The Listening Stone
This year from funds raised we have been able to deliver our therapeutic and mental health programme called The Listening Stone to six groups of children aged 5 - 11 years from five different schools across Dundee.
Dundee is known for being one of the most deprived and poverty stricken areas in Scotland with high generational unemployment, drug dependency, mental health issues and some of the highest suicidal rates in Britain, all of which significantly increase the risk for ACE’s and poor mental health in children and young people.
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A recent Young Minds survey in the Dundee area revealed:
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50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 and 75% by age 24.
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10% of children and young people (aged 5-16 years) have a clinically diagnosable mental problem, yet 70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age.
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We wanted to address the issue that 70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age.
Powering a response
This year from funds raised we have been able to deliver our therapeutic and mental health programme called The Listening Stone to six groups of children aged 5 - 11 years from five different schools across Dundee. Ordinarily these schools would not have had the funding for this but from all the funds raised this was delivered without charge to the schools.
“I feel more confident
in myself and I have more friends now and it's ok to talk about how I’m feeling”
The children were specifically referred by their teacher due to concerns about their mental health due to anxiety issues, loss, bereavement, neglect, emotional and physical abuse, or other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The groups were led by an experienced dramatherapist.
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52 Children received eight, one and a half hour sessions over an eight week period. From these sessions there was a 60% improvement in anxiety and stress of children that had attended the programme.
For the Love Of a Child was able to work with Dundee city council foster and adoption services. We delivered one group of The Listening Stone Programme (LSP) to young foster care children aged 5-6 years. Many of these children had experienced early years trauma due to neglect or loss of a parent. The LSP story helped the children process some of their early years trauma through projections onto the story or puppet used in the programme.
Case study
A young boy of 6 years old whose mother died when he was just four years old was taken into care (for the purpose of this case study we will call him James,
his name has been changed to protect his identity).
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James had suffered neglect as a child. According to his foster carer the mother died in her sleep (APNEA) and James had been left with her body for 4 days on his own until he was found and brought into foster care. He was found in squalor, his mother had been very obese and had been found in her own excrement due to not being able to get to the bathroom. James does not know who his father is and has never met him.
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Within the last 6 months James behaviour had become worse with anger and destructive behaviour, often breaking/throwing toys and his room. James presents
as having a negative self-image and has feelings of worthlessness. He struggles with his relationship with food, as seen throughout the sessions due to neglect. He also struggles with physical boundaries and has difficulties in processing his emotions and shows chaotic and destructive behaviour.
During the group sessions James was very disconnected to his emotions, however as he became more relaxed especially around snack and story time he
would make connections with the story, This was seen in one of the sessions after story time when he said “I’m Little No name , as I lost My mummy just like her''. This was a breakthrough for James, he had voiced very little in the group, and he was showing he was engaging emotionally about his loss through projection onto the Little No-name character, his awareness of the group was also improving as he was being able to communicate this to me and the group. He was also becoming more aware of when to say sorry to others. James was able to engage imaginatively and this helped him process safely some of his loss and neglect