Traditional Life Story Work is usually done with Children who are adopted or fostered to help them to get a better understanding, and come to terms with their history
Therapeutic Life Story Work goes further, it is a Therapeutic process that will :-
- help a young person make sense of their past
- understand how this effects and impacts them at present
- helps them to make positive change for the future
- helps them to build relationships
The process will help and young person to understand their feelings and make links with their history and how it effect their thoughts, feelings and actions.
Life Story Therapy is delivered in 3 stages over an approximate 9 month period.
First Stage – the Therapist researches the child’s life so that they can provide accurate information. They access social service files and other necessary documents to build up a picture of the child’s history, this may well include interviewing previous carers and birth families where possible, from this the therapist forms a chronology from which to work from.
Second Stage – direct work with the young person and their main carer.
The therapist, young person and carer will work together to talk about the childs history using the research done by the therapists and the childs own memories.
This is all done in a very creative way on rolls of wallpaper, using drawings, writing and other creative methods
This part of the process helps the child to understand their history and why they behave in certain ways, all in a safe and understanding relationship.
Third Stage – the therapist creates a book from the work that the child has done on the wallpaper. The child can decided what is put into the book and then they are presented with the final book and can share it with their carers
How long does it take?
The work is done over an approximate 9 month period, including a research phase. The direct work usually takes around 18 sessions at 2 weekly intervals, when this comes to an end there is a short interval while the Therapist compiles the Life Story Book and then a final session when the child is presented with the book.
If this sounds like it might help a loved one, or you are a professional looking for answers to help one of your clients, I would love to hear from you. Please fill in my contact form here, text or call on 07501773776 or Email me at info@positiveattachment.co.uk.