Adopt South West Online Conference: Therapeutic Life Story Work

Join us for our free annual Adopt South West Conference, online, on Monday, 7 October 2024, focusing on Therapeutic Life Story Work for children, young people, and young adults.

Book using the form in our current newsletter, or email adoptsouthwestsupport@devon.gov.uk

Conference highlights:

• Focus on the Richard Rose Model: Presenters, including Richard Rose, will discuss the power of storytelling in helping children make sense of their lives. Understanding and resolving loss and trauma is crucial for their well-being.
• Introduction to Therapeutic Life Story Work: Learn about Therapeutic Life Story Work and its positive impact on children’s and young people’s lives.
• All About Me: A tool for parents/carers to help children express their present experiences, understand past events, and envision their future.
• Therapeutic Life Story Work: Creative, therapeutic interventions to help individuals work through and resolve past traumas and loss, strengthening bonds and fostering a greater sense of self.
• Personal Testimony: Hear from a young person about their positive experience with Therapeutic Life Story Work and its impact on their life.

What to expect

Therapeutic Life Story Work has been an intervention for children, young people and adults for the last 30 years, but the approach has been developed to be used worldwide since 1997 by Richard Rose. 26 years later, the Richard Rose Model of Therapeutic Life Story Work is the first model subjected to independent research and validated as an evidenced based narrative model that has excellent outcomes for traumatised children, young people and adults.

The conference will focus on the Richard Rose Model of Therapeutic Life Story Work and through this lens the presenters, (which includes Richard Rose) will talk about the power of the story and the role it plays when children are trying to make sense of their lives. It is well known that if children/young people are not supported to make sense of the loss and trauma that they have experienced, it will remain unresolved and will continue to impact upon them throughout their lives. The aim of Therapeutic Life Story Work is therefore for the individual to reach an acceptance of who they were, who they are now and an understanding that they have the capacity and resilience to become who they want to be with the support of their parent and carer.

To begin with the conference will set the scene for what Therapeutic Life Story Work is, and the positive impact it has on children’s and young people’s lives. Attention will then turn to the different levels within Therapeutic Life Story Work – firstly ‘All About Me, which is a tool for parents/carers to use with any aged child or young person to support them to be able to express their present life experiences, their understanding of past events and their hopes and aspirations for the future. Focus will then turn to Therapeutic Life Story Work, a model that uses creative, therapeutic interventions with children, young people and adults to help them work through and resolve past traumas and loss. Through these interventions bonds are strengthened and the individual is enabled to consider the future with a greater sense of self (Rose 2012). At the end of the Conference, you will hear from a young person about his positive experience of Therapeutic Life Story Work and the impact that it has had on his life.

We look forward to you joining us for this Therapeutic Life Story Work conference.