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Transforming ‘The Red Beast’ Within Through Mindfulness and Therapeutic Storytelling: A Case Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2013

Leigh Burrows
Leigh Burrows*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Leigh Burrows, Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001 SA, Australia. Email: leigh.burrows@flinders.edu.au
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Abstract

The case is presented of a professional learning project through which a school counsellor was assisted in her work with a child who she admitted ‘rattled her cage’ due to his complex needs and behaviours and the effect these had on her and the other children in her social skills group. As a result of a combination of mindfulness and therapeutic storytelling the child was able to gain an insight into his behaviour, which helped him feel a new sense of calm, safety and belonging. While the story of ‘The Red Beast’ provided the therapeutic content, the counsellor's transmission of mindfulness into the story telling space allowed it to be absorbed as wisdom to be drawn upon later by him and the other children in the group. This case demonstrates that school counsellors can benefit from professional development in mindfulness practice that supports them to become more attuned to the needs of vulnerable children through becoming more aware of their own emotional energies. It also shows that a therapeutic story's effectiveness can be enhanced if the teller is mindful of the right moment, manner and context in which to tell it.

Keywords

mindfulnessangeremotionsrelationshipstherapeutic storiesprofessional learning
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools , Volume 23 , Special Issue 2: Wellbeing and the prevention of violence in young people , December 2013 , pp. 172 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Australian Academic Press Pty Ltd 2013 

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