1st Edition
Helping Children Become the Heroes of their Stories A Practical Guide to Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience in Every Setting
Whether it’s the anxiety of social isolation, the loss of routine or a breakdown in formal educational support, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected children in countless ways. Teachers, therapists and parents frequently find themselves ill-equipped to help children struggling with the difficult feelings that these situations, and others like them, give rise to.
This essential guide provides a therapeutic toolkit to enable children to tell their stories and to regain some control over their mental health and wellbeing. The toolkit introduces a therapeutic story template, alongside guided support and examples focusing on three therapeutic skill sets: active listening, reflection and handling questions. Designed for use with children both individually and in class groups, the storytelling toolkit will enable children to see themselves as the hero of their own story, and life, and to reinstate a sense of optimism and self-empowerment in the face of the pandemic challenge.
This resource provides a practical toolkit which can be used both inside and outside the classroom to help children to tell their lockdown stories. It will be valuable reading for teachers, SENCOs, therapists, mental health leads and parents.
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
The Toolkit
1. The Call
2. Refusal of the Call
3. Meeting the Mentor
4. Crossing the First Threshold
5. The Test
6. The Revelation
7. Celebration
8. Steps to Set Up a Hero Storytelling Group in Class
9. Seeking Further Support
Resources
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Amanda Seyderhelm trains professionals and parents how to support grieving children and families through play and the creative arts. She is an experienced certified play therapist, working in private practice since 2016. Amanda was the creative arts lead of the Craft Station at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children Charity for two years, and is now a partner agency with Barnardo's on loss and bereavement. She also consults for theatre in education groups in the community, www.helpingchildrensmileagain.com.
"Armed with these resources we will find ourselves with the capability to make a positive difference to the emotional wellbeing of pupils and children and prepare them for the lives that lie ahead of them. What I hope you take away from this book is the knowledge that we can make a positive difference for our pupils and children. What I know you will take away for sure, is inspiration to move forward, and courage to take the ‘right’ next steps in your learning environment to avoid breakdowns and further trauma to the child and those around them." - Fiona Clark, also known as @spiralglass, has been a teacher for over two decades and is the author of several books"Children have been living through a unique time in history & resources to help them thrive are hugely important to their recovery & mental health. ‘Helping Children Become the Heroes of their Stories’ by Amanda Seyderhelm is a wonderful book to empower teachers, practitioners, therapists, and parents with an indispensable guide to help children who are struggling. Bursting with practical, sensible and tried and tested activities this toolkit for helping children understand, express & process their own experiences will bring back a sense of hope for the future." - Sue Atkins, Parenting Broadcaster, Speaker & Author of ‘The Can Do Kid’s Journal: Discover Your Confidence Superpower’
"In Helping Children Become the Heroes of their Stories, Amanda Seyderhelm has written a book that is both very practical and very inspiring. She offers many simple and effective methods of helping children and at the same time she envisions where the child is on the heroes journey, the journey to selfhood […] Her valuing intuition on the part of the therapist sets this book apart from many others in the field." - Dennis McCarthy, Licensed Mental Health Counsellor, Director of Metamorfos Institute, and author of "If You Turned into a Monster" Transformation through Play: A Body-Centred Approach to Play Therapy
"This book will be a very useful addition to the creative therapist’s bookshelf. It provides a system of working which is appropriate and will enable the child to externalise difficult feelings and begin to make sense of their narrative […] Amanda’s book gives us hope that through awareness of the adversities we human beings experience and our incredible resilience and drive for recovery we will overcome difficult days- but we need empathy not judgement, we need authenticity in our relationships with others – and we need to be allowed time for creative play!" - Kate Macairt, accredited play therapist, sand play therapist, clinical supervisor and course director teaching play therapy
"Amanda Seyderhelm has produced an incredibly useful and effective resource that will be of interest to anyone working with children and young people who have experienced trauma such as bereavement. The book is full of practical and creative ideas for using various forms of play as a way of supporting children who are struggling and is impeccably referenced, displaying the author's depth of knowledge in this vital area. That said, this is far from being an academic book. What comes though on every page is the compassion the author feels for these children who have been through so much in their young lives. But this is a compassion that comes from a place of complete respect for the children and their feelings. We are not there to put their worlds right. We are there to help them as they come to terms with those feelings. This might be more painful in the short term (for adult and child) but it is what is needed for them to grow and mature as emotionally healthy adults. This is an important, useful and profoundly compassionate book." - Ian Gilbert, Founder, Independent Thinking
"This is an incredibly practical piece of work which will help schools scaffold a structure aimed at overcoming adversity and to build resilience. It is not merely a book for post-pandemic times, but one which correctly identifies 'the new normal' as one of our current societal challenges, but one that will be added to as the trauma associated with rising cost of living bites in coming months.
"If you are serious about trauma informed practice, about the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences and on the theories and practicalities around attachment, this book deserves a place not on your shelf, but on your desk, well-thumbed, dog-eared and marked with highlighters and sticky notes. It is a text to return to again and again." - Andrew Cowley, author of The Wellbeing Curriculum and The Wellbeing Toolkit
"The book is written with considerable sensitivity and thoughtfulness, offering and deconstructing tangible case studies that remind readers wishing to adopt and adapt its suggestions that these - like any approaches - need to be used with care and intelligence, offering a pathway but not a formula. As someone currently supporting work on Creating “Schools of Recovery”, though engaged in a different but complementary practice, I find it offers invaluable challenges and significant, substantial food for thought." - Ben Ballin, Ed. Psych. and co-founder of The Big Brum Theatre-in-Education company
