Local art therapist releases illustrated book helping children name their emotions and ‘evoke a conversation’

Danielle Delloiacono wants to give children the tools to understand their emotions, even if they don’t have the words to name them yet.

The owner of Concord-based Root and Rise Wellness, Delloiacono has dedicated her 17-year-long career as an art therapist to finding creative, artistic ways to help her patients. In her practice, she’s seen people of all ages, but motherhood inspired her to focus her newest project on her littlest ones.

Her recently published children’s book, “Little Critters, Big Feelings,” helps kids navigate feelings unfamiliar to them.

With her son in mind, Delloiacono set out to explore situations in children’s lives that can produce uncomfortable emotions like embarrassment, anger and disappointment. The book links animals to feelings, which along with playful illustrations by artist Irene Silvino, help children identify their emotions.

“I want to give him the best foundation I possibly can to help him grow and navigate in this world,” she said of her four-year-old son. The book “creates those conversations that I want in other families, because each scenario that the character has in the book is going to evoke a conversation.”

From a young age, Delloiacono said she was drawn to art as a way to soothe her anxieties. She originally intended to become an art teacher, but her experiences student-teaching at Malloy University in New York inspired a pivot.

She would often notice the behaviors of the kids in her classroom and find herself trying to understand them better, like when an ostracized child withdrew from social situations with their peers. She discovered a new passion for art therapy as a way to use her creativity to help others.

Delloiacono, a native of Long Island, has helped a wide variety of patients in her career, including adults struggling with addiction, memory problems and developmental challenges.

“When you have somebody who might have difficulties with their prefrontal cortex, and that is the part of the brain that regulates emotions, the art process can actually draw emotions out in a soothing and safe space for the clients,” she said.

After working in nursing homes in New York City, she moved to Massachusetts as director of therapeutic care at an assisted living facility and later transitioned to working with inpatient and outpatient clients at an addiction treatment center.

She moved with her husband to Concord, where they’re raising their son and where she founded Root and Rise Wellness. The practice provides patients, people of all ages, with an outlet to cope with emotions.

“The creative process is a fabulous way for individuals who struggle with getting their feelings across, their thoughts across, their story because it’s a sense of vulnerability that is difficult for individuals; it could be trauma-related, or just insecurity,” she said.

A tool like an illustrated children’s book does the same.

“Those questions are going to happen naturally with parents and children as they’re reading the book,” she said.

Delloiacono said she read the book to her son, and it worked out just as she hoped it would: He became curious about his emotions and was more willing to ask about them.

She plans to go further with her next book, which will teach children to go past identifying their emotions to learn to cope with them with various strategies.

“In this world, it’s really hard for kids to deal with unkind situations, and whether it’s bullying or being teased, they may show those feelings in different ways,” she said. “This is a great tool for them to use to help parents, grandparents and practitioners have those conversations.”