Therapeutic Life Story Work...
We’ve been told Growing Me needs a tagline… This has sparked all kinds of interesting discussions about how we best communicate what we are… Our toolkit does the job of Therapeutic Life Story Work, and this term is really helpful for professionals to describe what we do.
But I have been really wary of saying ‘Growing Me IS Therapeutic Life Story work’. As a parent (even one that has co-designed Growing Me), if I was asked to ‘do Therapeutic Life Story Work’ with my child, I’d feel out of my depth: it feels like a big complicated-sounding term – something that needs a fully trained professional to do a ‘therapeutic intervention’ with a child.
In reality, professional help is not always what a child needs most. My child, like many care-experienced children, is very wary of ‘therapy’ that is ‘done’ to him – he does not want to talk to unfamiliar people who are trying to ‘fix’ him: In times gone by, we spent hours filling in forms to access ASF funding for therapy that he was unable to access. In order to get support, forms have to focus on the worst times – and writing with a focus on the negative drains me of much needed energy.
What has helped most is ensuring the grown-ups in his day-to-day life to have the skills and resources to be curious, kind, and playful. Growing Me tools and resources do this – they encourage me to look after myself, and spend quality time with my boy. As a result, I am better able to see the incredible child he is, and enjoy our world together.
Therapeutic Life Story Work might sound big and scary, but it shouldn’t be. It should be about playfully connecting with children, so they feel safe enough to explore their feelings. And sometimes, the best people to do that are those who know the child best.
Our Growing Me toolkit makes Therapeutic Life Story Work accessible to all children who need it. Accessible for children who can’t access traditional therapy. Accessible to parents who find fighting for support drains them of the energy needed to care for their child. And accessible to professionals who desperately want to help children, but don’t have the funds to offer 1:1 therapy.
So we are on a mission to make Therapeutic Life Story Work accessible… and that’s our tagline sorted!!!
