ABSTRACT
Real Life Heroes utilizes an activity-based workbook to help children with traumatic stress to build the skills and interpersonal resources needed to reintegrate painful memories and to foster healing after abuse, neglect, family violence, severe illness, losses, deaths, or abandonment. The workbook utilizes creative arts and life story work to engage children and caring adults in trauma and attachment-centered therapy and to rebuild (or build) positive, enduring relationships between hurt (and often hurting) children and adults committed to guiding children into adulthood. The curriculum integrates nonverbal and verbal modalities and helps children and caring adults move step by step from trauma narratives to life stories highlighting mastery, helping others, and nurturing relationships
Real Life Heroes was especially designed for children in child and family service programs who frequently lack safe, nurturing homes and secure relationships with caring and committed adults. The model assists therapists and family members to recover and enhance family and cultural strengths and to promote skill building, attachments, and trauma processing. The model can be used by programs and agencies as a prescriptive methodology to address primary goals including preventing placements, reuniting families, or finding alternate permanent homes for children who cannot return to biological parents.
