Creative Life Story Work Podcast

How can therapeutic letters support healing, truth-telling and connection?

Ciara McClelland from Trauma Informed Consultancy Services explains how letters can help young people feel seen, heard and understood. How they can reach people in a way that conversations can't, and how they can help us say things that might be difficult to talk about in person.

Listen to this episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast for Ciara's tips on where to start with therapeutic letter-writing, techniques you can try, and language to use.

Find out more about Ciara's upcoming Live Classroom by clicking here

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Check out the other training we have coming up, with online Live Classrooms​,​ delivered by our brilliant ​expert trainers>>

How can digital tools help young people store important memories, documents and stories? And how can care-experienced voices guide their use? Find out how artists Rosie Reid and Ruth Mary Johnson worked with three young care leavers to experiment with an app called The Vault (developed by Articulate Cultural Trust). Hear how they played, created, and tested The Vault, to see how it could be used to complement life story work.

Find out more about The Vault experiment

Rosie and Ruth have shared more about their work with the young researchers in this blog post here.

You can learn more about the All About Me themes, which are mentioned in the podcast episode, here.

And find out more about the Rose Model of Therapeutic Life Story Work here.

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.

Check out the other training we have coming up, with online Live Classrooms​,​ delivered by our brilliant ​expert trainers>>

In this episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast, Dawn is joined by Blue Cabin Associate Artist, Nic Golightly, to explore the power of creativity in life story work.

Together, they challenge the myth of 'I’m not creative', uncover everyday acts of imagination we often overlook, and share how playful approaches can spark confidence, connection and curiosity.

From mistakes to masterpieces, Nic reveals how creativity in all its forms can open up new ways of storytelling and strengthen relationships.

Sign up to Nic's live classroom by clicking here

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.

Check out the other training we have coming up, with online Live Classrooms​,​ delivered by our brilliant ​expert trainers>>

Psychologist Amy Payne joins us from Australia's Blue Mountains to talk about Therapeutic Life Story Work with adults. We discuss how she has adapted the Rose model of Therapeutic Life Story Work for different ages and Amy shares examples of its use. Find out how Therapeutic Life Story Work can help adults manage transitions in life and plan for the future. Discover how to retain elements of creativity and playfulness in life story work with adults, and how it can help you map out multi-generational stories taking in grandparents, parents and children.

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Clinical psychologist Dr Karen Treisman MBE joins us to talk about genograms and why they matter in trauma-informed care.

Genograms are a visual representation of a family tree, which are often used in therapeutic settings. Karen shares how we can extend the traditional genogram model to make it into something much more creative, relational and meaningful. Hear how you can incorporate different materials -- from household items to puppets -- and use genograms as a springboard to open up questions and discussions about intergenerational themes, patterns and relationships.

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This month we are talking about Think, Feel, Do Bears - how they were developed and how they can be used during life story work.

Amy Payne and Karen Vance, two of the practitioners who created Think, Feel, Do Bears, join us from Australia. They take us back to 2016, when the first Think, Feel, Do bears were made, inspired by conversations at the 2016 Australian Childhood Trauma Conference.

Find out how the bears can help children and young people talk about their thoughts, feelings and actions. Hear about some real-life examples of them being used by children, young people and adults, and learn how the bears can help children and young people's voices be heard.

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Sing Our Story is a personalised song-writing programme created by London-based charity, Groundswell Arts. Groundswell Arts and Blue Cabin are now collaborating to deliver Sing Our Story in North East England, with a focus on care-experienced babies and children.

Joseph Robb (head of service, looked-after children at Darlington Borough Council) explains why he wanted Darlington to be part of Sing Our Story and how the songs form part of children's records for them to revisit in years to come. And Lucy Ridley (Blue Cabin project manager) gives an insight into how the songs are written and the careful, creative process behind capturing each child's story.

Read more about Sing Our Story here>>

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Timelines are a powerful tool in life story work. They can bring play into the process; they can link past, present and future; and they can help prepare children for change. And they provide a safe way to explore a life story.

Listen to our conversation with Polly Baynes, who has worked with children and families for 37 years, for some brilliant advice on how to get started with using timelines. Polly shares her own experience of kinship care as a child and what she's learnt in her wide-ranging career. She ends with a series of top tips for foster carers and social work professionals who want to start using timelines with children and young people.

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Michelle Ewing is a Therapeutic Life Story Worker with Leicestershire Children and Family Services, which recently received an Outstanding rating from Ofsted.

Michelle joins us to share how the local authority provides consistent and high quality life story work for care-experienced children and young people. She gives an insight into the role of a Therapeutic Life Story Worker, her training with Professor Richard Rose, and shares some of her go-to tools and techniques.

Finally, we talk about wellbeing for life story work practitioners: the importance of supervision and accessing support as part of your role.

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Lessons from lived experience

Trainer Mary-anne Hodd joins us on the podcast to share her experience of being a child in care - including the challenges she faced and the people who made a positive difference.

The conversation touches on so many points, from how it feels to receive your files as an adult, to Mary-anne's advice for other care-experienced people.

Listen in to learn more about the challenges care-experienced children and young people face in forming their identities, how we can support them better, and how we can create environments where children can create, thrive and be themselves.

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