Creative Life Story Work Podcast

How might grief and loss affect children and young people's behaviour and relationships? And how can we support care-experienced children and young people to process their feelings? 

We welcome back to the podcast Ciara McClelland, who specialises in working with children and families impacted by adverse childhood experiences, to find out more about the impact of grief and loss on the brain and body. Ciara is a trainer from Trauma Informed Consultancy Services. 

For this episode, we are partnering with Lively Minds: the mental health podcast who are posting it on their feed too! Head over to their show to hear Ciara dig deeper into the world of dramatherapy in her conversation with hosts, Ellie and Will.

Hear a new episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast on the first Thursday of each month.

Find out more about Creative Life Story Work membership here, and sign up to our mailing list here, for regular updates on our training and resources.

How can we adapt Creative Life Story Work for young adults? 

In 2023, we worked with care-leavers and young researchers to develop All About Us, a life story work pilot project for care-leavers. 

We talk with theatre-maker and Blue Cabin Associate, Ruth Mary Johnson, and Faye Marsh from Darlington Borough Council, about the practicalities of gathering feedback from care-leavers in Darlington and South Tyneside. Find out how their input shaped the project and how All About Us is different from the sessions we deliver with younger children and their trusted adults. 

Hear a new episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast on the first Thursday of each month.

Find out more about Creative Life Story Work membership at www.creativelifestorywork.com

This month on the podcast we talk about the vital role foster carers play in the delivery of life story work. Joanne Stoddart (local authority specialist) and Jenny Young (director) from Blue Cabin are our guests as we find out what training and support foster carers receive when they welcome a child or young person to their home, and the benefits of the foster carer being involved in delivering life story work. 

Hear a new episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast on the first Thursday of each month.

Find out more about Creative Life Story Work membership at creativelifestorywork.com

We were very happy to catch up with Professor Richard Rose in Darlington, to talk about the role he's played as a critical friend for Darlington Borough Council and other organisations. Hear how having someone to share honest, constructive feedback is helping to shape life story work strategies.

Find out more about Creative Life Story Work membership at www.creativelifestorywork.com

In this bitesize episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast, we chat with Martin Webster, Workforce Development Manager at Darlington Borough Council. He shares some of the feedback he's received from children, young people and carers, and explains how Darlington is putting a framework in place to help its staff embed a creative approach to life story work. 

Click here to find out more about Creative Life Story Work membership

We hear from staff at Darlington Borough Council about how they carve out time and space for life story work. Get a real-life insight into a variety of roles in Darlington's Children's Services department, people's experiences of Creative Life Story Work, and how staff and foster carers are being supported to deliver better life story work.

Click here to find out more about Creative Life Story Work membership.

The Creative Life Story Work team asked local authorities across England how they approach life story work and whether they have a life story work policy in place. In this episode of the podcast, we talk to Blue Cabin's Director, Jenny Young, and Local Authority Specialist, Joanne Stoddart, to find out what they discovered and why a life story work policy is important. Hear a new episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast on the first Thursday of each month, and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Read Joanne's blog by clicking here

Click here to find out more about Creative Life Story Work membership.

We welcome to the podcast the brilliant Professor Richard Rose of Therapeutic Life Story Work International, to explore the topics of attachment and trauma. We find out how early experiences of attachment and trauma can affect children and young people later in life and how foster carers and social workers can recognise resulting behaviours and support the children and young people in their care. 

Richard will share more about attachment and trauma in our forthcoming Creative Life Story Work Live Classrooms - find out more and book your place here: https://creativelifestorywork.com/training/

What does 'good' life story work look like? We delve into this question with Polly Baynes, who has 36 years' experience in life story work with children. Hear Polly's advice for practitioners, the ground rules she agrees, and how she responds when children share difficult feelings and memories.

Find out more about Creative Life Story Work at creativelifestorywork.com

Hear a new episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast on the first Thursday of each month.

In this episode of our podcast we discuss creative, trauma-informed ways to support children and young people who are refugees or asylum seekers. Our guest is Cat Jolleys, who shares how she created a trauma-informed approach in a school with many languages, cultures and backgrounds, to help create a sense of safety and belonging for pupils and staff.