Find out how to adapt your approach to life story work for children of different ages, with therapeutic social worker, Katie Wrench.
Led by Katie Wrench.
Tickets: free for members, £50 for non-members.
This is a practice-focused session exploring how to shape life story work that meets children where they are.
Katie Wrench’s Live Classroom unpacks what children need at different ages, how their understanding of identity and trauma develops, and how practitioners can adapt tools, language, and creative approaches to support safe meaning‑making.
We’ll look at what to include in life story books across early childhood, middle years, and adolescence, and how metaphor, play, and narrative can be used to open up conversations without being overwhelming.
Perfect for social workers, therapists, residential staff, adopters, foster carers, and anyone supporting children with complex histories, this session offers practical strategies, real examples, and confidence‑building guidance you can use immediately in your work.
Come away with clearer structure, stronger developmental attunement, and renewed creativity in your life story practice.
“I thoroughly enjoyed it and have come away with lots of food for thought and ideas to implement!”
Katie Wrench is an experienced therapeutic social worker who is now Head of Clinical Services at BUSS Model Ltd, having previously managed a local authority Therapeutic Social Work Team. She is also a qualified art psychotherapist, trainer and supervisor who lives with her family in West Yorkshire. Katie and her family also supported children and families by offering short breaks as foster carers for 15 years.
Katie has also co-authored a highly accessible book about life story work that is full of tried and tested activities and creative ideas for professionals, parents and foster carers who may have little time and few resources, but who need to carry out life story work that works for children – Life Story Work with Children who are Fostered or Adopted: Creative Ideas and Activities (Wrench & Naylor, 2013, Jessica Kingsley Publishers). This was followed up in 2024 by Skills and Knowledge for Life Story Work with Children and Adolescents.
She has two further publications, Helping Vulnerable Children & Adolescents To Stay Safe. Creative Ideas and Activities for Building Protective Behaviours (2016) focuses on establishing a sense of safety in the body. Creative Assessment with Vulnerable Children & Families is a practical, trauma‑informed guide that uses creative, relationship‑based tools to help practitioners understand children and their parent’s inner worlds, experiences, and needs in ways that feel safe, engaging, and developmentally attuned.
You can contact Katie at www.blossomsocialcaretraining.co.uk.
This session will be held via Zoom.
We would encourage you to read this document for advice on how to access zoom particularly if you haven’t accessed zoom before. If you are planning on attending via a work device, you may need to seek access permission in advance.
You will receive a zoom link to access the live classroom at least 48hours before the live classroom takes place.
Feel free to contact us prior to the scheduled event date if you have any specific questions or requirements relating to access.
