THERAPEUTIC LIFE STORY WORK
Louise Hunt Therapeutic Services
Louise Hunt Therapeutic Services provides a range of therapeutic services that are trauma informed, evidence-based and integrate Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy and Theraplay. Louise is a qualified Social Worker with 30 years’ experience working therapeutically with children and their families, an experienced parent and foster carer and holds a Diploma in Therapeutic Life Story Work, trained by world renowned expert Richard Rose. Interventions always include the child at the centre (weekend sessions if requested).
SW55922
With extensive experience working in safeguarding, fostering, adoption, adoption support, special educational needs, mental health, parenting assessments (and as an experienced foster carer) Louise can recognise, assess and respond to needs and deliver interventions that can positively bring about change for children, young people and their families/carers.
Louise has a range of skills that include supporting birth, foster, adoptive, kinship parents/carers in parenting; protecting, promoting, and meeting the child’s need, recognising, addressing, and responding to barriers and enabling families to connect and deepen attachments. This also includes managing separations in the healthiest way possible, and in promoting and encouraging engagement with life story work and implementing the ‘breaking the cycle’.
With experience in both adult and child mental health and supporting and empowering those with additional learning, developmental and neurodevelopmental needs, Louise is a strong advocate who is skilled, equipped, experienced and ready to embrace differences and advocate change. Louise recognises the challenges families can experiences and has vast experience of supporting children who are not able to attend school.
Therapeutic Life Story Work
Let's talk about it
We All Have A Story
For children who have been separated from the care of their family and suffered many placement breakdowns, their story can be extremely fragmented, leaving the child feeling lost and with no sense of belonging. The child may express their emotions through unhelpful behaviours that can impact hugely on their well-being and make the child very vulnerable in their present and future.
The Rose Model
The Rose model of Therapeutic Life Story Work aims for the child to reach an acceptance of who they were, who they are and an understanding that they have the power to shape who they can be. If children are not helped to understand and make sense of the trauma that they have experienced, then it is well known that they carry it around within them, unresolved, forever.
This therapeutic approach supports trauma recovery and enables the child to walk alongside their primary carer (from the beginning of the process to the end) to make meaning of their life and lived experience in a safe, and nurturing way. It provides the child with the opportunity to explore, question and understand past events of their life and make sense of how their past experiences have shaped their relationships, thoughts, feelings, behaviours and view of the world. As a result, the child can develop a far deeper understanding and awareness of how their history has been negatively impacting on their present.
Through making meaning of their life story within the therapeutic space, the child can then be supported to own their story, enhance and create positive and meaningful relationships and understand that their past does not need to define or lead them. The child is supported to reflect upon and consider how to move on to make significant changes. This approach also helps the primary carer to understand the impact a child’s history has on current behaviours and throughout the process, this will help strengthen attachments, build up trust and support the child to make positive change for their future.
Backed by Independent Research
In 2022, the Therapeutic Life Story Work – Barwon Pilot Evaluation Report 2022 was published. This world-first evidence-based evaluation of Therapeutic Life StoryWork by MacKillop Family Services and Deakin University has described the program as “transformational” in helping children and young people in care to heal from their trauma.