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‘My Happy Ending’ group work uses narrative therapy principles and practices to respond to children who have experienced violence in their families. The video describes the two-days-one-night group work process and offers reflections on working with children in Singapore using narrative ideas. ‘My Happy Ending’ is an original creation, consisting of the performance and narration of an original fictional story written specially for the group work, storytelling, and several play- and art-based activities. Using child-friendly metaphors and stories to introduce children to the use of externalisation as a way of viewing violence and other difficulties in their lives, it hoped to decrease the influence of family violence in the children’s lives and to increase their personal agency in dealing with it. The video also describes the creative use of child-appropriate collective documentation and definitional ceremony, to present the children’s knowledges, and to develop preferred accounts of their lives and identities.

Jocelyn Lee is working as a social worker in Singapore. She is passionate about incorporating narrative ideas in her work, especially in co-creating collective and living documents with her clients to elevate their alternative stories on a public platform. She is fervent about finding new ways to work with cultural complexities and welcomes collaboration opportunities. She can be reached at jocelynleeht@gmail.com

Published April 28, 2017