Stories are a powerful way of building connection with children - most children (and indeed adults!) love storytelling and storybooks. In my work as a Clinical Psychologist, I often write stories to help me to understand and gain more insight into the experiences of the children and the families I work with. I also write and tell stories with children in ways that are therapeutic and support their recovery from trauma.

Stories can help developmentally traumatised children to understand and make sense of their life story, and can help address psychological issues gently and indirectly. Stories can also support children to subconsciously learn new skills, understand difficult emotions and experiences, and cope with everyday challenges and difficulties. Stories can help build connections and nurture a strong sense of family belonging, connecting histories together.

Inspired by the ideas of Family Attachment Narrative Therapy (Lacher, Nichols and May, 2005), I have facilitated story writing groups for foster carers, adopted parents and the network around them. Parents/carers have shared how powerful and meaningful these groups and the process of getting creative and writing stories has been. You do not need to be a budding author or to be brilliant at creative writing to get involved, story writing and listening is for everyone.

With permission from some very kind and brave parents, carers, children and colleagues, we are sharing some stories, poems, and spoken word pieces to hopefully inspire you on your ‘connecting with and through stories’ journey.

For further information or to add any stories you have written to our treasury, please do get in touch here.