In today’s episode of the Children First Family Law podcast, Krista sits down with Julia Chambers, creator of Mimbleballs, to explore how one quirky, fuzzy tool helps kids—and adults—manage big feelings. What started as a DIY craft with her son became a comfort object now used by therapists, attorneys, first responders, and families across the country.
Julia shares how Mimbleballs provide tactile support, regulate nervous systems, and open emotional pathways during tough transitions like divorce, court appearances, or co-parenting changes. She and Krista also discuss the deeper mission behind the brand, including its work with schools, nonprofits, and professionals helping children feel safe and seen.
Sometimes healing starts with a hug—even from a fuzzy face with googly eyes.
In this episode, you will hear:
- Breaks the ice in court-involved or high-stress settings
- Supports emotional regulation through texture, movement, and play
- Works across ages and developmental stages
- Opens communication when words feel hard
- Helps professionals and parents build trust with children
- Bridges transitions between homes or family systems
- Encourages self-soothing and emotional expression
- Promotes silliness, safety, and connection in difficult moments
- Gives children a reliable source of comfort they can carry with them
- Strengthens co-parenting dynamics through shared emotional tools
Resources from this Episode
www.mimbleball.com (Use code MBLOVE for the website shop for 10% off your entire purchase)
www.childrenfirstfamilylaw.com
All states have different laws; be sure you are checking out your state laws specifically surrounding divorce. Krista is a licensed attorney in Colorado and Wyoming but is not providing through this podcast legal advice. Please be sure to seek independent legal counsel in your area for your specific situation.
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Comfort in a Ball: How Mimbleballs Help Kids (and Adults) Cope with Big Feelings with Julia Chambers, Creator of Mimbleballs Podcast Transcript
Julia Chambers 00:00
When you can find that humor and when you can do just the simplest little crack in someone’s armor, if you can smile with someone, that can be the beginning of that forgiveness that we were just talking about, because it’s real and it’s silly and it’s real, and just because it’s silly doesn’t mean it’s disrespectful of a tough situation, but maybe this could be the safe anchor zone for people in a very tough situation, and if we can just do that, my job is done.
Intro/Outro 00:30
Welcome to the Children First Family Law podcast, our host Krista Nash is an attorney, mediator, parenting coordinator and child advocate with a heart to facilitate conversations about how to help children flourish amidst the broken area of family law. As a child advocate in demand for her expertise throughout Colorado and as a speaker on these issues at a national level, Christa is passionate about facilitating and creatively finding solutions to approach family law matters in a way that truly focuses on the best interests of kids. Please remember, this podcast is provided to you for information purposes only. No one on this podcast is representing you or giving you legal advice as always. Please enjoy this episode and be sure to like, subscribe and share the podcast with others you think would benefit from this content.
Krista Nash 01:18
Well, welcome to the podcast today. I’m really excited to have with us, Julia Chambers. Julia, where are you located? Physically?
Julia Chambers 01:26
We are in Escondido, California, which is north San Diego.
Krista Nash 01:29
Great. So from Escondido, welcome. This is going to be a fun and interesting, different type of episode. I was able to connect with Julia at a conference. And for those of you who never watch the video, you should go over to the video because I’m wearing my polka dotted. You know, I love kids shirts, and I’ve got all the little guys that we’re going to talk about today. Here they are, ah, these guys are called Mimbleballs. And Julia, hold yours up too. She’s got the other ones. I gave some of them away, so she’s got some. There’s also a cute pink paisley one that I also had that I gave away, that kind of has like a pink across the middle. Give that one in front of you. Yeah. Look. So these are Mimbleballs, and I have been using them. I gathered up a whole bunch of them on the first day of a conference, so that after Julia and I met, and I thought, Gosh, this is a really good idea, and can really help break the ice and help take stress out for children and grownups, I actually give them to my staff. Sometimes I use them myself when I’m getting frustrated. So welcome, and I really am excited to talk to you about this and to just bring this great idea that you generated in your garage, your basement or whatever, with your own child. So tell us a little bit about the genesis of this great company and this great product, and let’s get going on the organic genesis.
Julia Chambers 02:44
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more organic story. My background is actually in museum studies and art history, so I have too many degrees, probably, and I was a museum director, had to retire for health reasons. Now, we had a 10 year old birthday party for my son, and it was a Pokemon party,which a Pokemon is six pointed ellipses sewn together. We made a whole bunch of them. The kids were throwing them at each other. The next day, my son said, Mama, will you make one of those? But use Yeti, and he wanted me to do one that was white hair. Yeah. I’ve got that around, like, Yeti, you’ve got that one. And then he cut the bottom off, and he set the wide, Set button eyes, and suddenly we realized, my son’s a genius, that Idid this, ready? 123,
Krista Nash 03:34
So funny. Okay, everybody. And if you’re just listening, essentially, when you hold this thing it has like a little, what do you call this? It’s like a hook, little finger handle on the handle on the back of it. And there’s different sizes of these guys. There’s big ones, little ones. And when you slide your fingers through the back, you know, takes a little bit of practice, and you shove their little hair back, it almost looks like those fuzzy hair pencils. And then you do this bop thing. Then the hair does very funny things and it’s very fun. And kids are like, that’s so funny. And, you know, everybody, adults and everybody, it looks like a crazy haired little, you know, little guy, and it’s got these very wide set eyes, again, like, I’m gonna have the website linked on the show notes, but it’s what is it? Mimbleball.com is it plural ball.com? Okay. And so Mimbleball.com and you’ll be able to see all the pictures on them. Oh, mimble ball, singular, right? Mimbleball.com, okay, realize that you know it does these cute things. Were you actually hand sewing these for the party?
Julia Chambers 04:34
Yes, I am a birthday party overachiever but that makes you an excellent entrepreneur.
Krista Nash 04:38
Are you a sewer? Is that what you call a person who sews; a sewer?
Julia Chambers 04:42
I am crafty. Yeah, my mom taught me how to sew in sixth grade. And you know, it’s my comfort space. It’s how I calm down. Is sharing or sewing. But this was really fun because Theo, my 10 year old, had this idea, and who would have ever dreamed that this invention of a child would help so many people. There’s probably almost 60,000 of these out there, and they’re the perfect intervention tool. And I don’t say that because I thought of the perfect intervention tool, but just the way that they look at you, with these calm, wide set eyes, which are non-predatory, they calm people down right away. No mouth, no judgment. So this can listen for hours and hours. Yeah, he looks like you put your finger in a cartoon electric socket. The hair pops up, and it’s the science of surprise and so basically endorphins, vulnerability. Because if I’m willing to be ridiculous enough to make the hair pop up and you’re willing to laugh or react at all, or even react in the back of your head, because you’re a grumpy teenager. Yeah, it provides a breakthrough, because there’s a level of trust. And then if you hand it to someone, toss it to someone, they’re going to run their fingers through it. However they do it,
Krista Nash 05:58
I have them literally m in my office. Now. I also have the little hair pick you gave me. You can take it like a little like, like the old picks we use for our perms, you know, I’m dating myself, but forever girl, you know, it literally, like, there’s something super satisfying about, like, grooming these little guys, you know, and, like, you know, making their hair nice or whatever. So, I mean, it just smooths it all out.
Julia Chambers 06:19
It does right away. And you can wash them if needed. But then you can do this. And then you can also do silly hairstyles. My favorite one to do at conferences, like the one we met at, is the My Dwight from the office impression. So on the side you do, I mean, I’m learning doing it along with you on my right. And then you can say, Have you ever seen that episode of The Office where Dwight and Michael did whatever ridiculous thing. It’s all about communication, calm, comfort, emotional, relaxation and rapport. And so if you can break through to someone, especially in your field, it’s one of my favorite conferences. I mean, I think they may all be my favorite conferences, because they help people, professionals, connect immediately, and it works. And like I said, never could have dreamed this up as an intervention tool.
Krista Nash 07:07
How long ago was it that Theo and you were doing it for the birthday party?
Julia Chambers 07:11
How long ago was Theo 10? Eight years ago.
Krista Nash 07:15
Okay, he’s 18 years old.
Julia Chambers 07:17
He just went off to college.
Krista Nash 07:19
Okay? So he had this idea the next day, like, hey, let’s put this fuzzy hair on it. Let’s do these eyes. Like, then what? How long did it take for you to say, Oh, we might have something here that could actually help people.
Julia Chambers 07:29
Honestly, right away. Because kids of all ages kept coming over and they’re like, what is that? And they just needed to touch it. They needed to run their fingers through it. And I just started making them for people, even when their parents would come over. I have three sons, you know, play date, pickup or whatever. They take it. And invariably, this would happen, their fingers would go through. And one mom, I’ll never forget, said I was in the hospital for like, two months after I had one of my children with a threatening condition, and she said someone had, like, an alpaca or llama. And she’s like, I am going right back there to the comfort that I felt, because there really is nothing more comforting. And one story, I think it was at the conference we were at, a detective came up to my table,a gruff guy with a beard. Oh, a beard. You can also make gentle fun of your beard.
Krista Nash 08:24
Yeah, that’s cute.
Julia Chambers 08:27
But he said, I need that for the moments when I have a child who comes in on their own, terrified victim of abuse, parents have just been arrested or something awful has just happened, they need comfort right away, because they’re terrified. And he said, I can take this, I can bop it, and they can know I’m okay, because someone who’s grumpy and awful is not going to try and make someone else laugh, even if they laugh or not, it doesn’t matter. And then they say, Can you hold this? Can you just take care of this for a minute while we’re driving to where we need to go? And the child, like I said, is going to just calm. They can use it as a stress ball. They can fidget, they can make silly hairstyles, but mostly they’re just going to pet it like a Pomeranian puppy.
Krista Nash 09:07
It reminds me of a couple of things. It reminds me kind of about those magnets that are so addictive. You can buy those, like, little strings. I mean, it’s very different. But I’m just saying, like, the tactile nature of it that makes you, you know, those are like, kind of, or like the kind of, like squish balls. You just kind of can’t have gel in them. There’s something very tactile about it, but it also kind of reminds me of that movie Castaway with Wilson, yes. Now Wilson made that, like, you know, he made that, like volleyball, or whatever it was like, with the face, similar. I mean, I was just pulling it up, Wilson, actually, it looks like a handprint with his eyes, with, like, a little it’s got a straight mouth across it. But still, the fact that this guy had this need for connection, and that, you know, he created that out of this volleyball or whatever when he was all alone.
Julia Chambers 09:53
It kind of reminds me of that too.I should send one to Toom Hanks!
Krista Nash 09:55
You should, yeah, you shouldw. You could make them, like, white with the red, yeah, I’m like, good idea. You’re thinking, yeah, yeah. I just kind of hate that, you know, like this. So did people get it right away? Like, first reactions, like, do you feel like it’s kind of morphed into what you are, what people are using it for now? Or was it like, Okay, this is really going to just help be, like conduit for comfort, you know, individually, but also but with also with professionals.
Julia Chambers 10:27
I think at first we always saw the potential. It was always about calm, comfort and connection. But at first we thought, Oh, we’re going to be in t\Target. It’s going to be great lining the shelves. And then we realized, when they’re lining the shelves, people don’t get it because it’s just sitting there with every other plush you’ve ever seen. And sure, they’re super cute, but when people put it into action and use it to interact with another person, that the magic happens. And I don’t use the word magic lightly. I’ve just watched it happen 10s of 1000s of times at this point, and to have a booth at a conference where people are giggling with delight. Yeah, all day is unusual, I think- I love my job. I’m able to do that every day, all the time. But right away, we thought, oh, that’s an adorable gift of love. And so we’ll package it like that. It’ll be on shelves. And then we realized, no, our markets are professionals who need to communicate with people right away. And then we thought, okay, school counselors are the first place we looked. And I mean, honestly, it came from my children’s school counselors with whom I had an advanced relationship. Okay? And then we thought, Okay, who else? Therapists, great. Play therapist, awesome. I live in San Diego, and the Chadwick Center is part of Rady Children’s Hospital, and started going to their conference and meeting all of these first responders and child psychologists, therapists, counselors, you know, EMTs, who would say, I need that. I need it for the ambulance, right? I need it wherever else. And I thought that’s where we need to be. Witness stand. If you can’t have an adorable puppy, right? It’d be great to have, you know what I mean. And so all of these, the solutions, just keep coming.
Krista Nash 12:19
Yeah I was a victim’s advocate, you know, in DA offices and things like that. I mean, it’s true. I’ve, I’ve worked on cases where they literally, like, outside the presence of a jury, they’ll bring the dog in and let this dog literally, like, go underneath the witness stand that people don’t even know it’s there to give comfort. But not every jurisdiction has the ability to have a dog like that. You’re right that it could really just sit there, the middle ball could sit there and give some comfort to a child that has to do that. So it’s really true. Where did you get the name?
Julia Chambers 12:48
What does it mean? The name does have significance. At first, we were going to call it a hairball, and then we thought that would kind of gross, and so we decided,
Krista Nash 12:58
Yeah, that is kind of gross.I mean it, it would be kind of gross.
Julia Chambers 13:06
It’d be kind of a bad association. So we looked at something that was fun to say, that did have a significance, and we came up with the word mimble. Is a British word, that is, we could call it a whimsical meander, or we could call it a drunken meander whichever audience to whom you’re speaking, that it leads you to no destination in particular. And I love that because, yeah, be in the moment and enjoy and it’s all about joy, which is different from happy. And we used to say, say hello to happy. Being happy is a process. You can have many moments of joy that can help lead to happiness, but we just want to be that. We want to contribute to every possible moment of joy. And the joy that can happen when two people connect is the thing that we all need the most, and it’s the hardest thing to do, is to connect with especially a stranger. There are so many articles that come about how to interact with people, what we all need. And so these I’m like, zoned into the glimmers. Have you ever heard that word is what we all need to look for the glimmers. Because if you look for the love, if you look for the joy, if you take the opportunity to connect with someone for no benefit to you besides the connection, it actually does benefit you the most, like when you write a thank you note. It’s not about the note, it’s about how the person is going to feel when they feel the gratitude that you’re expressing. It’s that, and somehow these ridiculous balls bring that out in people, and it’s been the most wonderful journey. So, yes, a Mimbleball is a made up name, and we got mimbleball.com and then we were able to, you know where it also came from. Was when my son invented it in the first place. It looks like the bumble bouncing. From Rudolph and Hermey the dentist, okay? And, you know, was like the minor, and then it’s the big Yeti scary thing, and then Bumbles bounce, and then he puts the star at the yeah tree at the so when we came up with this one, which is called bimble, we were able to kind of play with Bumble, and that’s why mimble and Mimble Ball made so much sense. So then we did bimble,
Krista Nash 15:24
and they each do have a name, right? I’m looking at mine here. So name, yeah, okay, that’s cute.
Julia Chambers 15:32
Mini Theo’s your is the inventor, yeah, yep. And then the green one, Abe, is the son of my business partner, who’s also the creative lead,
Krista Nash 15:41
And the one you’ve been talking about, and what’s this guy’s name, mini Gabe and big Gabe, right?
Julia Chambers 15:46
And then we have moonble, which is that one.
Krista Nash 15:49
So cute, guys, we’re not for those not watching it. It’s little cow.
Julia Chambers 15:53
The cow face with black hair, yeah. And then we can’t leave Vanessa out, because Vanessa is our first weighted, Mimbleball. So this one had a little extra weight, which we made with our friends with autism in mind, and it’s got the reverse rainbow speckle, which is the Infinity rainbow is a symbol of autism. And so this one has been such a huge hit because it’s that extra grounding that is also often wonderful. I don’t recommend this for a volatile situation, but people have just said they’re sold on this because it just anchors you a little bit more.
Krista Nash 16:32
So one of the questions I had, and I don’t know if there’s anything more specific than just the birthday and your son, and you know, him turning 10, and the way that you were crafting it, but was there anything going on in the world or in your life at the time that made you, like, more engaged or motivated to make this a thing?
Julia Chambers 16:49
Yeah, I would not have been able to do it even a couple of months before. I’ve been an art historian, museum person for all of my training. And like I said, I just had to retire because I had a health issue that everyone said, you’re just stressed. Just just stop for a bit. And it just gave me this wonderful opportunity to pursue this. Because I think we all have to figure out what brings us joy. It’s kind of the theme of our talk. But for me, it was, I think we all recognize something incredible here, and the responses we got right away showed us that this was something pretty huge. And I just felt so grateful that I was at my leisure.
Krista Nash 17:42
Ats your leisure, you can be with three intense young boys under your control the oldest, or is Theo? Maybe he’s the youngest.
Julia Chambers 17:45
Okay, okay, so he had two, two older brothers, and that’s how, you know, they’d throw it to or at each other, right? And we all just figured it out. So I was able and had the time, and honestly, I use so much of my museum director training and, you know, to figure out colors and to figure out but the experience of learning how to manufacture these and how to make all of that stuff happen, I feel like I’m earning my own MBA.
Krista Nash 18:12
I know! I’m like, do you have an MBA? You need one. You need, like, it’s like a lawyer trying to run a business. You’ve got no clue. They don’t teach you that. You know, when you go to work after school,
Julia Chambers 18:23
I listen to a lot of Guy Raz- How I Built This on NPR. I have had so much help along the way. It’s amazing how much people are willing to help when you either show you’re really trying. I have a friend who runs the company called Kimochis, which is another social emotional learning company, and they’re been around for 20 years. They’re wildly successful, and he’s been my personal mentor, Ned Kraft, and I’m thrilled about that. Also, you know, score, if anyone ever wants to try and run a business, Gird your loins and then go to score and the small business development groups, corporate SBDC, that are in almost every city and county, they will help, and they’re just going to connect you with resources and conferences and free advisors and and just friends and family along the way. It’s been really wonderful, but I think the main thing is following my intuition on it, because we had a wonderful brand person who was helping us launch, and had all these connections at all these stores, and it was all very exciting because people were interested. And then you just have to follow your gut, though, yeah, on the way and say, no, this is the place where they work. And like we went, to hospitals. We’re also big in hospitals. We’ve done several custom ones. This was just done for Catholic Health Care Hospital up in Pendleton, Oregon, so they had their logo kind of so can you see the cross that we crossed with the four hairs around? Yeah. So we repeat that logo, and this one is going to be for their hospital. They’re naming it Harry, after their CEO, and this is just about to be delivered, and we’re thrilled because they’re going to give it out to patients. And that’s an interesting little quick story. This was sitting on the shelf in their gift shop. All the regular ones were just sitting there and weren’t really selling because people didn’t get it. Yeah, and then the wonderful marketing director over there just started ran out of teddy bears with T-shirts to hand out to people, and just started saying, Well, maybe we’ll try these. Such a hit, such a response. Because think about it, hours in a hospital room by yourself, or when you have to interact with people, or you have a visitor, you can, you know, just do silly things with this, and it’s the most natural way to interact, and people are going to respond right in most simple but ridiculous, but fun and effective way. And so that’s when they ordered a whole set of custom ones.
Krista Nash 21:03
And I think it’s interesting that you can do that, like when you do the custom ones, do you do this label on the back for them? There’s a label on the back of these that can be customized to, you know, I mean, child custody evaluators can use them. I’ve been using that in my own, you know, best interest work. When I’m going in and meeting with kids. I’ll take them with me and I haven’t been leaving them behind, but probably need to get a whole big slew of them and do that, because certainly the kids then want them. I mean, even I’m sitting here while we’re talking, I just can’t quit playing with them, you know. So it’s just, like a normal thing. It’s like, it’s literally, there’s something about it that just makes you want to, I don’t know. It’s just so tactile. It’s very soothing. I mean, tell me a little more about the design. We kind of touched on it, you know, like, give me a little bit more. Like, it’s got the no emotion kind of thing. It’s like, you know, I’m here to just take in whatever you are feeling. It’s got the wide set eyes, and it’s got this puppy hair. So why did you choose to do it that way?
Julia Chambers 21:59
Honestly, it was Theo, so it was like, a Yeti, like, like, there was long hair down here, too. And when my 10 year old picked up my sharpest pair of scissors and was like, and then I almost stopped, because I’m in the emergency department all the time, right, with boys, three boys, but I let him and so, bravo. Controlled. Yeah, really. Good job. He just cut it up. And then the humanoid head appeared, the Fauci. I would say it’s static, mostly, but, and of course, you can’t, well, you can feel it, but your listeners, it’s the softest we say, yummy, yeah. Oh, that’s a funny description. And people just cannot help themselves. It’s the most natural thing in the world, and it’s a ball. So that’s another really important inadvertent design. It wasn’t even a decision. Balls it’s the most familiar, friendly object, and it’s the safest object, because there’s no hardpoint to eat anything on this. So everything about it draws you in. Everything about it is safe. This is a rabbit Minky, just like a baby blanket, fabric.
Krista Nash 23:07
Even she’s pointing to the bottom, like the bottom of the ball, basically, that the base of it that would go in your palm, basically.
Julia Chambers 23:13
And every face is going to be either silky or, you know, we’ve got the Lamby, yeah, fleece, the lux fleece, and so everything about it. And then it becomes an interactive tool. You can toss it to someone. You can even have someone, any lawyer or, you know, interviewer, can use this where it’s on the edge of their desk. And if they have a really tough nut who’s not a nut, but a tough nut to crack, yeah, you know, a grown teenager, someone who’s just not having it that day, someone who’s been through the worst thing in their lives, this person just accidentally knocks it off their desk and it falls, and they say, Can you grab that for me? I’ll get it in one second. And then pretend to go pick up a piece of paper. And then the person, within a minute, is going to be doing this. And the thing that’s happening from my therapist conferences is the polyvagal theory is kicking in, which is when your body just calms itself down to a baseline, and at that baseline, people can get the words out. They can tell you what’s happened, and again, you’re building this trust, because there have been studies that with the wide set eyes, they’re non-predatory. So it’s why we pour our hearts out to our puppies, to horses, to our cats. But if this were a raptor and the close set eyes, it’s going to kill you. But this is the safest possible thing, and so between this and the fact that it will never judge you. It will never interrupt you. It will listen for hours. People have a response in their body that’s called the neuroception of safety, which is just having this. And it’s a cute face, and if you tilt it, it kind of looks like it’s actually listening.
Julia Chambers 25:10
I’ve heard that’s like a survival thing, like they know how it is, and they know you might take a walk or feed if they are cuter,
Krista Nash 25:15
Yeah, no, yeah,
Julia Chambers 25:19
And so I go to drama therapist conferences, and people tell me all these different things you can do with it, because it really humanizes the interaction between two humans. And I love that, and I have never found anything else that can do it so immediately and effectively and on all these different levels. Like to have something in your office that can immediately help the conversation go better, and then to do things that engage people in a vulnerable way, even though I know that’s kind of a tricky thing, but if two humans are going to interact, you’ve got to be a little bit vulnerable if it’s going to be effective when you’re, I mean, when you’re the interviewer who’s going in to see these kids.
Krista Nash 26:01
I just did one yesterday, it’s like, this kid doesn’t know me at all. Like, it’s like, I’m sometimes like, the 10th person that’s come, they know something’s going on with the court in the family systems, something’s broken between their parents. You know, I’m always going to try to, like, disarm that child in a good way, you know, like, I want to sit down. I try to wear clothes that are not too professional, like that are more relaxed. I want to sit on the floor. I want to, like, you know, actually, sometimes I do bring my dog, you know, like my little puppy, because that’s super disarming. Like, you know, then you got the little dog kind of climbing in the kid’s lap, and that’s, I’m always engaging with their animals. So you’re always looking as the professional, whether you’re a child custody evaluator or your therapist or you know you are entering, especially for people in family law who are in the child advocacy role, we have almost no time to build that rapport with the child, and then we’re asking these incredibly hard questions in this kid’s like most vulnerable areas, and so anything at all, if it improves the comfort level at all, it is a win, because it’s just a very dicey thing for the professional to go do. It’s like, pour your heart out to me. Are you safe with your dad? Are you safe with your mom? Are you getting hit? Have you been you know, I mean, all these things that end up getting asked or approached. It’s like their guards are up. I mean, I had a kid just like, looking under the door going, I’m worried my parent is listening, you know, literally lying down on the ground and looking under the door. I mean, it’s just really tough, you know. And so I appreciateyeah, I can. I mean, even if that little silly thing helps with this kind of like, Hey, I’m a safe person. Like, I can be silly with you too. You know, it just might. And you don’t have that much time, like, when you’re an attorney doing this work, like they’re paying you hourly. They’re paying you a lot in a lot of these cases. So I don’t have time to, like, mess around for an hour getting to know a kid. Like, it’s just not where the money is right? So you’ve got to build trust and rapport immediately. You know, I got very little…
Julia Chambers 28:03
Like, playing a game of Uno is not like what you’re able to do a lot.
Krista Nash 28:07
I mean, you know, I mean, they’re kind of over it, you know, they’re kind of like whatever you’re the 10th person in the last three years who comes to bother me because my parents are at war, you know? Yeah, they get it, you know. I mean, they get it. They know what’s going on. So, you know, even if it’s just a little silly, it feels like a little silly thing, but it’s got a lot of heart and intention behind it, right?
Julia Chambers 28:26
I love that. Thank you for saying that. And wouldn’t it be wonderful? My goal is to figure out how I can get them into professional offices, courts and even, you know, police station or wherever these children are.
Julia Chambers 28:42
But, I mean, maybe the district attorney’s office.
Krista Nash 28:46
Well give me some case studies, like, give us some examples of things that you’ve given a few little insights about, you know, somebody putting it on their desk. Or you’ve got, you know, me, like going and going, Hey, look at this little guy. You know, you’ve got the kids who have autism. You’ve got people using them. What did you say the ABA intervention? Yep, give us some other stories about the way that these are being used with kids.
Julia Chambers 29:11
Well, one of the best ways that we can do it too, just just, and we’ll get into that in a second, but is if we could have a supply that the child could take through the whole process. Every time they have to come and talk with you, not have to, but have to deal with someone new, they can actually use this as a tool. One case was, oh, it was on the other side of it, but still totally applies. A woman came up to me and had bought this exact one, the mini Mimble. So here’s the three and a half inch mini, and here’s the five inch so there’s the size difference, same exact fabric and everything. And by the way, we have kept these affordable. I just wanted to throw that out.
Krista Nash 29:54
By the way, can people just go buy them from you? Like, if it parent one, something like. You go to the website, or a professional can just go buy like, are there, like, bulk prices on the website.
Julia Chambers 30:05
Okay, and then, or just email us at Hello@mimbleball.com but we’re there for you. Okay, yeah. And we have $13.99, $16.99, and then bulk prices. Vanessa is a little bit more because it’s weighted.
Krista Nash 30:18
But wait just a bit again. Let me like you zip through that. What’s the small ones?
Julia Chambers 30:22
.Bryce is $1399, for the three and a half, okay? And then $16.99, for the bigger, the five inch. And then the Vanessa is going to be $15.99, and $18.99 just because it costs your one make, because it’s heftier, okay? So a woman came up and she had bought this little mini Mimble for her mom, who had the beginning of Alzheimer’s. And then I saw her a year later at the same conference. She came up to me in tears and said, I just have to tell you how important this was in the last months of my mom’s life, because she lost her ability to verbalize. And so every time she had something really like she needed to get across, she would just shake this. And that was their cue that there was something she was trying to say. And they set that up. She could have done that with anything, of course, and it could have been thing, but she never let this go. This was always with her, she always had it around, you know, with her all the time, because it comforted her, but also it was her communication thing. When you’ve got the especially when you’ve got kids going house to house, this has been, I’ve had several conversations with people about it being a fluffy transitional object, yes, because part of the deal with the handle is that it can be clipped. We also have clips that are, let’s see, show us one of those. Yeah, are you one of those that can go on the bag that goes from house to house? Because I know these kids get caught in the middle of parents saying, No, not here. That’s mine. This thing just, it’s a carabiner. It’s got a Mimbleball. Let’s go on it so that it clips to the handle, and then they can just take this. And it can be on the bag that goes back and forth. And this can be the yeah, I want to say peacemaker, but it can be the symbol of back off guys. This is too much. I need a safe zone, or I need a break, or I need a whatever, but this can be the thing that goes back and forth. Oh, we also do work with a lot of foster child programs because they need something that can be a constant, and this can clip, as I said, onto any bag, their backpack, whatever they have. We work with a lot of school districts because they deal with a lot of foster children programs, and that’s one of our favorites. And you can donate again, anyone can contact me. Our information is all on our website. We’re also on Amazon, if people have like, a fund that they need to spend. But we’re also just our website. Can get you all the information you need, and I’m happy to answer any questions via, you know, and we can get these out. And we do have a buy one program, because we donate one for every 20 that we sell. So sometimes people just sell, donate to, like, a whole school, right? That has a smaller school in North Carolina, just got 300 plus, because they are in one of the most they had in their elementary school. But they’ve had a suicide, a murder among their students. And the psychologist reached out and said, Oh my gosh, could we need something like that? And we are following up with them and seeing, seeing how it’s going. But we just hear all these stories. We hear stories of them lowering blood pressure on patients, literally, a nurse has documented. They checked it, they handed a Mimbleball, and then they checked it a few minutes later, and it was, remarkably lower. And these stories, I mean, it makes you wonder what, what else can we do? But, I mean, I really know we found our place and the field of the important work that you all do with the family courts, with the interviews with these kids and adults and teenagers. Oh, that’s the other thing they do work on teenagers, yeah.
Krista Nash 34:17
You kind of think it’s a little kid thing, but it’s not. It’s not really right. I mean, honestly, it really, probably it’s easier, it’s harder to break the ice with teenagers. So oftentimes they’re more protective, they’re more cautious, like they don’t want to come out of the corner because they don’t want to, they don’t want to give up their hard pressed stance to stay in the corner in their situation. So, you know, making that, like taking barriers down is super important with those kids.
Julia Chambers 34:42
Especially lately, teenagers and the standards, yeah, I have teenager. Yeah,
Krista Nash 34:52
PTSD from my teenagers, you know, yeah,
Julia Chambers 34:56
It’s good. We love them so much. I know it’s just but they. I have some teenagers I know who clip it to their backpack, like, walk around and, you know, because they’re clipping smaller, fuzzy things, that’s like a cool thing now, but when you can, you know, I could spike this up like an 80s rocker, like a punk rocker, I can all these different things, and you can just appeal to someone’s essential, ridiculous sense of humor. And everyone, I think, does respond to the ridiculous. And they do respond, you know,, it’s the bringing it down to a place where they know you’re trying, and they know that and and if you give it to them, or toss it to them or use it as a Talking Stick, that is one of the best things that you can do. Whether it’s a grief group, grief and loss is another very big area for us, because, as I said, when you’re in that space where you are, it’s hard to get through to a person when they’ve had something traumatic happen. One of the best things I learned this year was this is the agent that can go in before you can start helping them by achieving the information that is going to get a resolution to their essential issue right now, or the thing that they can that can started healing the trauma before the therapist can start getting the words to them, or hearing the words from them, that can help, because you can open someone’s willingness up a little bit, your effort is half achieved.
Krista Nash 36:39
If you know, like a lay therapist too would be really, like, it could be something really interesting for, I mean, really any therapist, but it would be interesting to see what kids do with these things, you know, when they when they put him in that I was also just putting my, you know, my guns. I can’t see anything within my glasses, for my reading now, unfortunately. But I was looking, you know, I picked up all these documents that you have too. I’m sure those are probably on your website. But you know, I love like it’s got Mimbleballs have endless uses. So it talks about how, I think we’ve talked about all the different versions of it.The one we didn’t, you didn’t tell us an IV or the other two, we didn’t talk. Don’t you do? Do you do the pencils too?
Julia Chambers 37:17
Oh my gosh, the pencils here. I have one right here.
Krista Nash 37:20
Wait, I have one right here. Oh yeah, look good. Right here, right here. So I got the pencil. So this is like, I don’t know, we used to have things like this. So didn’t we like when we were kids?
Julia Chambers 37:33
Yeah these are great googly eyes, and they are and so we came up with these pencils in an effort. We put our like, is that the right way? It’s Mimbleball and fun, fluffy, friendly. And our website, because we thought at conferences, we have to, like, give the people something that they’ll remember us.
Krista Nash 37:53
Yeah, people freak out over these. I still have all this stuff on my desk, so it’s working. This mine says the cuddly, comforting companion, Mimble ball, and it’s got the fuzzy hair, and you can rub it to your finger.
Julia Chambers 38:09
We do sell those on the website now, because they’re so popular. I just sent 200 to a school last week because they hand them out as like, prizes or test taking things because it’s a real pencil. We’ve been doing pens lately for comfort,
Krista Nash 38:24
the same thing that these other guys do. Like, I mean, it’s a little different, so not really, but it’s still fun. An icebreaker.
Julia Chambers 38:30
This is more fun. It’s the actual fur that we use so the stock feels the same. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, nothing is, I mean, I think nothing is going to replace this motion.
Krista Nash 38:41
That swapping thing that makes it shake around and make it dance. So I’m looking to see, yeah, you talked about too, like, intergenerational connectors, deployment buddy, meditation friend. Have you seen I wonder if parents would be using it to somehow, like, I’m always trying to get parents to do things that are good for their children, you know, to continue to co-parent, right? Like, Hey, we got you this guy. It’s gonna go a transitional object. We haven’t even really talked about the show at all, but that’s something that a lot of therapists, for listeners and child experts believe is, like, super helpful, especially for younger children, because they’re having to shuffle around to two homes. And so having something that feels comforting, that goes between homes could be something that is helpful to them, right? So I think that’s kind of what you were talking about. It can be, like, really stabilizing for a child. So kind of thing is, is it a good idea for that?
Julia Chambers 39:35
Yes, and we’d like, we’re, we’re in the midst of coming up with some different curricula that can apply to the different situations, like for a play therapist or for a grief counselor, for a forensic interviewer, for a lawyer. I mean, I’ve had many lawyers say I’m not a I’m not a child therapist. I don’t know what to tell. Okay, and I’ve got to connect with them rapidly, like you just said. So then I was gonna tell you, the back and forth thing, I know that that is an important thing, and so we’re gonna write something up that helps people understand all the different uses, because it’s totally intuitive using a Mimbleball. And one thing I miss from Little kiddom is just that silly time that you spend together. Don’t make me put another Lego thing together, but yeah, just the banter, or like, the car time, when you just have the silly conversations about everything in one thing, and you giggle, like, do you remember, like, when your kids were little, or even when they’re teenagers? And that’s more precious, isn’t it? You can just giggle with them. Yeah, it’s us, and it’s rare, but it is so important. That’s the whole thing about surprise, because people will be taken aback, and it shifts the energy. And sometimes that’s all you need, even on the worst day of someone’s life or in hospitals, I have heard is, is this appropriate? Like, on a cancer ward, yeah, and we’ve had feedback that, like, oh my gosh, on a chemo infusion ward.
Krista Nash 41:16
I think it taps in. I mean, there’s something, you know, we lose as we get older, right? That is that joy you talked about earlier, or this, like, sense of play or silliness, that inner kind of child, right? I mean, I don’t know if it’s interesting. I mean, it reminds me kind of like studies where you, like, set something in a room and they’re kind of doing a camera, you know, they’re behind the glass, and they’re mirrors, and they’re watching what kids do with things. You know, there’s, there’s just something natural that makes you want to sort of encourage, sort of a smile and play like, I love you. You said your email address is happy@mimbleball.com v and not just just Julia@mimbleball. I still think it says something about your company, that it’s not just like info@Mimbleball.com, yeah, which is what most people would do.
Julia Chambers 42:00
Hello@, yeah, we did Hello@
Krista Nash 42:03