Storytelling as Trauma-Informed Care

Across activities in the Paediatric Palliative Care National Action Plan Project, the concept of ‘storytelling’ was repeatedly brought to the fore. Families expressed gratitude for opportunities to share their story while both families and clinicians expressed how beneficial stories could be in helping to introduce all that palliative care can offer, and in the context of peer support.

This paper analyses the concept of storytelling in light of Kazak’s Integrative Trajectory Model of Paediatric Medical Traumatic Stress and the updated Dual Process Model of grief. Kazak’s models outline phases of trauma and traumatic stress responses common in paediatric health, with targets for interventions that can mitigate post-traumatic stress symptoms across the three phases; Phase I ‘Peri-trauma’ is defined as the potentially traumatic event and its immediate effects, Phase II as the early and iterative traumatic stress responses related to the initial event and to treatment, and Phase III the traumatic responses when the physical threat and treatment has receded. In the context of paediatric palliative care a grief model comes into play across these phases. For the story-teller, storytelling can be a route to making sense of trauma, recovery, and finding identity when fundamental aspects of life have changed. For someone in the early stages of their palliative journey, hearing stories of psychological healing can offer hope that they too will be able to navigate the adversity in front of them.

This presentation highlights the change mechanisms that storytelling can impact. Practical strategies for facilitating the sharing of consumer stories will be shared, integrating learnings from the Paediatric Palliative Care National Action Plan Project and experience in facilitating consumers to share their stories to benefit families who maybe experiencing a similar journey.