Susan Perrow - Therapeutic Storytelling: 101 Healing Stories for Children

Therapeutic Storytelling

101 Healing Stories
for Children

Susan Perrow

Therapeutic Storytelling: 101 Healing Stories for Children copyright 2012 Susan Perrow

Susan Perrow is hereby identified as the author of this work in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act, 1988. She asserts and gives notice of her moral right under this Act.

Published by Hawthorn Press, Hawthorn House,
1 Lansdown Lane, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 1BJ, UK
www.hawthornpress.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means (electronic or mechanical, through reprography, digital transmission, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission of the publisher.

Therapeutic Storytelling Hawthorn Press 2012
Cover photo Rainbow over Africa by Valerie A. de Vincent
Typesetting and cover design by Bookcraft Ltd, Stroud, Gloucestershire First Impression 2012
Reprinted 2013
Printed by Henry Ling, The Dorset Press, Dorchester on FSC approved paper.

Every effort has been made to trace the ownership of all copyrighted material. If any omission has been made, please bring this to the author and publishers attention so that proper acknowledgement may be given in future editions.

The views expressed in this book are not necessarily those of the publisher.

Twenty-six stories are reproduced with kind permission from the twenty-two authors and they are listed on pages 2503.

Susan Perrow as the author of her stories hereby asserts that that no stories can be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data applied for

ISBN 978-1-907359-15-6
eISBN 978-1-907359-49-1

Contents

Dedication

For all children everywhere

Acknowledgements

Thank you to my children for their enduring love and encouragement of my story passion.

Thanks to my kind, supportive and loving husband and a special thanks for his opportune work contract at Ololo Lodge in Kenya providing me with the ultimate writers retreat: a tent on the edge of a national park overlooking an acacia forest and a hillside of wildlife!

Thank you to Martin Large and Matthew Barton for their committed and thorough editorial work and their honest and encouraging feedback.

Thank you to fellow writer Annie Barratt for many helpful discussions on the challenges and joys of our lonely profession.

Thank you to my friend and colleague Sandra Frain for enthusiastic and inspirational conversations about stories and storytelling.

Thank you to the 22 teachers, parents and therapists who took the time to share their stories and story outcomes with me, then generously agreed to contribute their stories to this book.

Therapeutic Storytelling

Endorsements of Susan Perrows work

Susan Perrows message is beautiful and powerful in its simplicity. Tell children stories and they will listen to the wisdom these stories have to offer. What more gentle and effective way to reach our children can we as parents and professionals ask for? This is essential learning for parents and all those who find themselves responsible for the care and development of children.

Christina Crawford, Educational Psychologist, Ireland

The therapeutic workshop was great! I got a lot of joy out of watching the beaming and smiling faces of the 90 attendees as they were leaving. They felt so empowered! The beauty of your ideas on Therapeutic Storytelling is that they are so simple to implement and so amazingly effective! Personally you have opened another door for me as far as the imagination of the child is concerned. Therapeutic storytelling will be another addition to our curriculum.

Bijal Shah, Principal of My School Montessori, Nairobi, Kenya

Susans therapeutic storytelling workshop gave life to the theory put forth in her book. Her stories are so beautifully written, so creative and soul touching. On the second day of the workshop many participants shared their stories specially written for their specific situation, it is a wonder that surprised the writers themselves since they have never thought they could do it. Through the workshop, Susan was so enthusiastic in sharing the wonderful results creative healing storytelling can bring, and helped us believe in our own capacity for story composing! With the book as a handbook that we can always refer to, life with our children will be more interesting and enjoyable!

Scarlet Cheng, Teacher/Parent, Beijing, China

The two workshops last weekend were fantastic! Thank you so much for a wonderful, entertaining, interesting, thought provoking and inspiring weekend. I think it went so well just because of who you are and your lovely open, non-judgemental and centred way of being. And of course because of the stories you told just so engaging! I so love what you are doing with these stories they are a rich tool to touch childrens souls what a blessing! I would love to be as fluent as you are in creating them. I am inspired to practice though.

Monique Rutherford , Child Psychotherapist & Parent Counsellor, Noosa, Queensland

The Therapeutic Storytelling workshop was very inspiring. Wide-ranging and helpful. This course may really make a difference to a lot of childrens lives! Susan is an excellent teacher clear, imaginative, uplifting.

Ursula Godber, Primary School Teacher, Ireland

Just a quick note to let you know how much I enjoyed your class on storytelling for children held here in Coffs Harbour. I was the only father there, which I felt was a waste, because as a father and a storyteller, I benefited greatly from your kind insights, advice and wisdom. Thanks for taking the time to help us be better parents.

Anthony Cougle, Parent, Moonee Beach, Australia

Though I often make up little stories and rhymes for my children, I have felt quite overwhelmed each time I wanted to come up with a story for a particular challenging behaviour or situation regarding my child. Your simple technique has taken the overwhelm out of it and brought life and magic into writing a healing story. I look forward to my journey in therapeutic storying. Thank you again for your healing gift.

Shalini Christodoulou, Teacher/Parent, Singapore

I wanted to extend a deep thank you for sharing your gift and experiences and acknowledge the inclusive way that you facilitated so that we could all find the storyteller within and all support each other. I feel like a juicy plum this morning alive, inspired and positive and also like I am on a very fertile, strong juicy plum tree sharing lifes journey with so many other plums. I felt a oneness of universal consciousness in a way never before through your stories the symbols and metaphors that we all connected with are so strong and timeless. Bless you and thank you.

Monique, Social Worker, Melbourne, Australia

Recently I was lucky enough to participate in one of Susan Perrows therapeutic storytelling workshops held at our local school. Susan has a talent for both creating stories, and helping others to find their storytelling voice. She is a storyteller extraordinaire! Our day was enveloped in metaphor. I was instantly captivated! Susan shared many of her own personal stories and successes and a little of her journey, which held us all spellbound.