circumstances. In the project with Helena College, children wrote a number of stories from which
those in Chapter 13 were selected. The school psychologist asked one child who told a true-to-life
tale if that child thought it would be okay for the story to be considered for publication. The response
was, “If my story can help others, it is really important.” That, to me, seems the very essence of why
we share stories.
Story 43, “Having Fun,” tells the story of a girl, Angela, who said she wanted to have fun, and
the processes she went through to reach her objective. In Story 79, “Taking Control,” Natalie learns
about ways that will help her manage a habit pattern. Andrew’s story of “Getting Back on Your Feet”
(Story 88) describes how a child may experience a sudden, unexpected trauma and what might help
a youth get back on his feet. The stories of an adolescent boy who came to grips with problems re-
lated to drugs and disruptive behaviors (Story 86, “Finding Solutions”); of a young adult looking
back, with relief, on her adolescent decision not to commit suicide (Story 89, “Facing Thoughts of
Suicide”); and of a mother’s relating how a daughter helped her alter a depressive mood (Story 46,
“Helping with Humor”) are all based on real clinical cases and may be of benefit to other children
and adolescents as they struggle to find means for dealing with similar issues.
METAPHORS BUILT ON EVERYDAY EXPERIENCESLife itself is often the best source of healing stories. Our lives are made up of stories, and the stories
we tell reflect, and shape, our experience. Even if we shift the characters and context beyond the hu-
man, as in stories of imagination, fantasy, and science fiction, the authors of those stories are still hu-
man and bound by human experience. Consequently, our stories—no matter how fanciful—speak
of life and the many experiences that make up life. In everyday experience there can be a tale to tell—
perhaps even a therapeutic tale.
There may be stories from our own childhoods, as in “Let Joe Do It” (Story 14), that are rele-
vant to the children we see professionally. Observing the children in our lives may provide many
important metaphoric outcomes about learning new skills (“Learning New Tricks,” Story 26),
overcoming fear (“I’m Not Afraid Anymore,” Story 30), negotiating resolutions (“Negotiating a
Solution,” Story 35), discovering it is okay to be good without having to be perfect (“Good, Not Per-
252 Creating Your Own Healing Stories for Kids
EXERCISE 15.9 METAPHORS BUILT ON CLIENT CASES
■ It may help to keep written or mental notes of successful cases.
■ What one child did to help resolve a problem may help another child do the same. It
certainly can offer hope as well as means.
■ Have your story do each of the following:
■ Describe the challenges encountered by the other child
■ Include what did not work and what did
■ Describe the outcome of the other child’s efforts and the way he or she felt about
having achieved that success