Lifestory

Therapeutic Life Story Work at Clover Childcare Services

Ther­a­peu­tic Life Sto­ry Work is a vital part of our ther­a­peu­tic prac­tice at Clover Child­care Ser­vices. It pro­vides chil­dren with a struc­tured, com­pas­sion­ate way to under­stand their past, process ear­ly trau­ma, and begin form­ing secure, trust­ing rela­tion­ships with the adults who care for them.

Our approach is led by Anna Allen, Head of Care, Respon­si­ble Indi­vid­ual and Prac­tice Lead for Life Sto­ry Work. Anna is trained in Ther­a­peu­tic Life Sto­ry Work as well as DDP Lev­els 1 and 2, and she works close­ly with our Con­sul­tant Psy­chol­o­gist to ensure the work is clin­i­cal­ly informed and rela­tion­ship-focused.
📧 For enquiries about Ther­a­peu­tic Life Sto­ry Work, please con­tact Anna direct­ly at: anna.allen@cloverchildcareservices.co.uk

Our Approach

We believe life sto­ry work is not just about pro­duc­ing a final book—it’s about the process. When guid­ed by an adult the child feels safe with (often their key work­er), the jour­ney of explor­ing their his­to­ry becomes ther­a­peu­tic in itself. As not­ed by Ryan and Walk­er (2007), the process of life sto­ry work holds more val­ue than sim­ply the end prod­uct.

At Clover, every child leaves our care with a per­son­al life sto­ry book, but more impor­tant­ly, they leave with a clear­er under­stand­ing of their past and a stronger foun­da­tion for their future rela­tion­ships.

A Dynamic, Evolving Process

Chil­dren’s under­stand­ing of their lives changes as they grow. That’s why our life sto­ry work is not a one-off inter­ven­tion. It’s an evolv­ing process that adapts over time, sup­port­ing the child’s emo­tion­al devel­op­ment and help­ing them make sense of their expe­ri­ences when they’re ready.

We’ve devel­oped our own life sto­ry mod­el in response to ongo­ing chal­lenges in the sector—such as lim­it­ed time avail­able to social work­ers and a lack of con­sis­ten­cy in deliv­ery (Gal­lagher & Green, 2012). Our mod­el pro­vides a struc­tured, ther­a­peu­tic, and rela­tion­ship-based approach deliv­ered by trained, sup­port­ed key work­ers.

Our Life Story Work Framework

Life sto­ry work at Clover is bro­ken down into three key com­po­nents:

1. Formal Therapeutic Sessions

These struc­tured ses­sions are led by the child’s key work­er or attach­ment fig­ure under the guid­ance of our Life Sto­ry Lead and Con­sul­tant Psy­chol­o­gist. They are record­ed in the child’s Ther­a­peu­tic File under the “Trau­ma” sec­tion, using key­work­ing obser­va­tion sheets based on DDP and the PACE mod­el (Play­ful­ness, Accep­tance, Curios­i­ty, Empa­thy).
Key work­ers receive for­mal train­ing, super­vi­sion, and ongo­ing sup­port, and all cas­es are reg­u­lar­ly reviewed at the Ther­a­py Forum—a clin­i­cal meet­ing attend­ed by our Prac­tice Leads, Direc­tor of Care, and Con­sul­tant Psy­chol­o­gist.

2. Trauma Nurture Timeline

This time­line is devel­oped using detailed case infor­ma­tion, includ­ing meet­ings with social work­ers, fam­i­ly mem­bers, and review of the child’s file and pho­tos. It helps cre­ate a clear pic­ture of the child’s life and is reviewed with our Psy­chi­a­trist, who pro­vides tai­lored advice and strate­gies for the care team.
This time­line is shared with the res­i­den­tial home team and, if applic­a­ble, the team at The Sta­bles Inde­pen­dent School, ensur­ing a con­sis­tent and informed response across set­tings.

3. Life Story Book

The child’s key work­er cre­ates and main­tains an indi­vid­u­alised life sto­ry book through­out the child’s place­ment. This is a liv­ing doc­u­ment, reg­u­lar­ly updat­ed, that the child takes with them when they move on from our care. It sup­ports the devel­op­ment of a coher­ent life nar­ra­tive and pro­motes long-term emo­tion­al resilience.

Clinical Oversight and Matching to Needs

We use Kim Golding’s Pyra­mid of Need (2007) to assess each child’s emo­tion­al devel­op­ment and readi­ness for spe­cif­ic ther­a­peu­tic inter­ven­tions, such as DDP, Ther­a­play, or Life Sto­ry Work. Deci­sions about the most appro­pri­ate approach are made col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly by our Ther­a­py Forum, and shared with the child’s key work­er, who is cen­tral to its suc­cess.

Our struc­tured, com­pas­sion­ate approach to life sto­ry work not only sup­ports healing—it empow­ers chil­dren to under­stand their past, con­nect with their present, and look toward their future with con­fi­dence and clar­i­ty