healthy way. The process of creating
the box together and selecting visual
and special items for the box gives
your child the opportunity to clear
their mind for new experiences and
learning.
What do I need to do?
Spend time with your child to find out
what they have enjoyed most about
the place they are leaving. Talk about
their friends and the places they liked
to visit. Share feelings connected with
interesting and exciting moments
they’ve experienced in the place they
are leaving. Revisit the places and
friends, collect tickets, photos, objects
or postcards. Tell your child you are
both going to create a special box
together, so that your child can choose
things to put inside. Use lots of arts
and crafts materials to decorate the
box and make it special. Go with your
child and help them gather things that
are meaningful to them and put them
in your child’s memory box. Children
can draw or write memories down
and put them in, too. Explain to your
child that they can take their memory
box with them and have access to it
whenever they want.
What is a therapeutic story?
A therapeutic story uses metaphor to
reach your child’s unconscious, giving
them an opportunity to explore and
figure out their feelings, thoughts
and experiences. It is an effective
method of using metaphor to create
a situation, which is similar to the
one that your child is facing and one
that they can relate to (for example,
a character facing the same problem
your child is facing; sharing the same
struggles). During the therapeutic
story the character learns to deal with
the situation and finds ways to shift his
struggles into something positive; a big
shift happens here and the character
is left with a positive outcome. A
therapeutic story can really reach your
child on a deeper level, which supports
their emotional well-being.
What do I need to do?
When constructing a therapeutic
story for your child you can jot down
a few things that your child loves,
such as drama and fish, and you can
also jot down your child’s feelings or
experiences (for example, your child
is sad to leave the drama school she
loves). You can include a sad fish in
the story who feels that there’s no
replacement for her current drama
school.
When you know the issue, you
can create an objective in the story
which can help your child figure out
ways to change their feelings (for
example, the fish finds a piece of cloth
and realises that she doesn’t need the
drama school in order to be creative
and happy). This can create a positive
shift for your child and can give them
different ways of looking at the change
and reasons for why the move could
be great. You can end the story with
a positive outcome and a celebration
(for example, all the other fish ask her
to make them a cape and then they
all use their imagination to make up
a story).
An example of a brief
therapeutic story
Once upon a time, there was a little
golden fish called Goldie, who enjoyed
going to the fish drama school theatre.
There, she used different costumes to
play different characters. She was so
happy when she was performing.
One afternoon, Goldie came home
from fish school. Mummy fish and
Daddy fish said excitedly, “We have
some news Goldie, we’re moving!”
Goldie was not happy about this and
felt sad. She would never find a fish
school drama theatre like the one she
went to every day, and she simply did
not want to go.
Goldie swam out the door and
ended up in the reef, all alone. “Oh
look, there’s something sparkly with
sequins all over it. I’m a bit cold so I
will go underneath the sparkly cloth to
keep warm”.
All of a sudden, she heard some
other fish coming and quickly started
to swim away, unknowingly, with the
cloth still attached to her fin, “I need
to get out of here” she said under her
breath.
She heard yelling from the other
fish, “Stop, please, where did you get
that beautiful cape from?” Goldie
looked behind her and didn’t see a
cloth, she realised she was wearing
a beautiful cape. The other fish
surrounded her, grinning from ear to
ear, “Please, can you make us princess
capes? We want to pretend to be
princesses, just like you.”
“You like to dress up? Sure, I will
swim down and get some”. Goldie
took some more pieces of cloth and
fixed each one onto each little fin.
One of the fish excitedly said, “I have
an idea” and picked up a stick and
proclaimed “I am the knight, and
I will protect all of you by standing
outside your castle”.
Goldie smiled, she was extremely
happy. She could see that she didn’t
need her fish drama school theatre in
order to be happy, all she needed was
her imagination.
Goldie was ecstatic; she sped
home with her fin working overtime,
“Mummy, Daddy, I can’t wait to move
to the new place. I will have my own
drama school. I will make my own
costumes and invite all the fish from
the school to come and join me”.
January 2016
45
