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“Very informative and easy to follow. The handouts are great to use to reflect on and recap.”

Kirstie, Solace for Children, Worcester

Course Summary

Every child deserves to know their own story, but for children and young people in looked-after care, pieces of that narrative are often missing or distorted. This Level 3 Life Story Work Training Course is a practical, down-to-earth one-day programme designed to help support teams and foster carers move past simple scrapbooking. Instead, you will learn how to co-create a meaningful personal narrative that supports emotional regulation, builds self-esteem, and strengthens placement stability.

Throughout the day, we will dive into the emotional, psychological, and relational impacts of narrative work. You will gain actionable skills to balance planned sessions with spontaneous, day-to-day interactions, ensuring your practice remains warm, attuned, and deeply relational. We will also tackle the tough stuff: how to safely navigate difficult histories, spot the signs of emotional overwhelm in young people, and manage the emotional labour and boundaries required of you as a supporter.

Mastering Inclusive and Modern Narrative Practices

Modern life story work must evolve alongside the diverse needs of the young people we support. This course places a heavy focus on intersectional identity development—including culture, ethnicity, and gender—while providing concrete strategies to ensure your sessions are fully accessible for neurodivergent young people. From utilizing multimedia and digital tools to adapting communication preferences and sensory environments, you will leave with a robust toolkit ready for immediate use in your daily practice.

By blending traditional therapeutic models with contemporary digital and narrative-based approaches, participants learn how to actively reduce internalised shame and self-blame in looked-after children. This holistic training aligns directly with the latest UK social care standards, making it an essential professional development step for anyone working in residential child care, foster care agencies, or leaving-care frameworks.

Key Definitions in Advanced Narrative Practice

Neurodiversity-Affirming Life Story Work
An approach to narrative building that rejects the idea that neurodivergent traits need fixing. It adapts to unique communication preferences, sensory needs, and processing times, ensuring autistic or ADHD young people can author their stories on their own terms.
Relational Attunement
The ability of a practitioner to recognize, understand, and harmonise with a young person's internal emotional state. In life story sessions, this allows supporters to maintain professional boundaries while offering a deeply safe, warm, and co-regulated space.
Trauma-Informed Meaning-Making
A guided psychological process that helps young people reframe painful or fragmented memories. By safely addressing separation and loss, it reduces internalised shame, confusion, and self-blame, transforming a chaotic past into a coherent, manageable personal history.

Course Learning Outcomes

Review the learning objectives below. Expand each aim to view the detailed criteria this course covers.

1Understand what life story work is and how it is embedded in everyday practice
  • 1.1Define the meaning and purpose of life story work.
  • 1.2Explain how day‐to‐day support tasks naturally contribute to life story work.
  • 1.3Describe the different models and approaches to life story work (traditional, therapeutic, digital, narrative‐based).
  • 1.4Clarify the difference between life story work, life story books, memory work and direct work.
  • 1.5Explain how life story work aligns with trauma‐informed, neurodiversity‐affirming practice.
  • 1.6Identify how life story work supports a young person’s sense of identity, belonging, and personal narrative.
2Understand the importance and value of life story work for children and young people in care
  • 2.1Clarify why life story work is essential for children and young people in looked‐after care.
  • 2.2Discuss why life story work should be fun, motivating and rewarding.
  • 2.3Describe how life story work supports emotional regulation, self‐esteem, and meaning‐making.
  • 2.4Explain how life story work helps young people understand their past, present and future.
  • 2.5Explore how life story work supports identity development, including culture, ethnicity, gender identity, neurodiversity, and family connections.
  • 2.6Identify how life story work contributes to placement stability and long‐term outcomes.
  • 2.7Explain how life story work can reduce shame, confusion, and self‐blame for young people.
3Understand the emotional, psychological and relational impact of life story work on young people and supporters.
  • 3.1Describe how life story work may impact children and young people emotionally and psychologically.
  • 3.2Explain how life story work can be beneficial for young people.
  • 3.3Explain how life story work can be beneficial for support teams.
  • 3.4Describe how separation, loss and trauma can impact children and young people.
  • 3.5Discuss the meaning of identity and loyalty as part of life story work.
  • 3.6Assess different ways young people are supported to develop resilience.
  • 3.7Explain the emotional labour involved for supporters and the importance of reflective practice.
  • 3.8Identify signs of emotional overwhelm in young people and supporters and how to respond safely.
  • 3.9Describe how to maintain professional boundaries while being warm, attuned and relational.
4Understand how to plan, prepare and facilitate safe, effective and meaningful life story work sessions.
  • 4.1Identify ways of gathering information about a child or young person for life story work.
  • 4.2Consider different tasks or activities which can support life story work.
  • 4.3Explore how supporters may need to prepare to take part in life story work.
  • 4.4Evaluate the balance between spontaneous and planned life story work.
  • 4.5Describe how children and young people may need to be prepared for life story work.
  • 4.6Identify the qualities required to support a young person with life story work.
  • 4.7Consider the importance of empathetic listening.
  • 4.8Identify experiences that may be difficult to explore.
  • 4.9Consider ways of approaching difficult stories safely and sensitively.
  • 4.10Confirm what information should be included in life story work.
  • 4.11Recognise potential barriers to participation.
  • 4.12Confirm the importance of clarifying confidentiality and disclosure requirements.
  • 4.13Compare the “do’s and don’ts” of life story work.
  • 4.14Confirm how to structure life story work tasks, including the structure of a life story book.
  • 4.15Explain the importance of providing support and debriefing for supporters.
  • 4.16Describe how digital tools, multimedia and creative methods can enhance life story work.
  • 4.17Explain how to ensure life story work is accessible for neurodivergent young people (sensory needs, processing time, communication preferences).
  • 4.18Identify how to evaluate the effectiveness of life story work and adapt approaches accordingly.

Who is this course for?

This Life Story Work training course isdesigned for residential child care workers, family support practitioners, foster carers, and leaving care teams who want to build the confidence and practical skills needed to deliver safe, trauma-informed narrative support.

Duration

1 day course - we can be flexible on start and finish times to suit your needs such as school run friendly times.

Availability

This Life Story Work course is offered in two delivery formats:

  • Remote Online: Led by a live tutor via Zoom or Microsoft Teams, allowing participants to join remotely. (Also known as virtual classroom training)
  • Face-to-Face: Delivered in person at your location or a venue you arrange. (Also referred to as on-site training)

View a comparison of Remote and in-person face to face training .
Complete our quick enquiry form for a price and available dates.

Certification

Each learner completing this course will receive a digital (PDF) certificate of learning.

Accreditation

The course contents are accredited by the Open College Network (OCN) Credit4Learning as a Level 3 course.

Remote or Face to Face

Choose the learning environment that works best for you: our expert-led training is offered in two convenient formats - remote tutor led online or in person face to face.

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1 Day Course

Flexible start and finish times to suit you. Contact us for available dates.

Accredited

The course contents are accredited by the Open College Network (OCN) Credit4Learning as a Level 3 course.

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Why Choose Ringway Training? Read some of our clients past comments

Course FAQs

Why is formal training required for life story work if I already do memory books with young people?

Life story work is much more than putting a photo album together; it involves navigating deep-rooted trauma, separation, and loss. Without proper training, well-meaning practitioners can accidentally trigger emotional overwhelm or cross professional boundaries. This course gives you the psychological grounding and trauma-informed frameworks needed to handle difficult stories safely, ensuring your support is therapeutic, empowering, and safe for both you and the young person.

How will this training help improve placement stability for the children in our care?

When young people don't understand why they are in care, they often internalise the blame, leading to confusion, shame, and challenging behaviours that can jeopardise placements. By helping a young person make sense of their past, present, and future, life story work directly supports emotional regulation and self-esteem. This clarity reduces anxiety and behavioral crises, contributing heavily to more stable, long-term placements.

Can the skills from this course be adapted for neurodivergent young people or those with communication difficulties?

Absolutely. Traditional, text-heavy memory work often fails neurodivergent youth. A core element of this course focuses on neurodiversity-affirming practices. You will learn how to adapt your approach to fit specific sensory needs, allow for different processing times, and use creative digital and multimedia tools to ensure the process is genuinely accessible, fun, and rewarding for every young person.

How does this course address the heavy emotional impact on social care staff and foster carers?

Hearing and processing tough life stories involves significant emotional labour, which can quickly lead to burnout or secondary trauma. This training doesn't just focus on the young person; it looks after you, too. We explicitly cover how to recognize signs of emotional overwhelm in yourself, how to maintain warm yet clear professional boundaries, and how to effectively use reflective practice and staff debriefs to stay resilient.

We are short on time; how can we realistically fit life story work into busy daily shift routines?

Many practitioners worry they don't have the hours for dedicated, formal sessions. This course changes that mindset by teaching you how to evaluate and balance planned work with spontaneous moments. You will discover how your routine, day-to-day support tasks naturally contribute to a child's personal narrative, allowing you to embed life story work seamlessly into everyday practice without needing a massive overhaul of your schedule.
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