Creative Life Story Work Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

How might grief and loss affect children and young people's behaviour and relationships? And how can we support care-experienced children and young people to process their feelings? 

We welcome back to the podcast Ciara McClelland, who specialises in working with children and families impacted by adverse childhood experiences, to find out more about the impact of grief and loss on the brain and body. Ciara is a trainer from Trauma Informed Consultancy Services. 

For this episode, we are partnering with Lively Minds: the mental health podcast who are posting it on their feed too! Head over to their show to hear Ciara dig deeper into the world of dramatherapy in her conversation with hosts, Ellie and Will.

Hear a new episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast on the first Thursday of each month.

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.

How can we adapt Creative Life Story Work for young adults? 

In 2023, we worked with care-leavers and young researchers to develop All About Us, a life story work pilot project for care-leavers. 

We talk with theatre-maker and Blue Cabin Associate, Ruth Mary Johnson, and Faye Marsh from Darlington Borough Council, about the practicalities of gathering feedback from care-leavers in Darlington and South Tyneside. Find out how their input shaped the project and how All About Us is different from the sessions we deliver with younger children and their trusted adults. 

Hear a new episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast on the first Thursday of each month.

Find out more about Creative Life Story Work membership at www.creativelifestorywork.com

How can we use music to help care-experienced babies and children develop and strengthen relationships? 

This special podcast episode shares learning from a music-making project in Darlington called This is The Place, and we hear from musician Eleanor Mooney, and Dr Ryan Humphrey who is a researcher in community music and cultural policy.  

How do adverse childhood experiences affect people's lives? And how can we support children and young people to recover and thrive? 

We talk with care-experienced teacher, trainer and speaker, Mary-anne Hodd, who shares her personal experience and her expertise on taking a trauma-informed approach to life story work.  

How can understanding the impact of grief help practitioners who work with care-experienced children and young people?

We talk with Ciara McClelland, a practitioner and a trainer with Trauma Informed Consultancy Services, who shares her personal insights and her expertise on how we can support children and young people affected by grief and loss. 

Back in episode four of our podcast we heard about a short film which was being made by a group of first-time filmmakers from Redcar and Cleveland. 

Now, we catch up with members of The Studio of the Fostered Heroes, and filmmaker Laura Degnan, to find out how they feel about the film they created together, sharing their own, personal stories of care-experience. 

How is therapeutic life story work delivered in different parts of the world? 

We chat with Professor Richard Rose from Therapeutic Life Story Work International on our podcast, and hear how life story work looks in places including the USA, Australia and Japan. 

We meet newly qualified social workers, Phoebe and Iona, who are in their first year of work at Gateshead Council. They've both taken part in Creative Life Story Work sessions as part of their ongoing learning, and in this episode they share how the child-led approach has influenced the way they work with children, young people and carers. 

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.