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How can storytelling help kids heal? In this episode, we talk to Dr. Sharon Zaffarese-Dippold to explore how story helps children make sense of their experiences, build resilience, and move toward thriving, including simple, everyday ways to begin using it at home. She is a psychotherapist with 27 years of experience in counseling and author of the "Garbage Bag Life" series, which emphasizes her journey through foster care.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Can you tell us a little about your own journey and why helping children make sense of their stories became such an important part of your life?
• What did you wish the adults around you had understood about what you were carrying as a child?
• Why are stories such powerful tools for helping children heal?
• What is it about a story that often feels safer than direct conversations, especially for children who have experienced trauma, loss, foster care, adoption, or family disruption?
• What happens when children don't have a coherent story about their lives?
• What are some of the questions they may silently wrestle with?
• Many parents and caregivers are afraid of saying the wrong thing around a child’s story. What do you suggest?
• What does it mean when a child moves from "What's wrong with me?" to "What happened to me?"
• What are some simple ways parents and caregivers can build storytelling into everyday family life?
• Stories can be used for more than understanding a child’s history in adoption, foster care, and relative care. They can also help children recognize their strengths, resilience, and a sense of belonging.
• How can parents and caregivers use storytelling to build family identity?

Resources:

• How to Talk with Our Kids About the Difficult Parts of Their Stories
• How to Make and Use an Adoption Lifebook
• Building the Framework for Adopted & Foster Children to Process the Hard Parts of Their Stories
• The Healing Power of Storytelling
• Suggested Books for Kids: Adoption, Foster Care, and Kinship Care

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Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.

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