Helping children and young people who have not grown up living with their first family to know the stories of their past.
Supporting children and young people to understand how their histories may have shaped their thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
With love and kindness helping children and young people to improve their futures through Therapeutic Life Story Work.
Therapeutic Life Story Work?
My Life Story practice is informed by the Rose Model of Therapeutic Life Story Work and underpinned by my knowledge of trauma informed practice.
I seek to support and encourage a child or young person to explore their history, and that of their birth family, through a process of trauma informed direct work sessions undertaken alongside their parent or primary carer.
An important aspect of my work is seen as I seek to positively influence the child's attachments to the parenting parent through the process of my work with them both.
As the events of the child's life are considered and explored, this leads to a shared understanding of what these events have meant for the child's current world and provides the understanding that can help facilitate change.
Why Therapeutic Life Story Work?
Therapeutic Life Story Work is more than seeking to understand the who, what, where, when why and how of a child or young person's history. It seeks to explore how experiences of loss, trauma and hurt impact on the child's present-day thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.
Therapeutic Life Story Work offers opportunities to construct, integrate, share stories, co-create, process, record, meaning make and reflect on the child' life stories and a range of difficult feelings, thoughts, and sensations - Karen Treisman, 2017.
Once explored it is with this realisation that I can work with both the child and their parenting parent to help facilitate change by reshaping and reframing what the child or young person understands themselves and their history to be.
Stages of Therapeutic Life Story Work
Stage 1 - the Information Bank
I aim to build a clear understanding of the child's pre and birth history using social work files, health records, interviews with birth parents and information from teachers, foster carers and relevant others. Where I can source photographs, memorabilia and other important information I will include this in my work
Using this information, I can begin to plan my intervention, and share information with the parenting parents to enable them to have a deeper understanding of their child’s emotional responses and behaviours.
Stage 2 - the Internalisation
I will plan between 12 - 18 sessions which will take place fortnightly, on the same day, at the same time and will last no longer than an hour. Sessions will ideally take place in the child or young persons home and will ideally include the parenting parent.
I will spend around 6 sessions getting to know the child and building the felt safety within our relationship which will help the child to feel able to share their thoughts, feelings and be able to share the questions that they have about the past.
Our work is recorded on wallpaper and i use numerous resources which are chosen to meet the individual needs of the child.
Stage 3 - the Life Story Book
The life story book is completed as I work alongside the child and is presented to them at the end of our work. The book is a version of the wallpaper that we have worked on during our direct work sessions and is presented in a ring binder allowing for pages to be kept in or stored elsewhere as the child wishes.
Research
The research shows that Therapeutic Life Story Work strengthens the attachment of a child to a primary care giver. This in turn supports improvements in peer relationships, education outcomes, reduction in trauma symptoms experienced, reduction of high risk behaviours, improves mental health and wellbeing overall - Dr James Lucas, Deakin University, Melbourne - at the TLSWi Conference 2022.
Quotes
It is difficult to grow up as a psychologically healthy adult if one is denied access to one's own history - Vera Fahlberg, 1991
'So you know all about me?' asked the boy. 'Yes' said the horse. 'And you still love me?' 'We love you all the more' - Charlie Mackesy, 2019
Talking about it often makes it worse - the irrationality of the can of worms myth.
As long as we don't talk, the pain is manageable, when in fact for many children the pain is so unmanageable that it means they are living their lives reeling from unbearable arousal - exploding with aggression or imploding with anxiety, depression blighting their ability to learn, to love, to make friends, to develop emotionally and socially - Margot Sunderland, 2015
About Me
I live in East Devon and have been a Social Worker for 14 years having graduated from the University of Plymouth in 2009 with a BSc in Social Work.
Later in 2019 I graduated from Bristol University with a Masters degree in Advanced Social Work Practice with Children and Families. I am very proud that my dissertation on Life Story Work with Children Looked After was awarded a merit.
Since qualifying and until I started my business, I practiced in the same Local Authority working in Child Protection, Fostering, Adoption, in a Child Looked After Team and later in an Emotional Well Being Team.
During my career I have undertaken numerous courses and training including Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Levels 1 & 2, Theraplay Levels 1 & 2 and in 2021 I gained a Professional Diploma in Therapeutic Life Story Work having been trained by Richard Rose.
I am a trauma informed practitioner believing that empathy, kindness, nurture, and attuned care along with validation of emotions is an essential approach to my work with children, young people and their families. I recognise that children and young people need adults to care, protect, nurture, teach, help, and co-regulate their emotions with them. I know that co-regulation is a pre-requisite to self - regulation and throughout my work I will be supporting children, young people, and their parenting parent to develop this capacity.
I have had a passion and keen interest in Life Story Work for many years and offer my services as a Therapeutic Life Story Practitioner in and around East Devon.
Louise Carvell
Therapeutic Life Story Practitioner
Member of TLSWi and BASW
Registered with Social Work England & the Information Commissioners Office
Services
Life Story Training
Life story training for agencies which can include follow up consultations.
Life Story Books
Life story books using the Joy Rees method for children who have been adopted or who are being cared for under special guardianship arrangements. The book will be made in collaboration with the adoptive parent or primary carer. This aims to encourage use of the book as a first resource in helping the child to begin to understand their stories.
The book will begin where the child is at now to help develop a sense of safety before gently moving to the past and ending again at the present.
Therapeutic Life Story Books
Therapeutic life story books for children separated from birth parents but for whom it is not felt appropriate for them to engage in Therapeutic Life Story Work.
Stories are written using metaphors to support and develop emotional literacy. The child's favourite characters can also be used to help the child to connect with the book and to begin to process their own story.
I work from my office based in East Devon and am able to carry out TLSW within an hour radius. If you would like further information then please do contact me at :