Trauma services
Therapeutic Life Story Work (TLSW)
Therapeutic Life Story Work (TLSW) is an intervention which allows a child or young person who has lived in Out of Home Care (OOHC) to work through developmental trauma that they have experienced.
Our TLSW practitioners draw on a range of creative tools, concepts, and play-based activities to support children and young people to understand or make sense of their story and of significant events that happened in their lives.
Unfortunately, some children and young people can experience confusion or have a misunderstanding about the reasons why they came to be in OOHC, which can create incorrect and sometimes harmful self-narratives in their minds. Our TLSW practitioners demystify how and why the child or young person has come into care by assisting them to process factual information in age-appropriate ways, to assist in healing and recovery from trauma.
How it works
Berry Street’s TLSW fee-for-service program offers three interventions that are delivered over 6 to 18 sessions.
Each intervention includes three stages:
- Information gathering: the TLSW practitioner reviews case files and interviews significant people in the child or young person’s lives to create a coherent narrative of the child or young person’s life.
- Direct sessional work: the TLSW practitioner uses a range of tools that are tailored to the child or young person’s age and stage of development to support the child or young person to safely externalise their thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Direct sessions involve both the child or young person and their carer, building connection and guiding the child or young person to think about who they are and who they want to be.
- ‘Life Story Book’ creation and delivery: The child or young person’s therapeutic life story work is collated into their own personalised ‘Life Story Book’. This represents the closure of the child or young person’s TLSW journey and supports the child or young person to take ownership of their life story, further strengthening their view or self and the world around them.
The goals of TLSW are to:
- Support the child or young person to understand how they have come to be in care by exploring significant life events in a child-friendly way.
- Support the child or young person to regulate emotional responses and develop resilience through an enhanced sense of identity and understanding of culture.
- Support the child or young person and their carer to understand how the child or young person’s past can influence feelings and behaviours that manifest at home and at school.
- Strengthen the relationship and attachment between the child or young person and their carer through shared stories and memories and by creating positive projections into the future.
The evidence
TLSW was developed by international trauma expert Professor Richard Rose and has been used worldwide since 1997 to support children and young people who have experienced trauma.
To learn more about the effectiveness of TLSW, review this recent Victorian evidence-based evaluation.
Who is eligible?
The fee-for-service program is available to children and young people who reside or have resided in OOHC aged 6+ who are located in:
- South East Victoria
- Western Victoria
We welcome referrals from all child, family, community, health, and education services. If you are a child, young person, or carer who is interested in TLSW we welcome you to speak with your case manager to organise a free consult or referral.
Our approach
Berry Street is focusing on improving outcomes for children and young people through the implementation of evidence-based programs across the organisation. As a long-standing therapeutic intervention designed to support care experienced children and young people with an emerging evidence base, TLSW is aligned with one of our key goals to positively impact children, young people, and families.
For more information about Berry Street’s TLSW program, please download the brochure below.
Contact us
For more information about TLSW, or to organise a free consultation, please email tlswenquiries@berrystreet.org.au or submit your interest below.
Northern Healing and Recovery Program
Northern region
