A structured six-step pathway

From Spot the Storm to Shine Your Inner Light, each step builds on the last — a clear clinical arc you can follow across sessions, with a shared language children take home.

Session-ready materials

More than 80 printable assessments, activities, and worksheets organized by step, so you can walk into a session prepared instead of building materials from scratch.

Parent coaching built in

A dedicated parent coaching chapter helps you extend the work beyond your sessions — scripts and tools for bringing caregivers into the process, even in high-conflict situations.

About the program

Children rarely arrive at your door with words for what divorce feels like. Spiral to Anchor gives you a way to help them find those words — and a path to follow once they do. The program opens with assessment and treatment-planning tools, then moves through the six steps children learn as one journey: spotting the storm, riding the waves, finding a compass of calm, dropping anchor, mapping the way to a happy heart, and shining their own light. You'll have ten chapters and more than one hundred lessons at your fingertips — over 80 printable assessments, activities, and guides you can use in your very next session — plus dedicated chapters on parent coaching and documentation. Created by an occupational therapist for real caseloads, it works alongside your clinical judgment, not in place of it. And it rests on one conviction: the child is never the problem. The storm is — and you can teach a child to weather it.

Joanie Johnson, OT/L, CCM

Joanie Johnson is a pediatric occupational therapist and certified case manager with more than 20 years of experience. Spiral to Anchor grew out of her own caseload: children carrying the weight of divorce without words for what they were feeling, and clinicians piecing together materials session by session. She built the program she wished she had — structured enough to follow and flexible enough to fit real practice.

Curriculum

10 Chapters · 102 Lessons

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Welcome and Clinical Orientation

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Clinician Orientation Slide Decks

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      How Spiral to Anchor Works in Practice

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      The Understanding the Storm Songbook

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Using the Assessment System

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Guidelines for Step Assessments

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      SMART Goals by Anchor Step

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      SMART Goal Examples for Therapists

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Open-Ended Questions for the Parent Interview

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      The Assessment Reflection and Tracking Sheet

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Step 1 in Session

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Exploring Parent Goals and Child Impact

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      The Neutral Language Tool

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Ocean of Emotion Therapy Activities

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Play Therapy Activities

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Spot the Storm Therapy Activities

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Child Materials for Step 1

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Introduction to the Children's Program

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Understanding the Storm (Child Workbook)

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      Navigating Two Homes (Child Workbook)

    11. (Included in full purchase)

      The S.P.I.R.A.L. Workbook for Kids

    12. (Included in full purchase)

      Introducing and Describing Emotions

    13. (Included in full purchase)

      Therapeutic Games for Children

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Step 2 in Session

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Meditations and Affirmations for Emotions

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Notice, Name and Navigate Feelings

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      How Big Are the Waves Between Homes?

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Naming and Sizing Waves: Therapy Activities

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Wave Check-In Play Activities

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Scripts for When Things Feel Unfair

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Child Materials for Step 2

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Parent Handout: A Parent's Guide to Anger Management

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      The Wave of Feelings Workbook

    11. (Included in full purchase)

      The Worry Spiral Workbook

    12. (Included in full purchase)

      The Worry and Anxiety Workbook

    13. (Included in full purchase)

      The Anxiety and Transitions Workbook

    14. (Included in full purchase)

      The Sadness and Grief Workbook

    15. (Included in full purchase)

      The Loneliness Workbook

    16. (Included in full purchase)

      The Blame and Guilt Workbook

    17. (Included in full purchase)

      The Anger Management Workbook for Children

    18. (Included in full purchase)

      The Impulse Control Workbook

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Step 3 in Session

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Navigating Your Inner Compass

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Parent Coaching Guide for Transitions

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Introducing the Compass of Calm

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Transition Day Roleplay

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      The Daily Direction Check-In

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Goodbye and Welcome-Back Play Activities

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Child Materials for Step 3

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      The Compass Kit Workbook

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      Compass Affirmations and Meditations

    11. (Included in full purchase)

      Sailing Between Two Homes

    12. (Included in full purchase)

      The Compass of Stability Mini Workbook

    13. (Included in full purchase)

      C.O.M.P.A.S.S. Activity Ideas

    14. (Included in full purchase)

      My Compass Helps Me Feel Calm

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Step 4 in Session

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Introduction for Therapists

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Anchor Affirmations

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Dropping My Anchor

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Sensory Play Therapy: Anchoring Activities

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Anchor Meditations

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Child Materials for Step 4

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Finding Calm in the Storm

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Finding Your Anchor: Ideas for Kids

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      Anchor Visualization Worksheets

    11. (Included in full purchase)

      The Self-Monitoring Workbook for Children

    12. (Included in full purchase)

      The A.N.C.H.O.R. Self-Monitoring Workbook

    13. (Included in full purchase)

      A.N.C.H.O.R. Activities for Kids

    14. (Included in full purchase)

      Breathing and Calming Ocean Activities

    15. (Included in full purchase)

      Building and Staying Anchored

    16. (Included in full purchase)

      Co-Regulation Language for Transitions

    17. (Included in full purchase)

      Rephrasing: Positive Psychology for Children

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Step 5 in Session

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Child Materials for Step 5

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      The Emotional Map: Children's Activities

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      The Island of Clarity and Confidence

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      The Map of Two Homes

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      The Map to a Happy Heart Workbook

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      The Binocular Workbook: Perspective Taking

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Step 6 in Session

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      What I Know Is True

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Language for Guilt and Blame

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Heart Out of the Spiral: Court Language

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      The Inner Light Workbook

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      The Safe Sharing Workbook

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Anchor Statements for Conflict

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Staying Safe in the Storm

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Child Materials for Step 6

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      The True North Workbook

    11. (Included in full purchase)

      The Loyalty Bond Workbook

    12. (Included in full purchase)

      Waves of Self-Kindness

    13. (Included in full purchase)

      The Drop Anchor Workbook

    14. (Included in full purchase)

      Safe Sharing for Kids

    15. (Included in full purchase)

      The Spiral of Strength Workbook

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Coaching Parents with the Communication Tools

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Stop the Spiral: Trigger Prevention

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      The Calm Anchor Workbook

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      The Power of Pause

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      The Anchor Communication Response Tool

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      The Trigger Tactic and Response Workbook

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      The Communication Strategy Workbook

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Keeping Defensible Records

Give your next session a map

Annual access to every lesson, printable, and parent coaching tool — ready when your next referral arrives.

$299.00 / year

Enroll now