Digital life story work

We have been informed of a new BAAF Publications book by Simon Hammond and Neil J Cooper, Digital life story work : Using technology to help young people make sense of their experiences which is a practical guide aiming to bring the benefit of life story work - most often undertaken with younger children - to young people and adolescents. With the use of free software, smartphones and camcorders the authors demonstrate how digital technology can support and become an integral instrument of life story work. It is the authors' intention to show how new digital technology can be used to further the therapeutic process of helping young persons build a relationship with a caring adult while reflecting on their lives.

About the authors

Dr Simon P Hammond has contributed a number of articles to the goodenoughcaring Journal and he is a lecturer in Psychology at the University of East Anglia. Simon developed the idea of integrating the use of digital technology with life story work while he was a residential child care worker in Sheffield.

Dr Neil J Cooper is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of East Anglia.

For more information about Digital life story work view the BAAF catalogue at BAAF 

This news item first appeared on the home page of the goodenoughcaring website on March 2nd, 2013

Archive of the Year Award for the Planned Environment Therapy Trust

On Saturday, February 23rd at the "Who Do You Think You Are? Live" exhibition in London ('the biggest family history event in the world'), the BBC broadcaster, historian, and Editor-in-Chief of 'Your Family History' magazine Dr. Nick Barratt presented the Planned Environment Therapy Trust Archive and Study Centre with the prestigious Your Family History national "Archive of the Year" award. Past winners have included the Surrey County Council History Centre, and Kent County Council's Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre.

In presenting the award, Dr. Barratt quoted from one of the nominations: "Not only do they collect and curate a range of small yet important archival material and collections, including oral histories, but they also provide a space for people to share memories and experiences relating to environment therapy - so continue to undertake therapeutic work today. All this is done on a small budget, showing that you don¹t need millions of pounds to make a difference to people's lives."

Receiving the award for the Archive and Study Centre were archivist Craig Fees and team members Gemma Geldart and Chris Long, who were core team members of the award winning "Other Peoples' Children" project. PETT was so impressed with the work of the team and with the very real difference it made to people's lives that when the funding for the project came to an end, the Trust asked them to stay on, and to continue to develop their work with former children, staff and families from residential therapeutic communities, many of which are now closed.

The team at Trust see this award as an endorsement of the work it has been able to do, especially with the help of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant during its"Therapeutic Living With Other Peoples' Children: An oral history of residential therapeutic child care" project in 2010-2011. As well as students and young people, the team at PETT has been able to work closely with a number of people who were children in care, their families, and friends; and to discover and demonstrate how remarkably 'therapeutic' archives can be in practice.

More information about this event, Archive and Study Centre and other aspects of the work of the Planned Environment Trust can be found at PETT Archive of the Year Award Winners

This news item first appeared on the home page of the goodenoughcaring website on February 26th, 2013

Residential child care in practice.

The Policy Press has written to us announcing the publication of Residential child care in practice Making a difference by Mark Smith, Leon Fulcher and Peter Doran. The book is about residential child care practice beginning from the standpoint that residential child care involves both children and adults sharing a common life space in which the quality of the relationships between the people involved is key. It is a very practical book which aims at being of interest and value to a worldwide range of practitioners and managers as well as to students at different academic levels. It draws on the ideas and traditions of a variety of theoretical and practical fields of thought including child and youth care and social pedagogy.

The authors of the book, all experienced practitioners and academics, are : Mark Smith, a regular contributor to the goodenoughcaring Journal, who worked for 20 years in residential homes and schools before becoming a university teacher and is now Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Edinburgh ; Dr Leon Fulcher, another contributor to the goodenoughcaring Journal, has for over 40 years practiced in, and taught, residential child care across the world and is now the Chair of the the International Child Care and Youth Care Network; Peter Doran, who recently retired as the Chief Executive Officer of a residential school in Scotland, having spent his career in residential child care and who, since his retirement, has undertaken work for The Scottish Government on the education of children with complex needs.

The book will be reviewed in the next issue of the goodenoughcaring Journal. For more information about Residential child care in practice Making a difference go to The Policy Press

This news item first appeared on the homepage of the goodenoughcaring website on January 25th, 2013.