An Introduction to Therapeutic Storytelling Intervention™

An entry level for Years 9 - 12 to 'Therapeutic Storytelling Intervention', (TSI)

Therapeutic Storytelling Intervention or TSI is a powerful life skills development, values education and therapeutic process that was developed by Ron Phillips M.A. (Psychology) M.F.T., (Marriage and Family Therapist). Ron has been a teacher, lecturer and therapist for over 25 years, working with people in a wide range of settings including education, justice and health environments.

In 1976 Ron, together with his wife Mary, founded and directed Creative Alternatives, a highly successful group home in Northern California. Creative Alternatives provides an alternative to institutional care for emotionally distressed young people. It was during his time at Creative Alternatives that Ron first began telling the stories that were to become Gem of the First Water.

Gem of the First Water is the foundation text from which the TSI process extends. A second book, The Travels of Plymouth, develops the foundational concepts in Gem of the First Water and then embarks on a journey that embraces many critical contemporary social issues, e.g. domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse. The Travels of Plymouth meets the life development and therapeutic needs of a developmentally older group than Gem of the First Water.

The process of TSI, simply defined, is a teaching methodology using the age-old art of storytelling as a very effective means of bringing about positive behavioural change in the lives of children and adults. When read or listened to, the story creates mental images and pictures which could be likened to holding a mirror up to the reader/listener and allowing them, in their own time, to take an honest look at themselves and their behaviour.

When young people move to new environments, including a new level of school, there are major changes that often coincide with the normal developmental changes occurring during those life-stage periods including the biological changes associated with puberty.

These biological changes result in physical changes such as growth in height, weight and strength, sexual maturity and the attendant emotional changes that go with the physical growth. For some young people, this period of adolescence can be particularly challenging as they try to fit into a new learning and social environment which is very different from their previous school environment.

Each young person enters a new school environment with their own unique set of life experiences, influenced by the multiple worlds of family, school, community and peers. Some of these life experiences are common experiences that young people have moving from childhood to adulthood and for many this transition, while full of ups and downs, is no more stressful than any other passage through life.

Nevertheless this journey can involve adapting to and accommodating many changes. These changes create a set of challenges for young people, which, in turn, have the potential to contribute to their character and resiliency or, conversely, place them under stress. The sorts of concerns and stresses facing young people at this time include:

• Growth Spurts - they can feel awkward or self-conscious about how they look, especially if they are developing at a rate different from their peers.
• Expanding relationships - their interaction with peers, family/extended family, siblings and teachers can sometimes prove difficult and may cause conflict.
• Challenges at school - doing well and fitting in with this new social setting.
• Hopes of parents - achieving or having social, emotional and academic success.
• Social challenges - their need to find their own place among peers and in society.

Travel Log is an intermediary level TSI resource that assists young people to understand particular aspects of their development, along with the challenges that accompany that development. It helps them build a healthy concept of who they are and where they come from. The resource acknowledges difference, builds strengths and develops skills of discernment and positive choice thereby avoiding unnecessary focus on personal problems. A central premise for TSI is that life, as a journey, presents individuals with many challenges and opportunities. The use of this resource can help students prepare for these challenges and opportunities, to develop belief in themselves as individuals and to help them realise that they have a great deal to offer their world.

Therapeutic Storytelling Intervention is a powerful means to assist and enable our young people to grow with a healthy sense of self, healthy values and the potential to make choices for themselves that will present them with a positive future. These stories offer young people a range of different ideas in life-skills development in ways that are safe and nurturing.

In the TSI process, the reader/listener systematically goes through three phases:

1. Identification - identification with the behavioural traits of the story character/s from a safe, non-committal position;
2. Internalisation - internalising the struggle that the story character/s experience when they recognise their own negative behavioural traits, and
3. Application - making a decision to apply the successful behavioural techniques utilised by the story character/s

This resource provides sample questions which can be used to help this threefold process occur. We hope the benefits of TSI are experienced by all who are involved, directly or indirectly:

• The participating students, in that each one is given the opportunity in a non threatening way, to look at their own behaviour honestly and develop good decision making skills;
• School teachers and others, who manage groups of students, in that a natural by-product is its effectiveness as a classroom/group management tool, and
• Parents, in that the effectiveness of the child's good decision making will be evident also in the home.