Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1. Building the Foundations for Life Story Work. 2. Building a Sense of Safety for the Child. 3. Emotional Literacy. 4. Building Resilience and Self-esteem. 5. Identity. 6. Information Sharing and Integration. 7. Looking to the Future. References. Index.
Tried and tested activities and creative ideas for professionals, parents and carers who may have little time and few resources, but who need to carry out life story work that works for the children in their care
Katie Wrench is dual qualified as a social worker and art psychotherapist. She is Head of Clinical Services at BUSS (Building Underdeveloped Sensory Systems) Ltd., and has been offering training to local authorities across the UK, IFAs and third sector organisations since 2015. She co-authored Life Story Work with Children who are Fostered or Adopted (2013) - a model which has successfully been rolled out across England and Wales. She is also the author of Helping Vulnerable Children to Stay Safe (2016) and Creative Ideas for Assessing Vulnerable Children and Families (2018). Lesley Naylor is an experienced therapeutic social worker and play therapist who facilitates a life story consultation clinic. She works with children and young people who are fostered or adopted, provides specialist consultation and training to frontline social care practitioners and foster carers around life story work and is based in Leeds, UK.
This book is an excellent, practical, way of getting started on the
complex but vital task of providing life story work for looked
after children...They provide activities that can be used with
children to help them come to an understanding of why they are in
care... Perhaps most valuable is that the authors set life story
work in a context, with chapters devoted to helping the child build
a sense of safety, emotional literacy, resilience and identity as
an integral part of sharing the information about their life with
them... This is an excellent book and the exercises described have
uses in working with and caring for children beyond the life story
work field.
*Foster Care Magazine*
The authors have thoughtfully sifted and collated the numerous
different activities and methodology that have worked well in
practice as a way of encouraging practitioners, foster carers and
adoptive parents to begin doing life story work with children. In
so doing, they allow those three groups in a child's life -
practitioners, foster carers and adoptive parents - to do direct
work with children and give them an opportunity to explore their
own creative and communication skills.
*Young Minds Magazine*
The book is easily readable, written in a heartfelt way by people
who a) clearly care deeply about the subject matter and b) have
real and robust experience in carrying out Life Story Work
themselves... This book is split into bite-size chunks that give
real and concrete activities split into what the facilitator will
need, how to complete the activity and 'handy hints' about how to
develop or shape the work to fit with the developmental stage of
the child... It was really useful to have read this book and would
recommend it as a useful addition to material for those working in
this vital area.
*Clinical Nurse Specialist*
It is an ideal resource for those who undertake direct work with
children and provides very imaginative and useful practical
exercises to carry out with children in the course of doing life
story work with them. The book has a very clear structure...is well
referenced and evidence-based and shows comprehensively why life
story work is so important to children in care... the exercises...
equally applicable to other forms of direct work with children,
such as for children's guardians, children's social workers and
residential social workers... This book brings together a variety
of very stimulating and creative ideas... for those who like to
work imaginatively therapeutically and creatively with
children.
*Seen and Heard*
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