Stories with a solution

I am a great fan of using both off-the-cuff and printed stories in a client session when the situation invites it. I mostly ask the child if they’ve heard of X – and of course they haven’t because I am about to make it up! I then tell them the story that has a metaphoric message in it.

I take what I know of their issues, their capabilities and their likes and dislikes and weave a story around it. If you’d like to read one I jotted down after using it with a child who desperately needed a permanent home, you can download it by clicking here. (I’ve put some headings in so you can see how I was thinking.) We were engaged at that moment in making rows of clay bricks which he was assembling into a house…

While searching around on You Tube the other day, I came across this solution-focused story that could easily be adapted for a number of situations. It’s only four minutes, so you may have time to watch it:

Using stories – even tiny ones – is a very non-threatening way of communicating with our young clients. There’s an excellent “How To” book by George Burns called 101 Healing Stories for Kids and Teens. Before and after the body of stories, he teaches us how to go about inventing our own that will be relevant to a particular client.

My other favourite stories for use in session are written by Margot Sunderland – mainly for reading with younger children. She’s really good at finding the emotion in the problem, and embedding a solution.