Story Links: Therapeutic storywriting with parents and children at risk of exclusion

Dr Trisha Waters, Centre for Therapeutic Storywriting, UK Elizabeth Holmes, Freelance education writer, UK Introduction Story Links is a parent partnership model of intervention that supports students at risk of exclusion due to mental health and behavioural difficulties related to attachment anxiety. It uses the principles of therapeutic storywriting (Waters, 2004). The theoretical background of Story Links draws on Bowlby’s (1997) concept of attachment and Hughes’ (2004) criteria for supporting positive attachment.  A two-year research study at the University of Chichester, funded by the Training and Development Agency for Schools and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, found that Story Links increased parental involvement in pupils’ learning, reduced pupil anxiety, improved classroom behaviour and supported reading skills (Waters, 2010).  Rationale for Story Links  If a student is emotionally preoccupied in class due to attachment anxiety, their capacity to engage wi