Therapeutic Life Story Work provides children with an opportunity to explore their history, through asking questions and processing life events. This helps children to process and make sense of past trauma that they may have experienced.
The approach is designed to strengthen the relationship between the child and their parent or carer, and directly involves them from the beginning to the end of the process. The therapeutic process often lasts between 6 – 9 months of weekly or fortnightly session
Who Might Therapeutic Life Story Work Help?
- children and young people who are struggling with their identity and making sense of who they are and what has happened to them in the past.
- children and young people who have experienced early life abuse and/or trauma
- foster or adoption placements that are struggling and at risk of breaking down
- children in care or who have been adopted who are asking questions about their past
Therapeutic Life Story work involves three stages:
The Information Bank – the therapist gathers historical information about the child pre- and post- birth, then assembles and collates the information gathered, careful consideration is given to what is safe to share and what the child may want to know.
Internalisation – the child is supported therapeutically to share their thoughts, feelings and emotions about the areas shared in the stage one process.
The Life Story Book – the child is given time to develop their own life story book. It is up to the child to decide what is included as a representation for others to see.
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