Objects and their stories

This course date has passed. If you are interested in this course and would like to be notified of future dates please email events@corambaaf.org.uk

WHY OBJECTS?

The objects around us are intertwined with our feelings and experiences. Exploring our relationship with objects can help us tell our stories and give us a greater understanding of other people and ourselves. The course will demonstrate how objects can be used as an accessible tool to evoke, release and relieve emotions, how objects can become a safe home for these feelings, and how a focus on objects can free the imagination and promote creative practices and relationships.  

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Objects and Their Stories is designed for foster carers, social workers, and others, to build on their initial training and is a natural progression and development of life story work. The training will focus on the individual, their story, and how to incorporate this into the work they do with children and young people.  

The course is structured as a reflective space for practitioners and carers, with significant time given to attendees to reflect on their own work and experiences, as well as the children and young people they support. The group is encouraged to try the skills and approaches between sessions, with communication within the group facilitated to support implementation in practice, and build a kind and reflective network for support in the longer-term.  

THEMES AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The training will be based around six sessions: 

• How objects can be meaningful. 
• Powerful and precious objects. 
• Using objects to tell the world who you are.  
• Uncomfortable, puzzling or painful objects.  
• Using objects and collections of objects to make difficult situations easier.  
• Exploring life stories through objects. 

Although the focus of the training is work with children and young people, the questions posed can be helpfully asked of anyone – young or adult, personal carer or professional worker. Those attending the course will be invited to share objects from their own lives.  

Participants will receive a Resource Pack, with practice examples and case studies, and a quick start guide for each module. Communication between participants is facilitated to encourage support both during and after the training, with meetings with a course ‘buddy’ suggested between training sessions. 

PRESENTER

Hedwig Verhagen

Hedwig is a therapeutic social worker who has worked in adoption and special guardianship support services in LA and VAA environments since qualifying as a social worker in 2010. She was part of the small team who set up a Centre of Excellence in Adoption Support partnership service in 2013, which later became the Centre for Adoption Support at Adoption Matters. Hedwig’s therapeutic work is informed by Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP), as well as body-based approaches. Her areas of special interest are Child to Parent Violence and Aggression and the experiences of adopted young people and adults. She is currently undertaking research into birth parents’ experiences of trauma. 

This course will be co-facilitated by Hetty Verhagen and Hannah Moss. 

DATES

The course consists of six sessions, run online via Zoom. 

There are two cohorts running this autumn: 

Cohort 2 will run on Monday mornings 11am to 1pm every two weeks:

17 October 2022

31 October 2022

14 November 2022

28 November 2022

17 December 2022

9 January 2023

Due to high demand for these courses, we are running two cohorts this autumn. Details of cohort 1/2 can be found here.

FEEDBACK

"Everyone should do this course"

"What was lovely about the course was that having a group of people who hadn’t met before wasn’t an issue. We all came from different backgrounds, we all had different experiences but everyone gelled."

Lorna Jackson - read full article here.

For social workers, reflection on this session may contribute to your continuing professional development (CPD).

FEES

The fee for all six sessions is £120+VAT. 

Places on this course are limited and early booking is recommended. It is anticipated that further courses will run later in 2022 and 2023, and you may be offered a later date if the autumn cohorts are fully booked. If you would like to take part in the course, but can’t make the above dates, do get in touch and we will let you know when dates for the next cohorts are confirmed. 

CONTACT

Telephone 020 7520 2043
Email events@corambaaf.org.uk 

This course date has passed. If you are interested in this course and would like to be notified of future dates please email events@corambaaf.org.uk