Handbook of Therapeutic Life Story Work

Karla Burley is a Certified Independent Therapeutic Life Story Work Practitioner, Certified Play Therapist, Clinical Supervisor, and a TLSWi Trainer, based in Kent, UK. She provides Therapeutic Life Story Work interventions, clinical supervision, and consultation internationally and is a member of the TLSWi Board. Karla has developed and co-designed the Creating Therapeutic Stories Programme with Suzanne McGladdery, endorsed by Richard Rose. Karla is an Accredited Member of BACP, former Course Director for Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma in Play Therapy.Karla is the founder of The Open Toy Box (2002), offering Play Therapy and Psychotherapy to children/adolescents, from the ages of 18 months to 82. Karla has designed, developed, and delivered programmes of therapeutic play skills and techniques, child development, child protection, trauma and attachment training to support parents, foster carers, social workers, potential adoptive parents and pioneered play therapy for over 22 years with a team of over 75 qualified therapists and placement students to over 70 schools to enhance staff's confidence in supporting children with emotional/behavioural challenges.Karla is known to be perceptive, and this supports her straightforward natural reflective way of working that can stimulate deep thought and self-understanding. Karla's passion has always been to build a therapeutic relationship of safety creatively and collaboratively in a protected space for a child's emotional healing and development to take place. Karla's focus is on TLSW, training, developing TLSW tools, writing, and supporting TLSW students/professionals and assisting Professor Richard Rose with the future launch of Trauma, Health, Education International Academy (THEiA).

'Life Story Work is something we do all the time, be it reminiscing with friends or family about a particular event or period of our lives, or keeping memorabilia, photographs, and written records. Reflecting on and re-examining past events and experiences helps us to make meaning of them in the present.'As a certified play therapist and a qualified social worker, Karla and Suzanne have come together as independent Therapeutic Life Story Work practitioners to explore their experiences and the challenges they have faced to guide other practitioners entering this important area of practice. They share journeys they have taken alongside the many families they have supported; drawn from completing Professor Richard Rose's Diploma in Therapeutic Life Story Work (TLSW).The authors take the reader through the process of Therapeutic Life Story Work from beginning to end, linking theory with practice. They identify areas to consider in preparing to do this work and the referral process, give practical first steps in information gathering, and provide a wealth of activities and techniques that can be undertaken in sessions. Written during the time of a global pandemic, it includes working on-line and the many creative ways of supporting children and adults in making meaning and creating a more coherent narrative of their lives.They share the complexities of working with birth families, neurodiversity, measuring outcomes and the recent strong evidence base for this intervention, as well as a unique model of creating therapeutic stories in therapeutic life story work. They highlight the importance of self-care and supervision when working with trauma, consider what to do when things go wrong, and the importance of creating emotional safety within this work. The content is drawn from many hours of work, challenges faced within the work, and an idea that it could be beneficial to others undertaking or interested in Therapeutic Life Story Work.Therapeutic Life Story Work is an area of practice that Karla and Suzanne are passionate about. They decided to write this book in response to the questions they are frequently asked about setting up as independent practitioners and how they work in practice. Their aim is to continue to support children and young people in their journey to make sense of their lives, as well as supporting practitioners and developing Therapeutic Life Story Work worldwide.The Handbook of Therapeutic Life Story Work is essential reading for those working with children, young people and adults, including social workers, therapists, family support workers, residential care staff, teachers, adopters, foster carers, special guardians, connected carers, students, psychologists and any other professionals involved in working with traumatised children.