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10
The ‘words and pictures’
storyboard: making sense
for children and families
the ‘words and pictures’ storyboard
margaret hiles, susie essex, amanda fox
and colin luger
introduction
Making sense of past and present events is important in
the development of both children and adults. This article
introduces ‘Words and Pictures’, a storyboard that creates an
illustrated narrative for children, helping them understand
events that are diffi cult for adults around them to talk about.
It gives parents, carers, the wider kinship network and
professionals a tool to help fi nd the ‘right’ words for children.
In ‘Words and Pictures’ the emphasis is upon parents and
therapist co-constructing a narrative that uses the family’s
own words, often juxtaposed with professionals’ descriptions
and explanations, to create a fi rm context for the future
through the medium of a shared story.
Creating the storyboard helps families talk about and
communicate diffi cult information. Different perspectives
are shared: the aim is to describe ‘How did things get to be
the way they are?’ Through the storyboard, the child can
understand something of their birth parents’ struggles and
diffi culties, within a positive frame that engenders hope
and focuses upon potential family strengths. The approach
allows for explanations to be aimed at the child’s pace, and
provides a foundation to build upon over the years by those
around the child. Within our work in clinical and private
practice settings, ideas about the scope and use of ‘Words
and Pictures’ have been developed and extended from those
explained originally in the book Working with Denied Child
Abuse: the Resolutions Approach by Andrew Turnell and Susie
Essex (2006).
‘Words and Pictures’ provides a focus for those involved,
encouraging them to think about the child’s need for a
coherent narrative. Although used primarily to explain
worries, concerns and diffi cult situations to younger children
we fi nd the process has also a benefi cial effect for adults and
older children involved, creating a foundation of openness
that is helpful in explaining events. We may create a ‘Words
and Pictures’ storyboard even when the child is still a baby,
as it offers an explanation for the future and allows adults
to share a common understanding of the different views of
events with a focus on future safety.
Statutory authorities can endorse the narrative because
it captures and reinforces the seriousness of the allegations,
and a meaningful safety plan can be generated in response to
concerns captured in the storyboard.
lost for words
Children faced with adult mental health concerns or
in child protection cases often do not understand with any
clarity what is happening to their family, or why people are so
concerned about them - even if it is the child’s own allegation
of abuse that has initiated the process. Children are usually
very aware that something major is happening: they can see
their parents are distressed, and they may be aware of events
such as the police arriving at the home or perhaps a parent
having to move out.
Parents may not say much to their children; they may
be worried about what to say, how to say it, also where to
begin (and end) the explanation of events. Similarly, it is
often diffi cult for substitute and kinship carers to explain to
children in their care why they are now living apart from
their birth parents. Without an explanation from adults,
the children often make up their own version of events,
becoming muddled, anxious and frightened in the process.
There can be as many explanations of the situation as there
are family members. Children express confusion and worries
to therapists about who is aware of the concerns, who doesn’t
know, and how much people know.
This diffi culty in fi nding appropriate ways for adults to
explain worries and concerns to children is not, from our
experience, confi ned to families. Through our work with
other professionals we have noticed how much they, like
us, struggle at times to fi nd the means to explain events in
ways children can readily understand. Nevertheless, our
experience is that children can cope with very diffi cult
circumstances if things are explained to them at an age
appropriate level and they know of adults who will listen
when they talk about their past, present and future worries.
not just for children: benefi ts for
families, too
Parents and other family members collaborate to develop
and agree the storyboard’s content. This encourages them
to revisit and perhaps reappraise painful episodes from the
past, but now with a specifi c purpose in mind: to help their
children or grandchildren, nephews and nieces. By enlisting
adults in this way to reappraise events and diffi culties using
the lens of the children we fi nd that families gain a fresh
perspective, sometimes engendering new ideas or ways of
seeing things where previously much had seemed static and
immovable. For example, in working with a parent who has
mental health diffi culties it can be very empowering for them
to realise how many people are willing to help them parent
their child more effectively, and the diagnosis itself can be
viewed differently seen through the eyes of a child.
Co-creating an agreed narrative in ‘Words and Pictures’
sessions gives the therapist an opportunity to open up
communication within the wider network, offering parents
and carers support as they share this information among
a wider circle of signifi cant people. Entering the process,
parents and carers are understandably cautious in entering
what is for them unexplored territory; once engaged in it,
many fi nd that they can for the fi rst time discuss subjects
previously considered taboo.
Inevitably there are occasions where parents or carers
disagree or are unwilling to co-operate directly in the process,