Applications for Diploma in Therapeutic Life Story Work

You may also regitser here to have the application pack emailed to you.

To secure a place on the course, payment must be made to Children in Scotland as soon as possible after your application is accepted. Payment must be completed by no later than midnight Monday the 12th of August 2024, alongside all the requested documentation. If payment has not been received by Children in Scotland by this time, you will be withdrawn from the course. It is your responsibility to ensure payment is processed by your finance department on time to achieve this deadline.

Register here to begin your application for this one-year taught diploma (split into 12 teaching days plus assessments).

The total course fee is: £1,900.00, payable after the application process.

Children in Scotland Members receive a discounted rate of £1800.00. If you would like to claim one of these discounted places, please complete your application form and then email us at [email protected].

About this programme

In joint partnership with life story work expert, Professor Richard Rose (Therapeutic Life Story Work International), we are pleased to announce details on the upcoming cohort of the Professional Diploma course on Therapeutic Life Story Work hosted in-person in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Completing the Professional Diploma gives the student certified practitioner of TLSW status under the Rose Model, and the legal right to practice the method.

What is Therapeutic Life Story Work?

Therapeutic Life Story Work (TLSW) helps children and young people who have suffered from child abuse and neglect to reflect on their past, develop self-compassion, and move forward. It's a structured approach that uses the past to understand the present, supporting children in making significant changes by gaining a deeper awareness of how their history affects them. TLSW emphasises the importance of confronting and processing painful experiences to prevent them from negatively impacting the present and future. By understanding the origins and effects of their trauma, children can address and overcome the 'ghosts of the past' that haunt them.

The benefits of completing this course

This is a comprehensive 12-day course based on Richard Rose's Life Story Therapy with Traumatised Children - A Model for Practice (2012). It is designed to equip you with the skills, knowledge, and experience to undertake TLSW with children, young people, and adults.

You'll learn to guide children, young people and in some cases, adults, in understanding their behaviours, feelings, and thoughts concerning their past, preventing destructive patterns and re-victimization. The course emphasises interventions like family trees, wallpaper work, and eco- and geno-scaling, covering topics such as attachment, trauma, loss, brain science, magical thinking, identity, and meaning-making.Top of Form

Key Learning:

• Understand the value and components of Therapeutic Life Story Work

• Understand the various models of information collation

• Communicate with children and understand their emotions

• Interpret and make best use of opportunities in the process

• Improve skills in working directly with children in terms of life narratives

• Address sensitive and painful issues and turn these into acceptance

• Address trauma and loss with empathic understanding

• Create Life Story Books which are useful, valuable and represent the child

Students of this course will also have access to 8 additional 'elective' half-day trainings provided by TLSWi. These courses will be on subjects related to the practice of TLSW and are free and entirely optional.

Click here to access the course handbook, covering the content, structure, terms and conditions of this course and FAQs.

Click here for Children in Scotland's policies around extenuating circumstances.

Who should attend?

TLSW will greatly benefit those working with traumatised children and young people including: child protection workers, case workers/case managers in out-of-home care and youth justice, family support workers, behaviour support workers, counsellors and therapists, teachers and early childhood educators, social workers and psychologists.

Teaching sessions

The Professional Diploma in Therapeutic Life Story Work is taught on a part-time basis over one year. The teaching year is divided into 12 presentations grouped in 4 blocks of 3-days with the teaching starting in September 2024 and concluding in May 2025. Students will also be required to attend an online session to deliver their viva presentation around the time of the fourth teaching block (date TBC).

The teaching will take place face-to-face. Should restrictions around group events be reintroduced, we will deliver this training online.

The dates for the teaching sessions are as follows:

• Block 1: September 2-4 2024
• Block 2: November 4-6 2024
• Block 3: February 4-6 2025
• Block 4: May 3-5 2025

Each training day will run from 10 am-4.30 pm.

Parallel to the Edinburgh course, TLSWi are running courses based in London and Birmingham. If you prefer to attend one of these courses, please leave this site and email [email protected] to register interest.

Cost

The total course fee is: £1,900.00*

* unless you are a Children in Scotland Member. See above.

The course fee covers your first year's membership to TLSW International, providing access to course resources, support, and a private forum. It also includes 8 half-day elective training sessions offered by TLSWi.

To confirm your spot on the course, payment must be submitted to Children in Scotland promptly after your application's acceptance, and no later than midnight on Monday, August 12th. Failure to meet this deadline will result in withdrawal from the course. It is your responsibility to ensure timely payment processing by your finance department.

Please note that we cannot provide advice on funding for this course. Please explore this with your employer or local authority, and ensure you have full funds available before signing up for this course. For those who are self-funding, we can offer a payment plan. Please contact us for further details.

Application Criteria

• Candidates must have at least two years’ experience of working with children, young people and/or adults and be able to identify a child/young person or adult that would benefit from the intervention.

• Candidates must be able to author a brief professional bio that details their professional development and the reasons for wanting to attend and complete the course and provide a satisfactorily completed safeguarding form.

• Candidates must be working with a child/young person/adult in a professional capacity.

• Candidates must complete pre-reading and self-directed learning before the course and the latter throughout the course.

• Candidates must take responsibility for securing an appropriate supervisor for their practical work. Please see the Course Handbook for further details.

• Candidates will be invited to join Therapeutic Life Story Work International (TLSWi) where all the course materials will be available – no presentations will be provided on paper as an acknowledgement of climate and environmental positive action.

Application Details

To complete your registration for the course please click here to download the application pack and return the requested documents to [email protected]

Please note that this registration alone is NOT a completed booking and does not guarantee your place on this course. We will require all required documents and full payment before the course starts.

If you are unsure if this course is best suited to you, please contact us at [email protected] before completing the registration form.

Accessibility

The Children in Scotland Learning and Events Team is committed to doing all we can to ensure our learning opportunities are accessible to everyone. If you require any adjustments to assist your learning, whether they be about course materials or delivery format, please do contact us at [email protected] to discuss.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Edinburgh, United Kingdom