What's it like to deliver a creative programme inside a prison?

Find out how Blue Cabin is working in partnership with Nepacs and Deerbolt Prison to support care-experienced young men to be recognised as artists.

We talk about the benefits of creativity for prisoners, staff and the wider community, and the practicalities of working in a prison environment, with Blue Cabin Associate Artist, Nic Golightly, and Sarah from Nepacs. 

How can a virtual school deliver creative activities which have relationship-building at their heart? 

We meet Owain Davies from Darlington Virtual School and Blue Cabin's Lucy Ridley, to find out how children and young people from Darlington - and the adults in their lives - have benefited from shared experiences of puppetry, film making and more. 

How can music help care-experienced children bond with their carers?

We welcome musicians Carol Bowden and Katie Doherty to our podcast and hear about This is the Place: a new programme bringing music-making to care-experienced children aged 0-5 years and their carers in Darlington. 

What role does life story work play in the adoption process? 

Hear personal and professional perspectives with our podcast guests: Joanne Stoddart, Blue Cabin team member and Panel Manager at Adoption Tees Valley and Tommy Dylan, adoptive parent and Creative Technologist and Researcher at Northumbria University. 

We discuss life story books, the use of imagery, and how we can improve the information given to children and parents. 

A group of care-experienced children and young people aged between eight and 21 from Redcar and Cleveland in North East England are creating a short film to explain what it's like to be in care. 

Hear from Redcar and Cleveland Council's Wendy Medd and Blue Cabin Associate Artist, Nic Golightly, who explain how they supported members of The Studio of the Fostered Heroes to share their experiences in a safe and creative environment. 

Find out more about The Studio of the Fostered Heroes at https://wearebluecabin.com/project/the-studio-of-the-fostered-heroes/

The tale of the librarian and the researcher

We welcome two guests from Leeds, which is an official Child-Friendly City. 

We're joined by Dr Delyth Edwards from Leeds University and Elvie Thompson from The British Library to find out what that means for people in the city, and to hear about the creation of a new recipe book by 30 unaccompanied, asylum-seeking young people. 

Cooked with Love: World recipes without borders looks to create and enhance connections between young people in Leeds and their social workers and other supporting adults, and brings together food from Iran, Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia and Eritrea and Afghanistan. Download a copy here: www.bl.uk/projects/food-means-home. 

How do we know that Therapeutic Life Story Work is making a difference to the lives of care-experienced children and young people? And how do we gather evidence of the change it makes? 

In this episode of the podcast we welcome three guests who have been involved in evaluating new models of life story work: Professor Richard Rose from Therapeutic Life Story Work International; Meisha Taumoefolau, MacKillop Family Services; and Dr James Lucas from Deakin University, who are all joining us from Australia. 

Blue Cabin's Jenny Young and Gloria Raine take us back to 2016 when the organisation was set up to help improve outcomes for care-experienced children and young people by connecting them with creative activities.

Hear how the organisation developed connections and partnerships with local authorities and how the new model of Creative Life Story Work emerged.

Find out more at wearebluecabin.com/podcast

The Creative Life Story Work podcast returns in September!

Over the last year, we’ve had sparkling conversations on our podcast, with colleagues who
are delivering Creative Life Story Work with children and young people.

We’ve heard from local authority staff, social workers, evaluators, and professional artists,
and we’ve discussed how this new approach to Life Story Work was developed, and what’s
been learnt so far.

The podcast returns in September – listen in to find out more!

In the meantime, you can catch up with all episodes so far at wearebluecabin.com/podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast, Dawn Williams talks to social worker: Pauline Hilling, and Therapeutic Social Worker: Rachel Booth about what happens before and after an All About Me session has taken place. Who are the other professionals involved? How do they work together? What connections do they make? What are they noticing?

Check out the online Live Classrooms we have coming up,​ delivered by our brilliant ​expert trainers!

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.

Mentioned in this episode:

Find out more about our Creative Life Story Work membership offer!

Life story work ideas, tools and inspiration – all in one place

Creative Life Story Work wesbite