Available from Hawthorn Press and Footprint: www.hawthornpress.com www.footprint.com.au Official Launch: Mary Ryan Book Shop, Byron Bay, Australia,  18th July, 2008

Workshops with Susan Perrow – 2009

AUSTRALIA:

February 28th, 2009 - Kamaroi Steiner School, Sydney ..........Therapeutic Storytelling: Healing Challenging Behaviour through the Medium of Story (a full day workshop). Bookings and enquiries, contact Joy Day on (02) 9450 1651.

May 22nd, 2009 ... National Family Day Care Conference, Hobart ..... Therapeutic Storytelling: Healing Challenging Behaviour through the Medium of Story (two workshops).
Bookings and enquiries phone 03 62312999.

July 6th - 10th, 2009 ... 'Vital Years' National Rudolf Steiner Early Childhood Conference, Brisbane ..... Therapeutic Storytelling: Healing Challenging Behaviour through the Medium of Story (four workshops). Bookings and enquiries phone Amber - 07-55338915.

August 8th & 9th, 2009 ... South Coast, NSW ..... Tapestry of Discipline and Therapeutic Storytelling (two workshops). Bookings and enquiries phone Rosalind - 02- 44743112.

OVERSEAS:

April 29th to May 1st, 2009 - Taruna College, Havelock North, New Zealand (www.taruna.ac.nz ) ..... A three day intensive course for teachers: - 'Tapestry of Discipline' + 'Therapeutic Storytelling: Healing Stories for Challenging Behaviour'

11th - 19th September, 2009 - SINGAPORE - Kampung Senang Charity & Education Foundation - refer to website for details : www.kg-senang.org.sg/

TESTIMONIALS:

6th Nov, 2008 .. St Kilda Workshop, Melbourne
Dear Susan, I wanted to extend a deep thank you for sharing your gift and experiences - and acknowledge the inclusive way that you facilitated so that we could all find the storyteller within and all support each other. I feel like a juicy plum this morning - alive, inspired and positive - and also like I am on a very fertile, strong juicy plum tree sharing life's journey with so many other plums. I felt a oneness of universal consciousness in a way never before through your stories - the symbols and metaphors that we all connected with are so strong and timeless. Bless you and thank you, Monique (A parent and a Social Worker)

3.6.08 .. Dear Susan, The two workshops in Noosa last weekend were FANTASTIC!! Thank you so much for a wonderful, entertaining, interesting, thought provoking and inspiring weekend. I think it went so well just because of who you are and your lovely open, non-judgemental and centred way of being. And of course because of the stories you told – just so engaging! I so love what you are doing with these stories – they are a rich tool to touch children’s souls – what a blessing! I would love to be as fluent as you are in creating them. I am inspired to practice though.
MONIQUE RUTHERFORD
Child Psychotherapist & Parent Counsellor
INSIDE OUT Counselling Service, PO Box 1794 Buderim QLD 4556
monique@insideout-counselling.com.au

15.3.08 .. Susan Perrow's message is beautiful and powerful in its simplicity. Tell children stories and they will listen to the wisdom these stories have to offer. What more gentle and effective way to reach 'our' children can we as parents and professionals ask for. This is essential learning for parents and all those who find themselves responsible for the care and development of children.
Christina Crawford (Educational Psychologist, Ireland)

15.3.08 ... the Therapeutic Storytelling workshop was very inspiring. Wide-ranging and helpful. This course may really make a difference to a lot of children’s lives! Susan is an excellent teacher … clear, imaginative, uplifting.
Ursula Godber (Primary School Teacher, Ireland)

25.9.07 - Dear Susan, I write to thank you for your wonderful workshop on Therapeutic Storytelling today. Though I often make up little stories and rhymes for my children, I have felt quite overwhelmed each time I wanted to come up with a story for a particular challenging behaviour or situation regarding my child. Your simple technique has taken the ‘overwhelm’ out of it and brought life and magic into writing a healing story. I look forward to my journey in therapeutic "storying". Thank you again for your "healing" gift. Take care,
Shalini (Singapore)

1.6.07 - Dear Susan, Just a quick note to let you know how much I enjoyed your class on storytelling for children held here in Coffs Harbour. I was the only father there, which I felt was a waste, because as a father and a storyteller, I benefited greatly from your kind insights, advice and wisdom. Thanks for taking the time to help us be better parents.
Anthony Cougle, Moonee Beach, NSW

6.5.07- Re last Sunday’s workshop on Therapeutic Storytelling - It was riveting! Practical steps to story work with healing for workshop participants through living stories and lively presentation. Hosting and presenting was personable. A very special learning experience indeed!
Sandra Frain, Early Childhood Teacher, Mullumbimby, NSW

Oct, 2006 - I have recently attended two workshops facilitated by Susan Perrow and I found them both to be informative and inspiring, both as a mother to Skye (4) and as a blossoming playgroup leader. I found Susan’s approach to parenting to be honouring and nurturing to both children and adults alike. The information presented was practical and down to earth, and we all had fun whilst learning!
I highly recommend Susan’s workshops to anyone faced with the jobs and challenges of raising their children in a conscious and loving way.
Lesley Willow, The Silver Tree Steiner School, WA

Oct, 2006 - Susan Perrow was a lively, practical, balanced, wise and very knowledgeable person in the presentation of all the workshops recently attended. I learnt a lot, was re-inspired and also had plenty of fun. I would unhesitatingly recommend Susan's workshops to any parent, or person working with young children.
I look forward to Susan returning to WA in the future to share more of her enthusiasm and experience in Early Childhood Education.
Merveena Reynolds, Kindergarten Teacher (25 yrs experience in State Pre Schools & Steiner Kindergartens)

Oct, 2006 - I found Susan Perrow’s one-day workshop on Therapeutic Storytelling to be very inspiring. I always knew that stories were something that children loved to hear, although I didn’t realize how powerful or how deeply a story could touch a child. Susan shared some amazing experiences of stories that were written for a particular child and how that story had an influence on that child’s behaviour or insecurity or whatever the child happened to be going through at that particular time.
Before going to Susan’s course I never thought of myself as being able to write a story, or having the confidence to do so – however after listening to Susan speak, I felt a need to go home and write one. Which is what I did!! So thank you Susan for inspiring me and giving me the confidence to have a go!
Marisa, Teacher, Perth

"Tales from the Story Doctor" -

Stories can be a very effective tool today in addressing specific and general behaviour challenges in children, and there seems to be more and more need for such tools in our complex modern lives. I have worked with this tool in my recent role with the Australian Government from 2001 to 2003, piloting Creative Parent Support Programs. This work often involved home visits to families where I observed difficult situations and then wrote a story (often feeling like a ‘story doctor’) to help heal the difficult behaviour. The work then extended into running Creative Discipline Courses for parents and teachers where the participants were encouraged to use imaginative approaches (songs, poems, stories ….) to handle discipline challenges – see table of documented story outcomes in the listed conference papers. The home visits plus the workshops has produced some very successful results, confirming for me, the parents and the teachers the place for metaphor and story in child-rearing practices. (Refer to my first posting for some examples of stories for specific and general behaviours).

Note – ‘Stories for healing’ is not a new concept, as cultures world-wide have used (and still use) the power of storytelling in the social and moral education and rearing of their children. In many traditional cultures, supporting the capacity of children through the realms of imagination has been understood and shared as a community responsibility. Adults (teachers, parents and grandparents) have naturally used stories and imaginative strategies in their role as mentors and guides for the children in their community. Refer to my online paper, Therapeutic Storytelling, (PDF Version for full document) for more on this subject ....

Memories from East Africa

2003 to 2006

Images Worth a Thousand Words!

Stories for Specific and General Behaviours

As the years have rolled by, I have become more and more interested in using ‘medicinal’ stories in my teaching. At first, when I started on my ‘Story Doctor’ journey, I experienced the use of story in healing relatively common behaviour challenges – for example, encouraging groups of children to use the bins and not throw litter in the school grounds (Grandmother and the Donkey); and helping some very restless 4 year olds learn to enjoy being sometimes still! (Little Red Pony)

Then I experimented with writing stories for specific behaviours - for example, working with metaphor, repetition and rhyme for a 5 year old who was still soiling his pants (a story about ‘Farmer Just Right’ with his repeated slogan – ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’); helping the smallest child in a kindergarten group feel important for being the smallest (The Littlest Bubble); helping a child understand and cope with a recent fire at home where he watched his own bedroom burn to the ground (Mother Rabbit and the Bushfire) ; using metaphor and story for both a child and mother suffering from separation anxiety (Baby Bear Koala).

These stories and many more (80 stories in total) can be found in my new book, Healing Stories for Challenging Behaviour, along with a framework for therapeutic storywriting and many tips on storytelling and storymaking.