Case Study: Lumi Nova and Abbie
How Lumi Nova helped Abbie overcome her fear of sleeping on her own
“She was over the moon to complete the challenge and earn her reward. She is looking forward to playing again.”
Meet Abbie, a 9-year girl from Lancashire.
Abbie is a 9-year girl who lives in Lancashire with her mum, dad, and younger brother.
Abbie enjoys dancing and is described by mum, Kelly, as “a very kind and thoughtful little girl” who is “very ambitious and has a very long list of things she wants to be when she is older”. She cares about people and the environment.
For the past few years, Abbie has struggled with anxiety and an overwhelming fear of her mum dying. According to Kelly, “one of Abbie’s biggest fears is death. Her paranoia about me leaving is through the roof and she also has a huge need for control.” Kelly believes that Abbie is “carrying a lot of guilt and negative emotions” for her age and realises that Abbie’s anxiety has a negative impact on her behaviour. “Her worries often come about in the form of anger” states Kelly, “pushing me or her dad away. Being mean to her brother. Name calling. Lashing out. That is just how she has learned to cope with things that she has had to cope with over the years.”
Although Kelly and her husband don’t tolerate the challenging behaviour and they “try to deal with it without placing any blame on Abbie and without shouting”, when things reached a critical point, they sought professional family support. By this point, Abbie needed huge amounts of reassurance and support in the run-up to bedtime and expressed how she “usually felt really scared”.
Taking a step to face her worries with Lumi Nova
Alongside the family support services, Kelly discovered Lumi Nova. One of the main areas they wanted to improve on was the bedtime routine and helping Abbie to feel safe at night. Abbie had already begun to practice a new bedtime routine with her mum and dad so when she chose “be able to sleep on my own” as her first goal in the game, she felt ready even though she was nervous. From the outset, Kelly was really pleased that Abbie loved the game, saying “she was over the moon to complete the challenge and earn her reward. She is looking forward to playing again.”
Noticing changes since playing Lumi Nova
Since completing her first goal, they now have a bedtime routine that works for them as a family and Abbie is proud of herself. As a result, when Abbie is helped to bed by her dad, she feels “excited and happy”. “I’ve overcome my fears of being scared of sleeping on my own”, she says.
Kelly feels that “overall Lumi Nova has worked really, really well”. She is confident that the combination of family support and Lumi Nova together have worked well for them. Abbie now has “more faith and trust in the unknown” and “she is becoming more confident over time of things out of her control”, reports Kelly. “It is a slow process but she is getting there. Her fear of us leaving the house at night has gone which is amazing.”
They plan to start their second goal, “be able to spend time near insects and spiders”, and work through it as a whole family.
“It is a slow process but she is getting there. Her fear of us leaving the house at night has gone which is amazing.”