Real Life Heroes: A Life Storybook for Children

by Richard Kagan

Help children overcome the pain of trauma and develop a healthy sense of self!

Real Life A Life Storybook for Children helps traumatized children move from painful or fractured memories to a more positive perspective, not by denying hardships, but by drawing strength from the supportive people in their lives. This innovative workbook uses a creative arts approach that encourages children to work with caring adults to develop autobiographies through a wide range of activities, including drawings, music, movies, and narrative. The results foster positive values and a sense of pride in children as they form a stronger bond with caring and committed adults as protection against the adversity and stressors that exist in everyday life. This unique book is designed to be used in tandem with Rebuilding Attachments with Traumatized Healing from Losses, Violence, Abuse, and Neglect (Haworth), a guide to attachment and trauma therapy from the same author.

Real Life A Life Storybook for Children is a therapeutic resource that helps children overcome the difficulties they may face, including divorce, separation, placement, learning problems, serious illness, and hospitalization. The workbook highlights and preserves for children the moments in their lives when “important” people—family, friends, and community—showed kindness, caring, understanding, and courage, giving the child a sense of value that can inspire the transformation from victim to hero. The life storybook is especially useful for work with children in foster and adoptive families and group care programs.

Real Life Heroes is divided into eight

120 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2003

About the author

Richard Kagan, Ph.D., is the Director of Psychological Services at Parsons Child and Family Center located in Albany, New York. Dr. Kagan specializes in developing interventions and programs for complex trauma for children and families. His works are widely published and he is a keynote speaker at international agency conferences regarding family therapy, trauma research and child welfare.