Rock and Rock Tumbling Helping Angry Children

I am a registered nurse specializing in the care of children and adults with mental illnesses and behavioral problems. I bought a lot of emeralds a few months ago, just rough stuff, from another okay seller and he, very kindly (Thank you, Mr. Kelly) sent me a rock tumbler with the emeralds. It was one of the tumblers you can buy at the Smithsonian and I took it to work with some of the emerald rough and, since our population includes patients whose stay can be up to several months if they are in O.C.S. custody, we started tumbling the gems.
The children eagerly looked forward each day to opening the barrel and seeing if a few of the stones were rounder, if the matrix was geing off, and in the working together, they began to talk......and talk and talk, about everything, things they hadn't talked about before, that they had bottled in for years, they talked about abuse and neglect, anger and fear, how they felt so out of control when they got so frustrated that they went into a rage. I learned more about these children in several weeks than I'd learned in several months of social work and therapy.
When the mix finished, I gave each child a small polished emerald and you would have thought they'd been given the world. That stone was cherished and they were allowed to keep it in their pocket and encouraged to rub it when they felt the rage overgeing them or they felt out of control or frustrated. I have been amazed at what a small little stone will do for a child when they believe it is priceless and when they had a hand in helping take it from rough to a smooth finished product.
I now use the analogy of taking a rough, dirty piece of rock and through the process of time and patience, turning it into a beautiful gem. Just as the children gee to us rough and dirty from life, especially in the aftermath of the two hurricanes last year, through patience and time they don't have to stay that way, they - like the emeralds - can begee a priceless gem and once polished, that gemstone will remain precious always.
It's been difficult providing the money for the supplies it takes to continue this effort, but I've been lucky. Several okay sellers have been gracious in donation of books on geology, discounting shipping and throwing in extras for show and tell. I couldn't have done it without them. I'm taking to okay selling to try to support my endeavors with the children instead of trying to do it out of my salary. I hope everyone will continue to support me as I try to help some children find their way in today's world. If anyone has any ideas to improve on this program, please let me know. So far, it's been worth every penny to see a child's life changed, hopefully forever.
My advice to parents of troubled children or children with mental illnesses is to use an analogy such as I have above to get your child to open up and talk with you (or a friend or other trusted family member). Sometimes what they're going through doesn't gee out during direct conversation, but rather in the midst of doing something totally different from having a parental chat. You can find out more if the child doesn't know he's opening up. It also teaches patience to children with ADHD. Give it a try. You might find giving a child a goal, something to look forward to, is a wonderful way to change an attitude and it's worth a try.
P.S. For the adult and adolescent females, I use makeup therapy - so thanks to everyone who's put in an extra sample or given a shipping discount. I appreciate you all.