The inspiration for Growing Me is a very special boy, adopted from care. Many who have been through the care system, have survived an emotionally and physically abusive start to life. Their minds and bodies know the world and the people in it to be dangerous and not to be trusted. In order to grow into happy, healthy people, able to learn and form relationships, the world needs to feel safer, adults need to feel trustworthy, and children need to know that they are not to blame for the trauma they have suffered.

Growing Me was founded by an adoptive mum, Nicky.  It has taken time and a lot of learning, but play, creativity and unconditional positive regard have helped her family thrive.   And while things are not always easy, Nicky is passionate about spreading sunshine and hope into the lives of care-experienced families.  Nicky wanted to use her skills as an illustrator, along with all that she has learned, to produce a unique and effective system to help all children who have suffered early life trauma feel safe and secure.

Teaming up with Creative Life Story therapist, Ellie, the pair identified a huge need from both personal and professional expertise to make Therapeutic Life Story work more accessible.  They set about designing a 10 step journey, with resources that could become part of everyday life.  Nicky’s background is art and illustration, and wanted to create something so beautiful, it communicated to a child how loved and precious they are. Ellie is trained in Theraplay, DDP, EMDR, and art psychotherapy, and all these modalities have fed in to a multi-sensory toolkit.