Free resources to support life story work with refugee and asylum-seeking children and young people have been created by three organisations working together: Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB), Therapeutic Life Story Work UK (TLSWUK) and Blue Cabin (the charity behind Creative Life Story Work).

In this episode, Michael Nwoye (CFAB) and Paula Price (TLSWUK) join the podcast to share the story behind the resources: how they came to be, what shaped their development, and how practitioners can use them to facilitate meaningful, culturally sensitive life story work.

You can access the free resources here.

Find out more about Ciara's upcoming Live Classroom by clicking here

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.

Check out the other training we have coming up, with online Live Classrooms​,​ delivered by our brilliant ​expert trainers>>

Clinical psychologist and author, Dr. Karen Treisman MBE, joins us on the podcast to explore emotional regulation. Karen shares a compassionate, human perspective, moving beyond one-size-fits-all techniques to focus on anchoring, presence and the nervous system. She discusses co-regulation in social work, why our own regulation matters, and how small everyday 'micro moments' can make a meaningful difference. Karen also offers creative, sensory-based approaches and insights into helping children feel safe, understood and supported.

Clinical psychologist Dr Karen Treisman MBE joins us to talk about genograms and why they matter in trauma-informed care. 

Genograms are a visual representation of a family tree, which are often used in therapeutic settings. Karen shares how we can extend the traditional genogram model to make it into something much more creative, relational and meaningful. Hear how you can incorporate different materials -- from household items to puppets -- and use genograms as a springboard to open up questions and discussions about intergenerational themes, patterns and relationships.

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.

Sign up to Karen's live classroom by clicking here

Check out the other training we have coming up, with online Live Classrooms​,​ delivered by our brilliant ​expert trainers>>

This month we are talking about Think, Feel, Do Bears - how they were developed and how they can be used during life story work. 

Amy Payne and Karen Vance, two of the practitioners who created Think, Feel, Do Bears, join us from Australia. They take us back to 2016, when the first Think, Feel, Do bears were made, inspired by conversations at the 2016 Australian Childhood Trauma Conference. 

Find out how the bears can help children and young people talk about their thoughts, feelings and actions. Hear about some real-life examples of them being used by children, young people and adults, and learn how the bears can help children and young people's voices be heard.

Sign up to Amy and Karen's upcoming Live Classroom by clicking here

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.

Check out the other training we have coming up, with online Live Classrooms​,​ delivered by our brilliant ​expert trainers>>

Sing Our Story is a personalised song-writing programme created by London-based charity, Groundswell Arts. Groundswell Arts and Blue Cabin are now collaborating to deliver Sing Our Story in North East England, with a focus on care-experienced babies and children.

Joseph Robb (head of service, looked-after children at Darlington Borough Council) explains why he wanted Darlington to be part of Sing Our Story and how the songs form part of children's records for them to revisit in years to come. And Lucy Ridley (Blue Cabin project manager) gives an insight into how the songs are written and the careful, creative process behind capturing each child's story.

Read more about Sing Our Story here>>

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.

Check out the other training we have coming up, with online Live Classrooms​,​ delivered by our brilliant ​expert trainers>>

Timelines are a powerful tool in life story work. They can bring play into the process; they can link past, present and future; and they can help prepare children for change. And they provide a safe way to explore a life story. 

Listen to our conversation with Polly Baynes, who has worked with children and families for 37 years, for some brilliant advice on how to get started with using timelines. Polly shares her own experience of kinship care as a child and what she's learnt in her wide-ranging career. She ends with a series of top tips for foster carers and social work professionals who want to start using timelines with children and young people.

Sign up to Polly's online live classroom event by clicking here

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.

Check out the other training we have coming up, with online Live Classrooms​,​ delivered by our brilliant ​expert trainers>>

Michelle Ewing is a Therapeutic Life Story Worker with Leicestershire Children and Family Services, which recently received an Outstanding rating from Ofsted.

Michelle joins us to share how the local authority provides consistent and high quality life story work for care-experienced children and young people. She gives an insight into the role of a Therapeutic Life Story Worker, her training with Professor Richard Rose, and shares some of her go-to tools and techniques. 

Finally, we talk about wellbeing for life story work practitioners: the importance of supervision and accessing support as part of your role.

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.

Check out the training we have coming up, with online Live Classrooms​,​ delivered by our brilliant ​expert trainers>>

Lessons from lived experience

Trainer Mary-anne Hodd joins us on the podcast to share her experience of being a child in care - including the challenges she faced and the people who made a positive difference.

The conversation touches on so many points, from how it feels to receive your files as an adult, to Mary-anne's advice for other care-experienced people.

Listen in to learn more about the challenges care-experienced children and young people face in forming their identities, how we can support them better, and how we can create environments where children can create, thrive and be themselves.

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.

Check out the training we have coming up, with online Live Classrooms​,​ delivered by our brilliant ​expert trainers>>

Social Work consultant and Trauma Informed Consultancy Services trainer, Natalie Wyatt, explains the wide-ranging effects of domestic abuse on children and young people, from developmental delays in infancy to risk-taking behaviors in adolescence.   

We explore how trauma-informed approaches can help rebuild trust and attachment, and look ahead to potential changes in how we support children and young people. 

Listen to the episode for practical guidance, insights into research, and examples of what Natalie has learnt from the children and young people she has worked with. 

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.

Want to learn more from Natalie Wyatt?

Check out the training we have coming up, with online Live Classrooms by Natalie and other brilliant trainers>>

This special podcast episode was recorded live at the Georgian Theatre in Stockton, where we gathered for the premiere of a wonderful new film called All About Adoption. The film was made by a group of young film makers from Tees Valley, through a new partnership between Blue Cabin and Adoption Tees Valley. 

Hear from some of the film makers about what they wanted friends, teachers and social workers to know about adoption, and what it was like to receive a standing ovation after their first screening. 

We ask audience members what they thought of the the film, and Blue Cabin Associate Artist, Nic Golightly, give an insight into the creative process.

Find out more about Adopt Bats at wearebluecabin.com/project/adopt-bats/

We welcome Mary-anne Hodd to the podcast to discuss adverse childhood experiences (also known as ACEs). Mary-anne explains how neglect, abuse and household dysfunction in early childhood can have an impact on later-life outcomes for care-experienced people -- and how we can support young people to start to heal. 

Mary-anne is a care-experienced trainer and consultant with Trauma Informed Consultancy Services who combines her own lived experience with her background in psychology. Listen to this episode to hear how Mary-anne takes a strengths-based approach to ACEs. 

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.

Want to learn more from Mary-anne Hodd?

Check out the training we have coming up, with online Live Classrooms by Mary-anne and other brilliant trainers>>

What role can social workers play in supporting children affected by parental separation? Parental separation might be widespread (around 3.5 million children a year are living in separated families), but it can still have a big impact on children and young people, affecting behavioural outcomes, physical health and more. 

We welcome Natalie Wyatt to the podcast to talk about how we can help children thrive, post-separation. Natalie shares what children and young people she has worked with have told her about what's important to them, and the factors which can affect children's lives, longer term. 

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.

Want to learn more from Natalie Wyatt?

Check out the training we have coming up, with online Live Classrooms by Natalie and other brilliant trainers>>

Chair of Therapeutic Life Story Work UK, Paula Price, joins us on the podcast to talk about delivering life story work in school settings. Paula discusses working with teaching staff, challenges particular to working in a school, and how life story work fits within a school environment. She also shares insights into building trust with children, creative approaches, and moments that show the power of using play during life story work - when it has helped children to talk about difficult things which they may never have spoken about before.

How can social workers and foster carers create records that have a positive impact on people's lives? 

We welcome Dr Lisa Cherry to the podcast to discuss how we can take a trauma-informed approach to recording information about a child or young person's life. 

Lisa has been working in education and children's services for more than 30 years and in this episode she shares advice for both social work professionals and foster carers. Learn what makes 'good' record-keeping -- from the language we use to the moments we choose to record -- and how you can promote healing in care-experienced 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 here, and sign up to our mailing list here, for regular updates on our training and resources.

To sign up to Lisa's upcoming Live Classroom on 27th November, click here.

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

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

This month on the podcast we talk about the vital role foster carers play in the delivery of life story work. Joanne Stoddart (local authority specialist) and Jenny Young (director) from Blue Cabin are our guests as we find out what training and support foster carers receive when they welcome a child or young person to their home, and the benefits of the foster carer being involved in delivering life story work. 

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 creativelifestorywork.com

We were very happy to catch up with Professor Richard Rose in Darlington, to talk about the role he's played as a critical friend for Darlington Borough Council and other organisations. Hear how having someone to share honest, constructive feedback is helping to shape life story work strategies.

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

In this bitesize episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast, we chat with Martin Webster, Workforce Development Manager at Darlington Borough Council. He shares some of the feedback he's received from children, young people and carers, and explains how Darlington is putting a framework in place to help its staff embed a creative approach to life story work. 

Click here to find out more about Creative Life Story Work membership

We hear from staff at Darlington Borough Council about how they carve out time and space for life story work. Get a real-life insight into a variety of roles in Darlington's Children's Services department, people's experiences of Creative Life Story Work, and how staff and foster carers are being supported to deliver better life story work.

Click here to find out more about Creative Life Story Work membership.

The Creative Life Story Work team asked local authorities across England how they approach life story work and whether they have a life story work policy in place. In this episode of the podcast, we talk to Blue Cabin's Director, Jenny Young, and Local Authority Specialist, Joanne Stoddart, to find out what they discovered and why a life story work policy is important. Hear a new episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast on the first Thursday of each month, and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Read Joanne's blog by clicking here

Click here to find out more about Creative Life Story Work membership.

We welcome to the podcast the brilliant Professor Richard Rose of Therapeutic Life Story Work International, to explore the topics of attachment and trauma. We find out how early experiences of attachment and trauma can affect children and young people later in life and how foster carers and social workers can recognise resulting behaviours and support the children and young people in their care. 

Richard will share more about attachment and trauma in our forthcoming Creative Life Story Work Live Classrooms - find out more and book your place here: https://creativelifestorywork.com/training/

Blue Cabin (the charity behind Creative Life Story Work), and Mary-anne Hodd (a care-experienced independent consultant and Therapeutic Life Story Work practitioner) are exploring life story work for care leavers aged 16-25. Mary-anne explains what the three-year Between Chapters project will focus on including why life story work matters for care leavers, how it differs from working with younger children, and what some of the gaps in support are. Mary-anne brings her own lived experience to the project and shares advice for other care leavers who are interested in life story work. 

Find out more about Between Chapters here: https://wearebluecabin.com/project/between-chapters/

What does 'good' life story work look like? We delve into this question with Polly Baynes, who has 36 years' experience in life story work with children. Hear Polly's advice for practitioners, the ground rules she agrees, and how she responds when children share difficult feelings and memories.

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

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

In this episode of our podcast we discuss creative, trauma-informed ways to support children and young people who are refugees or asylum seekers. Our guest is Cat Jolleys, who shares how she created a trauma-informed approach in a school with many languages, cultures and backgrounds, to help create a sense of safety and belonging for pupils and staff. 

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. 

Artist Elena Miller is an expert in using play and creativity to help children and young people explore their lives and their futures. Elena joins us on the podcast to explain how play and creativity can make life story work more inclusive and can give children empowerment, choice and control. You'll hear practical ideas for creating safe, playful spaces that build agency and connection. And Elena shares real life examples of children finding their voice in both in-person and online sessions. 

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.

Check out the training we have coming up, including an online Live Classroom with Jessica Parker on trauma-informed approaches to eating disorders >>

How can music help care-experienced children bond with their carers?

We welcome musicians Carol Bowden and Katie Doherty to our podcast and hear about This is the Place: a new programme bringing music-making to care-experienced children aged 0-5 years and their carers in Darlington. 

What role does life story work play in the adoption process? 

Hear personal and professional perspectives with our podcast guests: Joanne Stoddart, Blue Cabin team member and Panel Manager at Adoption Tees Valley and Tommy Dylan, adoptive parent and Creative Technologist and Researcher at Northumbria University. 

We discuss life story books, the use of imagery, and how we can improve the information given to children and parents. 

A group of care-experienced children and young people aged between eight and 21 from Redcar and Cleveland in North East England are creating a short film to explain what it's like to be in care. 

Hear from Redcar and Cleveland Council's Wendy Medd and Blue Cabin Associate Artist, Nic Golightly, who explain how they supported members of The Studio of the Fostered Heroes to share their experiences in a safe and creative environment. 

Find out more about The Studio of the Fostered Heroes at https://wearebluecabin.com/project/the-studio-of-the-fostered-heroes/

The tale of the librarian and the researcher

We welcome two guests from Leeds, which is an official Child-Friendly City. 

We're joined by Dr Delyth Edwards from Leeds University and Elvie Thompson from The British Library to find out what that means for people in the city, and to hear about the creation of a new recipe book by 30 unaccompanied, asylum-seeking young people. 

Cooked with Love: World recipes without borders looks to create and enhance connections between young people in Leeds and their social workers and other supporting adults, and brings together food from Iran, Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia and Eritrea and Afghanistan. Download a copy here: www.bl.uk/projects/food-means-home. 

How do we know that Therapeutic Life Story Work is making a difference to the lives of care-experienced children and young people? And how do we gather evidence of the change it makes? 

In this episode of the podcast we welcome three guests who have been involved in evaluating new models of life story work: Professor Richard Rose from Therapeutic Life Story Work International; Meisha Taumoefolau, MacKillop Family Services; and Dr James Lucas from Deakin University, who are all joining us from Australia. 

Blue Cabin's Jenny Young and Gloria Raine take us back to 2016 when the organisation was set up to help improve outcomes for care-experienced children and young people by connecting them with creative activities.

Hear how the organisation developed connections and partnerships with local authorities and how the new model of Creative Life Story Work emerged.

Find out more at wearebluecabin.com/podcast

The Creative Life Story Work podcast returns in September!

Over the last year, we’ve had sparkling conversations on our podcast, with colleagues who
are delivering Creative Life Story Work with children and young people.

We’ve heard from local authority staff, social workers, evaluators, and professional artists,
and we’ve discussed how this new approach to Life Story Work was developed, and what’s
been learnt so far.

The podcast returns in September – listen in to find out more!

In the meantime, you can catch up with all episodes so far at wearebluecabin.com/podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast, Dawn Williams talks to social worker: Pauline Hilling, and Therapeutic Social Worker: Rachel Booth about what happens before and after an All About Me session has taken place. Who are the other professionals involved? How do they work together? What connections do they make? What are they noticing? Produced and mixed by Will Sadler of Anya Media You can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, or listen on our website at www.wearebluecabin.com/clswpodcast 

Our Creative Life Story Work Sharing Event took place in March 2022. Delegates attended from across the country and were from Local Authorities, charities, and freelancers. The event included a panel of people who have been central to the programme so far: Prof Richard Rose (Therapeutic Life Story Work International) Lisette Auton (Blue Cabin Associate Artist) Michelle Wood (Blue Cabin Associate Artist) Pam McArdle (South Tyneside Council) Joanne Stoddart (Darlington Borough Council) Episode 9 of the podcast is a special edition - a recording of the event panel. We hope you enjoy it. Produced and mixed by Will Sadler of Anya Media You can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, or listen on our website at www.wearebluecabin.com/clswpodcast 

Dawn Williams talks to Ben van Wagtendonk of Gateshead Council, and Joanne Stoddart of Darlington Council about the value of doing Life Story Work differently.

In this episode we meet Jessica Parker, director of Trauma Informed Consultancy Services, to discuss how we can support young people affected by eating disorders. We talk about misconceptions and worries practitioners might have; the importance of language; and how understanding attachment and trauma can shape our approach. And Jessica shares advice for organisations wanting to foster a safe, supportive environment. 

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.

Check out the training we have coming up, including an online Live Classroom with Jessica Parker on trauma-informed approaches to eating disorders >>

Dawn Williams talks to researcher Chloe Juliette, and Tom Elkins from PhotoVoice. Today we ask the question: what tools might we use to best advocate for and influence change for care-experienced young people?

Dawn Williams is joined by Creative Facilitator, Mary Robson, to discuss the importance of reflective practice.

Dawn Williams is joined by Professor Richard Rose of Life Story Work International and experienced Therapeutic Life Story Worker: Lynda Gallagher to discuss the "More About Me" stage of the Creative Life Story Work process.