When she wrote this article in 2006, Ncazelo Ncube worked for REPSSI, a regional capacity-building organisation working in 13 countries in East and Southern Africa to enhance the provision of psychosocial care and support to children affected by HIV/AIDS, poverty and conflict. Ncazelo now works with Phola, an organisation that she founded in 2016 to respond to trauma and related hardships faced by children, young people, families and communities in South Africa. https://phola.org/
This audio recording of a paper from the archives of International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work describes the use of narrative ideas in work with vulnerable children in Southern Africa. How can the lives of children who have experienced significant losses be responded to in ways that are not retraumatising and that bring to light children’s own skills and knowledge? What sorts of exercises can be used in camps for vulnerable children? How can children be provided with significant experiences that do not separate them from their families, values and cultural norms? This paper describes a creative adaptation of the “Tree of Life” exercise informed by narrative therapy principles and practices.
Key words: Tree of Life; metaphor; children; Southern Africa; HIV/AIDS; grief; loss; trauma; narrative therapy; collective narrative practice
This recording: Ncube-Mlilo, N. (2026). The Tree of Life Project: Using narrative ideas in work with vulnerable children in Southern Africa (N. Ncube-Mlilo, Narr.) [Audio recording]. International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, (1). https://doi.org/10.4320/FGIA3542 (Original work published 2006)
Original paper: Ncube, N. (2006). The Tree of Life Project: Using narrative ideas in work with vulnerable children in Southern Africa. International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, (1), 3–16.