A
s mentioned in Chapter 3 and discussed further in Chapter 15, it may be helpful to (a) listen to
the metaphors children use, (b) involve them in the storytelling process, and (c) set homework
exercises for them to create an outcome-focused story. This has the advantage of actively engaging
the child in the therapeutic process as well as having the child searching for the means to reach the
desired outcome. In addition, the stories told by one child may be adaptable for use with another
child seeking a similar outcome.
This chapter illustrates these points by using children’s own stories. The first, Story 91, was the
handwritten tale of a friend’s son that I found on a bedside table when staying at their home. Story
92 comes from a collection of stories by students at the John Curtin College of the Arts, Western
Australia (Covich, 2003). The other stories come from a project that I undertook with the very gen-
erous assistance of a nonclinical group of Year Seven students (around 12 years of age) at Helena Col-
lege in Western Australia. As a homework exercise (along the lines that I would assign in therapy) the
students each wrote a problem-solving/healing story. Some of these stories, with the permission of
the children, their parents, and the college, are reproduced below. Further discussion of this project
and its clinical applications can be found in the section “Metaphors Built on a Child’s Own Story”
in Chapter 15.
CHAPTER 13
Kids’ Own Healing Stories