Creative Life Story Work Podcast

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/

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.

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.

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.