Creative Life Story Work Podcast

We welcome clinical psychologist and author, Dr Karen Treisman MBE, to the podcast. Karen draws on her extensive experience working cross-culturally to explain why creative methods are so powerful in refugee and asylum-seeking contexts. We explore how life story work can combat the fragmentation and dehumanisation that displacement can bring, helping young people build identity and belonging. Kare...

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 s...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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, supp...

How can therapeutic letters support healing, truth-telling and connection? Ciara McClelland from Trauma Informed Consultancy Services explains how letters can help young people feel seen, heard and understood. How they can reach people in a way that conversations can't, and how they can help us say things that might be difficult to talk about in person.  Listen to this episode of the Creative Life...

How can digital tools help young people store important memories, documents and stories? And how can care-experienced voices guide their use? Find out how artists Rosie Reid and Ruth Mary Johnson worked with three young care leavers to experiment with an app called The Vault (developed by Articulate Cultural Trust ). Hear how they played, created, and tested The Vault, to see how it could be used...

In this episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast, Dawn is joined by Blue Cabin Associate Artist, Nic Golightly, to explore the power of creativity in life story work. Together, they challenge the myth of 'I’m not creative', uncover everyday acts of imagination we often overlook, and share how playful approaches can spark confidence, connection and curiosity. From mistakes to masterpieces, N...

Psychologist Amy Payne joins us from Australia's Blue Mountains to talk about Therapeutic Life Story Work with adults. We discuss how she has adapted the Rose model of Therapeutic Life Story Work for different ages and Amy shares examples of its use. Find out how Therapeutic Life Story Work can help adults manage transitions in life and plan for the future. Discover how to retain elements of creat...

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 m...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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 ch...

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 y...

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 wor...

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 Consultan...

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 child...

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 w...

In this episode of the Creative Life Story Work podcast, host Dawn welcomes Christian Brock, co-founder and managing director of Virtual Memory Box, to discuss how technology is being leveraged to support life story work for care-experienced children and young people. They delve into the functionalities and benefits of the Virtual Memory Box, including its web platform setup and its co-production...

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 bo...

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 S...