SERSEN Therapeutic Storywriting Project

SERSEN is one of eleven Special Educational Needs (SEN) Regional Partnerships established in 2000 by the Department for Education and Skills to develop better regional planning arrangements for SEN. In Autumn 2003 the South East Region Special Educational Needs (SERSEN) Partnership sponsored a Therapeutic Storywriting Project.

Below is an overview of the pilot training and a summary of the teachers' evaluation of the pilot training. See Writing Stories with Feeling to view the 2004 SERSEN evaluation report which assesses the impact of Therapeutic Storywriting on pupils' learning.

Project Overview & Teachers' Evaluation of Pilot Training

The aim of the 3-day training was to support teachers set up Therapeutic Storywriting groups at Key stage 2 in their own schools. For this reason the training days were spread over a few weeks to allow teachers to bring their experience of setting up groups and examples of children’s stories to the 2nd and 3rd days of training.

Five 3-day courses were offered in the SERSEN region. Four of these were available for teachers in the 6 SERSEN LEAs i.e. Kent, Medway, East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey, Brighton & Hove, with the fifth course offered to teachers in the neighbouring South and Central Regional Inclusion Partnership (SCRIP). Each course was limited to 12 participants to allow time for teachers to discuss the experiential aspects of the course as well as issues arising from newly set-up Therapeutic Storywriting groups. Brighton & Hove consolidated the training in their schools by funding the trainer to provide ½ day in-school follow-up support for each B&H teacher who attended the course.

The content of the course was as follows: -

Day 1
Introduction to Therapeutic Storywriting
The significance of story metaphor
Setting up a Therapeutic Storywriting group
Ways into story
Interpretation within the metaphor
The teacher’s story

Day 2
Characters as a projection of subpersonalities
Containment of anxiety for thinking to take place
Receiving the child’s story
Active listening and reflection of children’s stories
Using choice points in the teacher’s story to support emotional literacy discussion
Discussion of points arising from teachers’ groups

Day 3
What is emotional literacy?
Setting stories in fantasy or external reality
Addressing specific issues through the teacher’s story
The group dynamic & boundaries
Liaison and reporting to other professionals
Discussion of points arising from teachers’ groups

Teachers' Evaluation of Pilot Training

Quality of training
77 % classified the quality of training as ‘excellent’ (1 on scale 1-5)
21 % classified the quality of training as ‘very good’ (2 on scale 1-5)

Relevance of content to work in schools
65% classified the relevance of the course content to their work as ‘excellent’
35% classified the relevance of the course content to their work as ‘very good’

Number of teachers who set up Therapeutic Storywriting groups
44% of participants set up a group before the end of the course
Remaining 56% planned to set one up in the near future

What teachers found particularly useful about the course
Linking psychological theory with practice
Having time to reflect on the content and meaning of children’s stories
Having a clear framework for running a group session
Practising writing the Teacher’s Story
Ideas for extending the child’s emotional vocabulary
Practical aspects modelled by course leader
Working through metaphor
Hearing stories brought in by other participants
Practising story openings

How the training impacted on teachers’ educational practice
All had either set up a group (44%) or planned to do so in the near future(56%)
Able to reach more troubled, often isolated children
Used active listening techniques in all aspects of their work
Used by some participants in their outreach work with other schools
Felt able to provide a safe forum for children to express concerns
Provided another strategy to support emotional well-being
Influenced response to stories written in other settings
Increased confidence to safely address children’s emotional anxieties through story

Challenges faced by some teachers included: -
Setting aside a regular time for the group
Time-tabling issues
Finding a suitable space in which to work with a small group
Sharing the model with other members of staff
Gaining support from management
Issue of funding for groups

Future training requirements included: -
Access to follow-up support to discuss group work
How to work with individual children
Workplace counselling skills
An accredited course

Teachers’ Comments about the Training: -

“There was some wonderful writing from the children. What particularly impressed me was how much their story writing developed through the focused interest of myself and other members of the group. Such was the enthusiasm it became rather a battle to stop them writing at times.”
Mike Love (Headteacher, Glencoe Junior school, Kent)

“I’ve become utterly convinced of the value to children of this way of working. Initially a little sceptical, I found the children writing stories that could have been scripted to prove the efficacy of the method.”
Nicki Leggatt (Teacher with Behaviour and Education Support Team,Kent)

“Without having to train as a therapist, Therapeutic Storywriting allows a teacher to provide a safe place to explore difficult feelings by creating their own stories and staying within the metaphor.”
Ingrid Cleaver (Educational Therapist, Oxford)

‘One child in particular, who finds writing a practical, cognitive and emotional challenge really took off on this … His involvement was total and consuming, which led to a greater quantity of writing than I had previously seen. His story reflected many aspects and desires at a particularly turbulent time in his life and as a consequence he has sustained a new level of confidence in himself as a writer and as an individual.’ (Teacher, B&H)

‘This has given me a structure to work therapeutically with groups of children within the normal school setting. The progress in writing and tapping into their own feelings is great. It is very visible each week to see how children relax, become more confident and move on from entrenched positions.’ (Teacher, Kent & Medway)

‘This is an excellent course ... delivered at a level that is very accessible for school staff and behaviour support services.’ (Support teacher, Kent & Medway)

‘It has been a ray of light- working with very needy children gets overwhelming and this seems a practical, pro-active way of helping children to address their own needs.’ (Teacher, Kent & Medway)

‘I’m much more aware of how story writing can provide a real healing tool to help children deal with their emotions…A very good course- thought provoking and useful in many ways.’
(Teacher , West Sussex)

‘It was helpful to have the ideas and strategies put into an academic framework. It was also good to work with a practitioner who is very aware of the reality of doing such work in schools. The exercises helped focus my thinking and to gain an insight into the challenges the children would face.’ (Teacher, B&H)

(www.sersen.uk.net to find out more about the work of SERSEN)