Setting Up Therapeutic Storywriting Groups Day 2 Presented by Dr Trisha Waters

Therapeutic Storywriting: Day : Mindfulness, check-in & feedback from groups Feelings ladder Introduction to subpersonalities : Coffee : Working with subpersonalities in story writing : Lunch : Mindfulness exercise Containment of anxiety to facilitate thinking Active Listening and reflection of children’s stories Discussion of points arising from groups

Book references for Day 2 Waters, T (2004) Therapeutic Storywriting, London: David Fulton Chapter 3: Subpersonalities and a Model of the Self Chapter 7: Receiving the Child’s Story

Mindfulness Tuning

Check-in and feedback from groups Name Feelings How is your group going?

Feelings ladder Order feelings from ‘most comfortable’ to ‘least comfortable’ Discuss as a group the order Avoid judgemental references such as ‘positive’/‘negative’, good/bad

What are Subpersonalities? Different discrete aspects of the self Often have different needs and compete for attention Each has a unique set of attributes Unconscious subpersonalities cause problems

Working with Subpersonalities The Self as Psychological Conductor has qualities of Awareness Will Every subpersonality serves a purpose Working with subpersonalities through:- Recognition Identifying with Integration Disidentification

Exercise:Who am I? Group is asked 10 questions Work in pairs Partner asks: “How did your response to the question change?” Choose one subpersonality from your list and your partner asks:- “What is your name?” “When are you present?” “What is your job?” “What is your body posture” “How do you feel?” “What do you want?” “What else do you need?” Reverse roles Repeat choosing a different subpersonality

Case Study: Nathaniel

Drawing to deepen the metaphor Ensure pupils have an A4 sheet of plain paper for their illustration Provide colour pencils but not rubbers and rulers What do you notice about the picture? Which character is central? Where is the energy focused? How does the pupil use the drawing space? How are they using colour?

Exercise: Recognition and identification with a subpersonality Read through your child’s story Find a character that may represent a significant subpersonality Write down 5 or 6 open questions you might ask the child about this character?

From week 2 onwards Place new feeling words on the ladder Print out copies of one pupil’s story from last week and pupil reads it aloud to group. Each week teacher brings a new story opener Children choose to :- take up the teacher’s suggestion or carry on with their current story

Exercise: Leading Mindfulness Guide your partner to focus on: sound in and outside the room sensation in body beginning with feet emotions experienced today a word that best describes how they’re feeling at the moment Partner gives feedback on : Tone of voice Pace Emotional safety

Mindfulness Video Video made by Trisha Waters for YoungMinds showing the Mindfulness exercise developed for Therapeutic Storywriting groups being used with the whole school uBXCHBM

Bion: Containment of anxiety Anxiety contained for thinking to take place Containment by significant other Empathic verbal reflection BESDs and Speech &Language Difficulties

Active Listening is … Focused listening Non judgemental Use of reflection, paraphrasing and summarising Checking understanding Use of non-verbal signs e.g. nodding

Active listening is not … Having a conversation Giving advice Problem-solving Saying ‘Oh I know exactly how you feel, that happened to me’ – even if it has!

Reflection and paraphrasing Reflection repeats what has actually been said Paraphrasing restates using your own words Used for both content and feelings ©2014 Centre for Therapeutic Storywriting Ltd.

Content vs Feelings Content is the actual topic that the person is describing – reflection/paraphrase is useful if there is a a lack of coherence Feelings, both those explicitly or implicitly communicated, are acknowledged using reflection or paraphrase

Summarising Draws together main points in a few statements Helps clarify what has been said ©2014 Centre for Therapeutic Storywriting Ltd.

Active listening exercise Work in 3s –speaker, listener & observer Speaker talks about what they did yesterday. For the first 2 min listener reflects and mirrors the content. For the second 4 min listener reflects the feelings expressed. Begin response with one of the following: I wonder if you are feeling… I imagine you feel… You seem to be feeling… Perhaps you might be feeling... It sounds as if you are feeling… Summarise in no more than 2 sentences what has been said in the last 6 min Observer keeps time and facilitates brief feedback from listener, speaker and then themselves at end of session

Active Listening in Story  Reflecting/paraphrasing story theme or plot  Reflection of feelings of characters  Summarising story so far

Summarising Draws together main points in a few statements Can be used for part or all of the story Helps child link with last session Helps clarify the plot for the child

Active Listening: Reflection of story content and feelings Work in pairs on a pupil’s story Read story through twice pausing after every couple of sentences First use paraphrase to reflect content of story – focus on events Secondly, reflect feelings using the tentative openings Summarise story in no more than 2 sentences Reverse roles using another pupil’s story

Exercise: Written Emotional Literacy Comments Using your child’s story write down: 1 open question about a significant subpersonality character 1 reflective (active listening) statement that focuses on the feelings of this character

Exercise : Story Openers (1) revision Write a story opening using an animal character which names a feeling that may be uncomfortable for pupils in your group: Name the animal character Describe the setting Name the feeling NB Do not say why the character is feeling like this. Use no more than two sentences.

Encouraging constructive feedback from the group Self esteem = success (measured against peers) aspiration Encourage pupils to say one thing they liked and possibly one thing that could be improved

Plenary: Receiving the Child’s Story  Open questions to identify a significant subpersonality character  Reflective ‘active listening’ statements  Encouraging constructive criticism from the group  Giving copies of one pupil’s story to the group for extra discussion each week  Typing out stories & making final published book

Next Session Identifying story themes Written emotional literacy comments Metaphor set in fantasy or external reality Addressing the ending Assessment and referring on Structure of a therapeutic story N.B. Bring along children’s stories to work with

Further information, research & resources Centre for Therapeutic Storywriting: Online training manual: