12.5-hour online training · Susan Perrow, M.Ed
A five-session training in writing therapeutic stories — for the challenging behaviour and the hard situations you meet at home, in the classroom, and in your practice.
Susan Perrow — author, storyteller,
teacher trainer
Introduction video · 3:24
Who this is for
A child who hits. A child who won't sleep. A family moving through grief, separation, illness, a new baby. You already know that more talking rarely fixes it — and that the moment you name the problem directly, they close.
Therapeutic stories work the other way round. They come in sideways, through metaphor and imagination, and let the child meet the difficulty inside a story journey instead of being lectured about it. In this training, you learn to write your own — for the specific child, the specific situation, in front of you.
For bedtime resistance, sibling jealousy, big feelings, and the family changes you can't shield them from.
For the classroom dynamic that repeats — teasing, exclusion, tidy-up time, transitions — without singling a child out.
For clients who go quiet when asked direct questions, and for work that needs a gentler doorway in.
For adding a creative, imaginative modality to your practice — one you write yourself, tailored to the case.
What a therapeutic story is
There is no single formula. There are many different ways to write a therapeutic story, and the training works through the craft rather than a recipe.
You learn the definition and the story-making framework, how helping metaphors and obstacle metaphors work, and how movement is carried through a story journey. Then you take existing stories apart, in a group, until you can see how they were built.
Susan's rainbow, photographed over the mountains where she lived in Africa.
The five sessions
Three afternoons of teaching, then nine days to write, then two afternoons reading what you wrote. The gap in the middle is where the work happens.
Before technique, orientation: why story reaches places instruction can't. Then the machinery — you learn to write these by first learning to read them properly, taking existing stories apart until the working parts are visible.
At the end of session three you identify a real challenging behaviour or situation of your own, you're paired with a partner, and Susan sends the group written guidelines for the writing task.
Nine days to write
8 – 16 October
These are not two afternoons of listening. Susan keeps teaching across both sessions — the story presentations are the material she teaches from, and she adds more where the group takes her.
She reads every story before the session it's discussed in, so the comment you receive is about the story you actually wrote, for the child you actually have in mind. Six pairs, six very different difficulties: hearing the others is the fastest way to see the method generalise beyond your own case.
The story-maker's eleven
Write with a helping intention, not a healing one. The difference changes the whole story.
Listen. Observe. Research. The story is built from what's actually there, not what you assume.
The seed is usually hiding inside the description of the challenge itself.
Useful, and easy to misjudge. When it works and when it wounds.
Don't rush from problem to resolution. Beware of clutter along the way.
Shifts and transitions are where the movement lives. Learn to place them.
It needs feeding. Practical ways to nourish and strengthen it.
Playing at random with story journeys to loosen fixed thinking.
Metaphor mind maps for exploring ideas before you commit to one.
Clarify where it lands. A vague ending undoes the whole journey.
Draw your way into metaphor and journey ideas when words stall.
Then you write one.
How it runs
Capped at twelve people so everyone's story gets airtime.
Before you start
Both are sent two to three weeks before the training — around mid-September — so there is time to work through them properly.
Also included in your place
Your trainer
Author, storyteller, parent educator and teacher trainer, with twenty years of teaching experience across Australia and Africa.
In 2000 she developed the first storytelling course at an Australian university, Southern Cross University, and completed her Masters research on storytelling in a cross-cultural setting — post-apartheid South Africa. Her work now spans writing, consulting with teachers, parents and therapists, and running story therapy seminars nationally and internationally.
Her four resource books are published by Hawthorn Press in the UK and have been translated into twelve languages.
Susan runs this same training internationally. Recent groups have included therapists doing emergency work in Beirut schools and displacement centres, and teachers and social workers supporting Ukrainian refugees in Romania, in a programme funded by CARE and SERA Romania.
Published work
Four story collections published by Hawthorn Press in the UK, alongside her academic work — and translated for readers across Asia, Europe and Latin America.
A selection of editions. Hover to pause the shelf.
Dates and enrolment
Standard
RM1,550
One place. Includes the introductory talk, the workbook, and Susan's feedback on your story.
Early bird
RM1,3501,550
Book by Friday 4 September 2026 and save RM200.
Come as a pair
RM1,1501,550
Each, when two of you book together — RM400 off per person. You'll be paired for the story-writing anyway; this way you choose your partner.
Places are limited to twelve. Registration includes the Zoom link, the introductory talk recording, the pre-reading workbook and a certificate of completion. Enquiries and bookings: info@artbasedcoaching.com
Register
Nothing is charged on the form. We send an invoice, and your place is held once payment is received.
Twelve places in the room
Early bird closes Friday 4 September 2026.
Open the registration formQuestions before you book, or need an invoice made out to your organisation? Write to info@artbasedcoaching.com.
Before you book
No. The training gives you a framework, a set of tools — story cards, metaphor mind maps, sketching — and a partner to write with. Most participants have never written a story before. What matters more is that you know a child and a challenge well enough to observe it closely.
Yes, one piece. At the end of session three you'll identify a challenging behaviour or situation you want to write for, you'll be paired with another participant, and Susan will send written guidelines for the task. Together you write one therapeutic story and email it to her by Friday 16 October, so she can read it before the group discusses it.
Yes, if you book together. Pairs are formed at the end of session three for the story-writing homework. If you register with a colleague, partner or co-parent, you can write together — and you both pay the pair rate of RM1,150 instead of RM1,550. If you come alone, Susan pairs you with another participant.
Two things, both sent about two to three weeks before the training starts. Listen to the one-hour introductory talk: this is required, not optional, because the training builds directly on it. And read the 26-page workbook of theory notes and story examples.
The framework is written for children and the examples are drawn from work with children, families and classrooms. That said, the same story structure — metaphor, journey, resolution — is used with teenagers and adults. If your work is entirely with adults, ask before booking so you can decide with the full picture.
Sessions run 3:00–5:30pm Malaysia time, which is 6:00–8:30pm in Sydney where Susan is based. The slot was chosen deliberately for the late part of the day, so it sits after standard school hours for participants in Malaysia and Singapore. If you're joining from another timezone, check your local conversion before you book — the five dates are Mon 5, Tue 6, Wed 7, Mon 19 and Tue 20 October 2026.
The training runs with a minimum of nine participants. If we haven't reached nine, the programme is postponed rather than cancelled — we'll hold your place and confirm new dates with you before anything else happens.
Let us know at least one week before the first session and your fee is refunded in full. Notice received later than one week before the programme starts is not eligible for a full refund.
You can substitute a different participant at any time at no extra charge — just tell us the new person's name and email so we can send them the introductory talk and the workbook.
You'll leave with it written.