Monthly Archives: August 2017

Narrative Therapy

Narrative Therapy – The River, Roads and The World of Trains

By Gali Salpeter – Creator of Narrative Therapy tools, The River, Roads and The World of Trains

Background

Gali Salpeter

Gali Salpeter

I am an Expressive Therapist with specialisation in Drama and Narrative therapy and a background in Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology.

My fields of study, work and life are closely intertwined; I have worked and volunteered as a therapist in a few countries and I feel blessed to have chosen this field of work, which enables me to connect with, support and be touched by, so many wonderful people across the world.

I live in beautiful Norway with my husband and 3 children (my most meaningful creation).

Projective cards – underlying concepts

I began to use projective cards as a psychological tool when I was working as a therapist with children having special needs. Combining the cards with art, drama and stories proved to be very useful and I realised it helped my clients raise and share the issues they were dealing with. It supplemented the verbal mode of communication in many ways.

However, with time, I felt that something was missing; putting separate cards apart from each other in order to tell stories, was in fact “losing” the idea of flow. It looked as if there was no connection or transition between the different parts of the stories that the clients were telling. I have started to search for ways to make the images illustrated on the cards “connect” so that the flow of the stories that the clients told will become visual as well.

Narrative Therapy

Joining up the cards to create a story

The metaphors of the river and roads, flow and paths, were metaphors I found enriching when speaking of processes that people are dealing with. People often speak about journeys they make, paths they choose, steps they take or a continuum of periods in their lives.

Both the metaphor of the river and the metaphor of roads enabled my clients and me as the therapist to relate to the “whole” as made of different parts. It helped clients realise that the stories they tell are built of certain chapters and to observe the processes they described as made of many stages or several sub-periods.

Thus, using the metaphors of rivers and paths matched my goals as a therapist; to help my clients tell, observe, work with, and retell their experiences in life in new ways.

The River Set

The first set I have created is “The River”. Like most journeys, it begun with a personal experience. This time it was a sad one… My grandmothers died in a short period, I was a mother of young kids and as a way to cope with my grief, I wrote “The river story”. It dealt with my interpretation of life and death, relationships, identity and memories, strengths and weaknesses. I often use writing as a tool to process the personal experiences I encounter in life so that story almost ended up “in the drawer” like many others…

Since I was working with projective cards I came to the idea of drawing the story in the form of cards. Derived from the story, the atmosphere I chose for the cards was one of – nature – as I have perceived it. I looked for subtle stimuli, and not too much fantasy in the images drawn.

One thing led to the other, “The river guidebook” kind of wrote itself, the ideas for ways to use cards kept on flowing from my experience and imagination, and then – after a long “pregnancy” – ״The River set״ was born. Like many wonderful things, it was born out of pain but it holds the strengths of sharing hope.

Roads Deck

״Roads״ was created several years later when I was living elsewhere. I like travelling to new experiences and I have lived in wonderful countries around our globe. My journey and the paths that I have chosen (and the ones which have chosen me) always led me to interesting places both within myself and in the cultures around me.

The metaphor of “Roads” for me means that I have a road that is mine, with the obstacles I encounter and the “gifts” I find along it, my own beginnings, the steps I take and the ends. However, it is also a road that goes in amazingly different surroundings, with interesting people I was lucky and maybe brave enough to get to know. So perhaps “Roads” for me is this journey as a whole – a journey that is one and unique and “mine”, but it is also many meaningful journeys, stories, paths and periods which I have experienced with others around me.

I believe that although each of us have a unique path in life, we are changing in many ways along it. I decided that the stimuli will be clear in that deck, I wanted to use fantasy and include obvious objects. The colours and atmosphere was completely different than the ones used in ״The River ״so as the method of painting used.

In a sense I think that the sets complete one another. Hopefully having these different sets enable clients to choose the most suitable tool and image they would like to work with, in each given moment.

The World of Trains set

״The world of trains” set is being edited for print in these days. I am not objective, but I think that it is a very special set. The set is designed for therapeutic work with children in settings of individual therapy and group therapy. It contains a deck of illustrated cards, a deck of story-cards and a comprehensive guidebook for therapists. The guidebook describes in detail numerous professional suggestions for application of the cards, according to the different settings and relevant issues children cope with.

Final Thoughts

It is my hope that every person working with the sets will enjoy the opportunity of telling her/his story and the wonder of discovering its rich layers and intertwining chapters.
We all have stories waiting to be told.
Thank you for reading a chapter of mine…
Gali

Supporting The Special Olympics 2017

Sensory Bus at the Special Olympics 2017

When the opportunity arose to provide sensory support at the Special Olympics GB National Games we couldn’t wait to be involved. Our friends at Sparkle Sheffield arranged for us to bring the Sensory Bus to the Athletes’ Village situated at The Edge in Sheffield.

Why are Rompa Supporting the Special Olympics?

Rompa are providing a Snoezelen® sensory space for athletes who may become anxious or need to relax and manage their sensory needs. We will be supporting the Special Olympics all week until mid afternoon Friday.

Rompa sell Snoezelen® Multi-Sensory Environments and products throughout the UK. These products are often used to help people with Autism and Learning Difficulties. We thought it would be great opportunity to give something back and support the Athletes throughout the week.

As the athletes were arriving yesterday we had a lot of people take an interest in the bus, some of whom explained to us how sensory products such as the Infinity Panel and Snoezelen® Bubble Tube Sensory Corner Kit help them to relax.

Is the Sensory Bus Available For My Event?

The Special Olympics is an amazing event to be a part of and a great launch pad for the sensory bus! If you are organising an event and are interested in Rompa bringing the sensory bus please get in touch!  Call us on 01246 211 777 or email: [email protected] and we will give you a call to find out more!

Emergency Services Event

Children Enjoying the Sensory Bus

Our friends at Sparkle Sheffield invited us along to their Emergency Services Event at the Lifewise Centre  on Sunday and we had a brilliant time!

What was the Emergency Services Event?

For people with autism, the emergency services can be scary and resemble bad experiences. This could lead to them not approaching  police officers or fireman for help which could lead to dangerous situations . The Emergency Services event was organised by Sparkle to build bridges between the emergency services and people who have autism. We’re pleased to say it was a massive success! The children were dressing up as police officers, being shown around a police car and fire engine (and trying out the sirens!), exploring the fantastic set of the Lifewise centre and of course enjoying the sensory bus!

Who are Sparkle Sheffield?

Started by parents of autistic children, Sparkle Sheffield exists to help families with autistic children meet the challenges they face, feel less isolated, less frightened and more empowered. Autism affects families in different ways but only the parent of an autistic child can truly understand what life is like for us.

Find out More on their website: http://www.sparklesheffield.co.uk

 

The Talkabout Series by Alex Kelly

Alex Kelly Talkabout Books

Alex Kelly

Alex Kelly talks to us about her Talkabout series of books and games for nurturing self estem, social skills and forming friendships.

Can you give us a brief overview of Talkabout?

Talkabout is a complete programme that develops self esteem, social skills and friendship skills. It is based on teaching children in group settings either in school or college but can be adapted to be used on a 1:1 basis or at home. It uses a hierarchical method of developing skills where basic or foundation skills are taught before more complicated skills.

How did Talkabout come about?

The original Talkabout book came about because I was working in a FE college with a large number of young adults with intellectual disabilities and after a year of social skills interventions, and with pre and post assessments on all the students, I noticed a pattern in who was responding well to the social skills groups and who wasn’t.

It all centred around the hierarchy of self awareness coming before non-verbal skills and non-verbal coming before verbal and assertiveness coming last. I decided to put together a programme of intervention for this college based on this hierarchy and thought the name TALKABOUT was quite good!

3 years later and lots of testing and piloting, I decided it was worth publishing. Later on I noticed the link with self esteem and friendship skills so these were added to the hierarchy about 5 years later. After that I realised that what people really want are resources that are right for a specific client group, so we started with writing a Talkabout book aimed at secondary mainstream children and then wrote the Primary series Talkabout for Children because you need very different approaches to different types of children and adults.

What makes your books stand out?

They are the only social skills books that I know of that work through a hierarchy from self-awareness and self-esteem to assertiveness (and now sex and relationships). They are a total package and include all the games and worksheets to work on these skills. they also have term plans which make them very easy to use in schools as they are a scheme of work designed around academic years (I am married to an ex-teacher! So I know what teachers need to make it easy to embed into school life).

Alex Kelly Talkabout Books

The Talkabout  Series

Which features do you think will be most useful to users?

As a busy therapist or teacher, I think the fact that each book is written with them in mind so the sessions are planned, the games are ready to make up and the books are therefore pretty easy to use.

What is the one message you want reader to take away with them?

The Talkabout books have developed over 20 years to be resources that work and that children enjoy. Please don’t dip in and use activities randomly. All of my research and experience has shown me that a hierarchical approach to teaching skills is the most effective. So if necessary start at the beginning and work through for as long as you need to. In this way we are setting children up to succeed not fail.

What are the benefits of using your book in schools and private practice?

Teachers like the Talkabout books because they can work as schemes of work for a whole academic year and the planning has all been done for them. similarly in private practice the fact that it is all planned out, is obviously attractive as it cuts down on planning time.

Are there any factors or adjustments needed for Talkabout to be introduced into a school or private setting?

You  just need a group of people who need work at the same level or who will work well together.

How do you think your books help address SLCN?

Many children with SLCN also struggle with their social skills and with making friends and they can also struggle with their self esteem. So even though my books are not specifically aimed at improving Speech and Language, they are often appropriate resources for children with SLCN.

What are your future plans?

We are writing the second volume of the sex and relationships book this year. We are also doing some research into the effectiveness of Talkabout within schools Finally I am busy writing my theory book on social skills which will cover all the theory behind this subject!