Empowering people to develop a sense of connected identity and share their skills and knowledge using Narrative Therapy
The language of sport not the language of problems
The Team of Life is a strength-based approach that comes from a type of counselling called narrative therapy. Using the language of sport, the Team of Life invites people to identify key support people or ‘team-mates’ in their lives. This builds resilience by enabling them to build a sense of social support and connected identity.
Participants decide who they would like to think of as being in their ‘team of life’ from among their family, friends and other people who are important to them.
Recognising the skills in their teams helps them to build confidence.
Drawing how they worked together with their team to achieve a goal is an innovative way of telling stories of achievement and hope.
People are reminded that celebrating goals with a team is much more fun than on your own!
Being part of a team makes it easier to think about how to tackle problems together.
Team of Life helps reduce social withdrawal and increase pro-social behaviour
Team of Life can be beneficial for anyone. It can be helpful to all of us to think about the important people in our lives; those whom we have learned from or who have helped us through life. Children and young people who have become or are at risk of becoming socially isolated are particularly likely to benefit, e.g., children who have experienced;
Losses, trauma or hardship.
Low level mental health problems.
Concerns in relation to transition to secondary school.
Difficulties with friendships.
Problems related to self-esteem.
A randomised control trial led by University of Liverpool showed the programme was more effective than enhanced pastoral care following transition to secondary schools. Groups led by staff in schools trained by us showed the programme helped children to:
Feel less isolated
Be less socially withdrawn
Show more pro-social behaviour such as kindness and friendliness
Team of Life Facilitator Training - two half days online workshop led by Dr Vicky Eames
Introduction to Narrative Therapy - the approach underpinning Team of Life provides a philosophy and methodology for conversations that places children's stories, knowledge and skills at the centre
Team of Life 'Age 10-100' Programme - online access to step by step facilitator's guidance and session plans to our flagship Team of Life programme. The programme is 5 x 1 hour sessions that can be adapted for groups of different sizes. Some of the core activities can also be adapted for 1-1 and family work.
Downloadable resources, everything you need to deliver Team of Life including session plans, printable handouts and optional PowerPoint support.
Team of Life Facilitator Community - online community accessed via the Team of Life Hub, enabling you to connect with us as well as share practice experience with fellow facilitators.
While the Age 10-100 programme will be appropriate for older primary aged children, we also have the age 7-11 programme which is available to purchase for an additional cost of £50, including guidance and downloadable resources for this 10 x 1 hour session programme.
Understand more about Narrative Therapy and the Team of Life Approach
Develop skills for narrative conversations that can be used with children, families and adults
Run our Team of Life Programmes within your setting
Build resilience and reduce social isolation among your client group
Deliver this cross-cultural approach that can be adapted to a range of client groups including BAME and those disadvantaged due to socio-economic status
We have trained practitioners from services and organisations from a range of sectors including the NHS, Education and Third Sector. Some of our partners and customers include:
Cheshire & Wirral NHS Foundation Trust; Wirral Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service, Wirral Mental Health Support Team
Alder Hey Children's Hospital Trust; Clinical Health Psychology Team, Liverpool Mental Health Support Team, Sefton Mental Health Support Team.
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust; Buckinghamshire Mental Heal Support Team
West London NHS Trust; Hounslow Mental Health Support Team
St Helen's Educational Psychology Service
Cheshire West and Chester Educational Psychology Service
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust; Grenfell NHS Health and Well-being Service, Adult Mental Health Services
West Sussex County Council; Thought-Full: Mental Health Support Teams in Schools
Hendon Football Club; Silver Jubilee Park Community Hub
Here's what other practitioners have said about our Team of Life training
“It helps people to not get sad over small things anymore and feel people are there for them.”
“It reminds you of who’s there for you, and like who can look after you when you’re down.”
“I started feeling more confidence just ‘cause people around me who I know would help, and that I would have a support from other places, such as home.”
“Yeah like treat people better and erm, like if I see someone who’s feeling down, like go and talk to them.”
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An example of one of the narrative activities in the programme are Goal Maps.
Goal Maps are a really important part of the programme as they help children and young people to share the story of how they worked together with their team to ‘score’ an important goal in their life.
"Goal Maps kinda gave me an idea of other ways to reach my goals and people I could use ‘cause I have many goals but normally I don’t ask people to help me out, I try and do it solo, but it doesn’t always work out, so it really made me think about other people I could ask for help if I need to achieve a goal.”
A cross-cultural narrative methodology using sporting metaphors
Our mission is for all children and young people in the UK to have the opportunity to take part in Team of Life; ensuring they have a sense of connected identity and know they are not alone but have a team around them to help.
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No specific qualifications are required to attend the training and become a facilitator. We aim to involve service users and experts by experience and young people working as peer mentors in the delivery of Team of Life as well as professionals.
Access to the Team of Life Online Hub is valid for one year. Following this a small additional administration fee (currently £25) is charged in order to have continued access to the Hub including resources that are regularly being updated. The downloadable resources can be printed for use with young people. There is no additional charge for this.
Training is delivered face to face, online via Zoom or through a self-study online course.
No, this would be a copyright infringement. The resources are for individual use by the person who has undertaken training. This is important to ensure that people delivering Team of Life have the necessary understanding of the approach. If you would like to purchase training as an organisation please contact us on [email protected]
Yes! We highly recommend attending training as a team as you get added team building benefits due to the experiential nature of the training. Why not take time as a team to think about your shared values, support networks and goals? Contact us for more information.
The Age 10-100 programme is aimed at any age and is suitable from approximately age 10 and is 5 sessions long. We have an additional programme aimed at children aged 7-13 that can be purchased separately by facilitators who have trained as a Team of Life Facilitator.
No, Team of Life is for everyone. You can use the approach with families, individuals, adults and staff groups to help build resilience and teams.
No, our research has found that children enjoy and benefit from taking part in Team of Life whether or not they like sport. Team of Life doesn’t involve any sporting ability. It uses sporting metaphors which provide an easy to grasp universal language that is familiar to people of all ages. Space is provided to share knowledge and experience of sport good and bad.
No, our research has shown that girls enjoy and benefit from Team of Life just as much.
