundbreaking children’s book

A book written and illustrated by two Donegal women to help children deal with life’s life’s traumas by better understanding their nervous system has been shortlisted for an award.

Charlie Vagus and the Bubbles was written by Dr Helen Gogarty, an attachment specialist and Jungian sandplay therapist. She has worked in the field of foster care as a senior social worker and therapist since the 1980s and has put her vast experience and understanding into creating these characters.

It is illustrated by her long time friend and former GP Dr Marie Drumgoole who brought the characters to life with her friendly and colourful illustrations.

Charlie Vagus and the Bubbles is shortlisted for the Carousel Aware Prize for Independently Published Authors (the CAP for Indies as it has become known), an important initiative celebrating Ireland’s top indie talent, founded by Carolann Copland. CAP’s patron is the 2024 Booker Prize Winner, Paul Lynch.

Helen and Marie’s main character Charlie Vagus is a wonderful personification of the vagus nerve which is believed to be a connection between the physical body responses and the psyche. Charlie helps the characters to get off the ‘roundabout’ of negative emotions and to follow the highway to understanding, processing and ultimately moving forward from emotions such as anxiety.

Marie explains: “The illustrations are designed to get down to a child's level and open up lines of communication through the characters in the book -  Milo the Meerkat, Coolio the Cat, Terry the Turtle and Charlie Vagus, the Thinking part of the Brain, who tries to help.”

There has been a hugely positive reaction since the book’s launch in June 2023.

Helen says: “We have got a lot of positive feedback. It is being used mainly by therapists, individuals, counsellors and teachers.”

Helen has been able to use the Charlie Vagus book in working with some national utilities on their family orientated wellness programmes. She has also used the book in providing support to parents and childcare professionals, and has been invited to present similar workshops in Malta in 2025.

Helen’s deep understanding and experience of how children physically respond to difficult emotions has played a big part in the message that the book helps to communicate to its readers.

“A lot of children keep their stress in the lower half of the body and they find it difficult to move it upwards to their awareness,” she said. “They sometimes feel there is a blockage between the sensation of stress in the lower body and the ability to find the words to tell their parents what they are actually feeling.”

The book uses the concept of a highway to help children to move emotions away from the area where they have become stuck.

The CAP Awards ceremony will be held at Chapters, Parnell Street, Dublin, on Friday evening, November 1. Ever humble, Helen and Marie see being shortlisted for the award as a way to help increase awareness of the book to reach more young people who might benefit from it.

Marie says: “We are nominated in the Older Children category, but really, people of all ages can benefit. 

Helen agrees, saying: “With younger children you can have conversations about the pictures while older children and adults can also benefit from a greater understanding of how they physically experience emotions.”

Charlie Vagus and the Bubbles has been lauded and endorsed by numerous child welfare professionals, including Ombudsman For Children, Dr Niall Muldoon. 

Now on its second print run, copies have been sold across Ireland, the UK, Europe and the US.

It is available for purchase at www.buythebook.ie/product/charlie-vagus-the-bubbles/www.buythebook.ie with updates and links on the Charlie Vagus and the Bubbles Facebook page.