A STORYTELLING APP BY CHILD THERAPIST NATILIE COCKER
Gentle stories for
big feelings.
Sometimes a child is carrying something they don't quite have the words for.
Heartwhisper creates short, personalised stories that help children aged around 4–10 feel seen, soothed and gently steadied — written for the trusted adult to read with them.
3 free stories every month · No card needed · Free account required
A worry about school. A friendship that feels difficult. A change they weren't expecting. A feeling that seems too big to explain.
Heartwhisper gently shapes what you share into a story that sits beside your child's experience — so they can feel understood and accompanied, without being asked to explain, fix or learn anything.
When can Heartwhisper help?
For the moments that feel bigger than words
Stories can be shaped around many of the experiences children meet as they grow, including:
Bedtime worries
School anxiety
Big emotions
Grief and loss
Friendship difficulties
Separation anxiety
Sensory overwhelm
Change and transitions
Feeling left out
Building emotional confidence
You don't need to know exactly what to say. Simply tell Heartwhisper a little about your child and what's happening for them.
HOW IT WORKS
Three quiet steps
1.Tell Heartwhisper what’s happening
Share a little about your child, what they're experiencing and anything that might help the story feel familiar to them.
2.Heartwhisper creates their story
What you've shared is gently shaped into a short, personalised story designed around your child's experience.
3.Read it together
Share the story when the moment feels right. Read slowly, and pause wherever your child wants to.
There is no expectation for your child to talk about it afterwards…
Sometimes the story itself is enough
WHY STORIES?
Stories offer another way in
Children don't always communicate their inner world through direct conversation.
Sometimes asking “How do you feel?” or “What's wrong?” is simply too big a question.
A story lets a child meet an experience at a little emotional distance — through a character and a world that feels safe enough to explore.
A story doesn't have to make the difficult feeling disappear.
Sometimes children simply need to discover:
Someone understands.
I'm not the only one who feels like this.
I don't have to solve this right now.
A GLIMPSE OF A STORY
What a Heartwhisper story can feel like
Amy and the Velvet Pocket
A Heartwhisper story — read slowly, with quiet care.
The sun was leaning low in the sky, turning the edges of the garden a soft, golden orange. Inside the house, the air felt warm and smelled like toast. Amy sat on the rug in the living room with her collection of tiny wooden horses. She lined them up by the sofa leg, one by one. Her favourite was a small, chestnut-coloured horse with a white star on its nose.
Mum sat nearby on the armchair, reading a book. The house was quiet, except for the gentle tick of the clock and the soft sound of the pages turning. Amy liked this quiet. It felt like a soft blanket wrapped around the whole afternoon.
Amy looked at the chestnut horse. She thought about the school gate. Sometimes, when it was time to say goodbye, Amy’s tummy felt like it was full of buzzy bees. The school hallway often felt very loud, with lots of shoes tapping and voices bouncing off the walls. Thinking about the noise made her shoulders hunch up towards her ears. She felt the heavy weight of the loud places in her chest.
“Mum?” Amy said, holding the little horse tightly in her hand.
Mum looked up from her book and smiled. She closed the book and slid down onto the rug to sit beside Amy. Mum waited for Amy to speak, staying close where the rug was softest.
“I wish I could stay here,” Amy whispered. “In the quiet.”
“The quiet is very lovely,” Mum agreed. She reached into the pocket of her cardigan and pulled out a small piece of dark blue velvet fabric. It was square and very soft. Mum held it out on her palm for Amy to see.
Amy touched the velvet with one finger. It felt cool and smooth, like the underside of a leaf. The soft texture made her fingers want to stay there, pressing into the fuzziness.
“We can make a secret place for your chestnut horse to stay for now,” Mum said. She folded the velvet into a tiny pouch and tucked the horse inside so only its tiny wooden ears poked out. “This velvet is a piece of the quiet from home. You can keep it in your pocket. It is here for you to touch whenever you like.”
Amy took the velvet pouch. She pressed it against her cheek. It felt like a small, soft secret. She noticed that even when she thought about the noisy classroom, the velvet in her hand felt just like the rug and the toast and the golden sun. It didn't change the noise, but it felt steady.
Mum stayed on the floor, watching as Amy moved the other horses into a circle. The bees in Amy’s tummy felt a little sleepier now. They weren't buzzing quite so fast.
Outside, the first few flakes of snow began to drift past the window. They were silent and white, falling like tiny feathers onto the grass. Amy watched them through the glass. The world was getting very cold outside, but the rug was warm and Mum was right there.
Amy tucked the velvet pouch deep into her own cardigan pocket. She could feel the little horse safe inside. She wasn't quite ready for the gate yet, but she liked knowing the blue velvet was there. She reached out and moved a grey horse towards the chestnut one.
Mum stayed nearby, humming a low, soft tune while Amy played. The golden light faded into a gentle blue, and the house stayed warm around them.
Example story
🏠 cosy home 💜 separation 🌱 Age 6-7
⏱ mid-length
WHO IT’S FOR
For the trusted adults around
Heartwhisper is built to support connection, never to replace it. The story works best in the hands of someone the child already feels safe with.
Parents and Carers
For the evening after a hard day, the night before a big change, or the moments when you can see something is wrong but can't find a way in.
Including foster, adoptive and kinship carers — families where gentle, indirect ways of talking about feelings matter all the more.
Professionals working with children
Therapists, teachers, SENCOs, pastoral staff and social workers can create a story around what a child is meeting that day — something to share in a session, a quiet corner or a check-in.
Designed by a practising child therapist, with the child's emotional safety at the centre of every story.
EMOTIONALLY SAFE BY DESIGN
What Heartwhisper is — and isn't
Heartwhisper is
A short story written for a particular moment
A way of welcoming feelings without making them wrong
Something to read together, with a trusted adult
Heartwhisper isn't
Therapy, medical care or a diagnosis
Advice, or a lesson hidden inside a story
A replacement for the people in a child's life
MEMBERSHIP
Start gently, at no cost
Everyone can create three stories a month for free. If Heartwhisper becomes a companion you'd like more often, there's a Founding Membership.
Free
£0
3 stories every month
no card needed
free account required
Founding Membership
£4.99/month
Unlimited stories
Founding price stays yours permanently
Cancel any time from your account
THE PERSON BEHIND HEARTWHISPER
Hello, I'm Natilie
I'm a child therapist working with children, adolescents and families. Again and again, I've seen a story reach a feeling that a direct question couldn't — not by solving it, but by keeping a child company with it.
Heartwhisper brings that way of working into the moments between sessions and at home, with AI as a quiet helper and the trusted adult at the heart of it.
Gentle answers to common questions
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Children aged around 4–10, and the parents, carers and professionals who look after them. The adult creates the story and reads it with the child.
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Yes — a free account is needed to create stories, including the three free stories each month. No card is needed to sign up.
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No. There's no expectation to explain, discuss or learn anything. Sometimes the story itself is enough — and if your child does want to talk, you'll be right there.
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No. Heartwhisper offers gentle stories, not therapy, medical care or safeguarding support. If you feel your child needs more support, you're welcome to get in touch about therapy.
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AI writes each story from what you share, guided by a therapeutic approach built into Heartwhisper by a child therapist. We recommend reading each story yourself first, so you can choose whether, and when, to share it.
When the moment feels right
Share a little of what's happening. A story will be waiting.