When children enter care they are often left with many questions that are challenging for adults to discuss with them: why am I in care, why do I live here, when can I go home? Left unanswered, children can have great difficulty experiencing psychological safety, adjusting to their new circumstances and accepting the care being offered to them. Dr William Coman , Ms Lynda McGill and some colleagues have developed a model for communicating with children about difficult issues such as entry to care, transitions to new placements and permanence that promotes psychological safety for the child and congruence in the caregiver network.  The model is outlined in a number of peer reviewed papers that can be accessed here.

Anecdotal evidence suggests the model is helpful for the children and all involved in their care as indicated by reductions in placement strain and feedback from carers, social workers, birth parents and children themselves.

Build Bridges is an acronym for applying the Narrative Model in a procedural way.  It can be used to communicate with children about difficult issues at any point in their journey with Social Services.

Knowledge and Skills Development

Training

There are two training options:

The Instant Access Training lasts four hours and includes handouts, a mix of slides & interactive slides, voice-overs, animations and videos to help staff remain engaged with the content.  The content includes a detailed description of the model and a work-through of the model as applied in a case study.  There is a certificate of attendance for those who complete the end of training assessment.

Once completed, one can email admin@psychologicalpathways.com to access a free live Q&A videoconference with Dr Coman or Ms McGill.  The dates for these are:

11-12 on 22/03/24 – Ms McGill

10-11 on 26/04/24 – Ms McGill

10-11 on 17/05/24 – Ms McGill

10-11 on 14/06/24 – Dr W Coman

10-11 on 13/09/24 – Dr W Coman

Self-paced learning means that staff can complete the training at a time of their choosing; they can also pause and revisit the training in the event they need to prioritise other work temporarily.

Live Training is completed online over two half-days and includes the same content as the Instant Access Training with opportunities for networking with other professionals, more in-depth discussion of topics and more examples of narratives.

You can book either option by scrolling down this page.

Narrative Model Support Sessions

These sessions are open to those who have completed Build Bridges Training (either option) and are seeking help with a narrative or further discussion of some aspect of the model.

Support Sessions can include help to:

• identify the priority narrative for the child at this time
• Get feedback on a narrative already started
• navigate issues to do with the caregiving network
• find developmentally sensitive words
• plan the delivery of the narrative
• reflect on the child’s response to a narrative and identify the next therapeutic steps
• Reflect on own response to undertaking this work

They are provided by Ms. Lynda McGill (Specialist Therapeutic Practitioner) – one of the original authors of the Narrative Model articles.

Support sessions typically last one hour and are by videoconference.

You can register your interest by contacting lynda@psychologicalpathways.com who will arrange the Support Session with you.

Consultation

We also provide consultations to organisations who are considering issues such as:

• how to integrate the model with existing policies and procedures
• training large numbers of staff
• developing a clinic internal to their organisation that can support staff apply the model after training
• Supervision in the model

You can register your interest by contacting lynda@psychologicalpathways.com who will arrange the Consultation with you.

Further Training in the Narrative Model

We have a number of trainings/tutorials that complement Build Bridges and we run on an occasional basis depending on demand.  These include:

• Training in Build Bridges for foster carers and Family Placement Social Workers
• Tutorial focussed on similarities and differences between the Narrative Model, Lifestory Work and the Words and Pictures approach that supports decision making on which is the best fit for your case
• Further training on Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy – the DDP – the “Golden thread” through all narrative model work

You can register your interest by contacting lynda@psychologicalpathways.com