Scrapathy Life Story Work training
February 1st 2008 by Megan Bayliss in Fostering Adoption Parenting
What is Life Story Work: Life story work is not merely an elaborate photo album, a record of a life story or a fun thing to do. Life Story work is a three part therapeutic intervention: a process used to assist children in care to integrate past hurts and make sense of why they are in care and who they are. Life Story Work is a tool that therapists and those working closely with kids in out of home care use as a framework of producing best practice outcomes for a subject child.
What is scrapbooking? Scrapbooking is an old hobby that has exploded in popularity over the last five years. The underlying goal is to preserve memories in a unique and creative way. A scrapbooker starts with an archival quality scrapbook and a set of memories that they want to preserve for the future. Those memories can take many different forms - photos, clothing, letters, documents, thoughts. Most scrapbooks take the form of an elaborate and personalised photo album and include memorabilia, embellishments and the artistic personality of album creator.
What is Scrapathy? Scrapathy is the therapeutic marriage of Life Story Work with Scrap book tenets and techniques. Designed to help kids in out of home care creatively integrate their pain and understand who they are, why they are in care and where they are going, it is a hands on practical art therapy course where participants are encouraged to make a scrap book page for themselves and ultimately a scrapbook album of a child or young person’s life story work. Scrapathy works equally as well as a self development or self improvement tool.
Imaginif’s most recent Scrapathy workshop was a private training for a local foster care agency. An amazing work team, they linked the theory behind the therapeutic basis of Life Story Work to child protection practice and produced some amazing Life Story Work beginning pages. These workers will now produce best practice based Life Story Work books for the children on their case loads and train up foster carers to assist in the upkeep of Life Story Work books. Congratulations to them.
Imaginif is holding our next Scrapathy workshop in Cairns (Queensland, Australia) on March 31st, 9 am to 3 pm. Places are limited and pre registration is mandatory. Cost is $150.00 (discount for Imaginif newsletter subscribers) and includes a bag of Life Story Work and scrapbooking tools. For registration details please contact megan at imaginif dot com dot au.
Please note that Scrapathy workshops are only ever held in Cairns, at Imaginif headquarters. While Imaginif travels our other therapeutic trainings, the tools required for the Scrapathy Workshop are all in Imaginif’s training room. As much as we’d like to, there is no way we can take all of the tools on a tour. If you are coming from afar for this training, ask Megan about accommodation options in the area.
Stumble it!
February 1st, 2008 at 8:29 am
Hey, i love this!!!
I have a life story book, this isn’t just about putting together family stuff for when your older & somewhere to put all the hurt/ abuse stuff but i also put in school awards, my own birthday invites, happy photos, stories, signatures got from famous people, drawing of bad dreams i was having ect…- that way it REALLY became my own book & it made me more want to fill it- even with the yukky stuff.
I even plan to put my wedding (which was Nov just gone) photo’s in it.
My life story book is with my file with the organisation i was last in care with so i have access to it ANY time i like which is good.
Thanks for this!
I love that these books look more inviting & fun- when i did mine it was just printed out questions on sheets of paper or drawings.
It’s still great to look back on & i am VERY glad i have one.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:49 am
Hey Carissa
I am so glad to hear that you had a life story book done. I love using top loading scrapbook albums for the life story book because the “yukky” stuff can be hidden in between creative pages and pulled out to be worked on or shown to others as the young person is ready.
At the last workshop we talked about giving the young person the original and taking copies for the agency file. Some young people are transient though so we also discussed custodians of the Life Story book so that a person’s life doesn’t get lost.
I love doing Life Story Work - as a therapist it is totally satisfying to me seeing a young person work through their pain and their multiple truths AND having a beautiful book to show for their efforts.
You are so cool too - Life Story Work does not end with your aging out of care but is an ongoing process. I LOVE that you are including wedding stuff.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:12 am
This is such a fantastic thing to promote. My 9 year old son, suffers from depression, and possibly bi-polar (both my mother and I have bi-polar), and it has been a long road for us, but he uses scrapbooking and a journal to record many of his best moments, and sometimes his worst, but it helps him see his place, and also take pride in his achievements. Unfortunately at 9 he was talking of suicide so intervention was needed, I believe the scrapbooking and journal have been a huge part in his path to staying healthy. I encourage all the other families I know to do scrapbooking with their children, and turn them into lifestories.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:23 am
Fantastic! What an awesome idea.
Creating art is such a great form of expression, isn’t it?
I’ve been creating ‘Me Books’ with people with a disability - Mainly to use as a tool for communication, especially in finding commonalities with peers (It’s amazing the conversations that can develop from a picture of a favourite car or bike or animal!).
I’d love to get to a training day, do you hold them often?
February 1st, 2008 at 10:15 am
KylieM how great that your son is able to use scrapbooking as a therapeutic intervention. I have used it with my youngest son as well (he has Aspergers) and it is a brilliant way for him to process his emotions. We haven’t yet turned his pages into Life Story Work, but when we do, the artistic representation of what was happening at the time is already there. I just love scrapbooking as a way for people to manage their emotions…hence, Scrapathy.
Alison, I’m with you in the awe that a picture can create such amazing conversations. Although I’ve been working in my field for a very long time, I am still pleasantly surprised at connects and conversations that heal as a result of a simple picture or piece of art. I hold the trainings twice a year unless an agency wants a closed training (one just for their staff). If you want to subscribe to our newsletter (subscription form in side bar) you will get forewarning and a course discount for being a subscriber.