Workshop 10

Entering worlds of magic and imagination: Exploring possibilities with children

A narrative approach offers many possibilities of working with children in responding to a wide range of problems. The ideas and practices make it possible to engage with children in a way that makes visible their skills, knowledge and lived experiences. It allows us to recruit imagination, magic and audacious hope in responding to the struggles the children experience in a way that acknowledges and respects their skills. 

 

This one day workshop will be a practice based exploration of narrative ways of working with children through the use of imagination, magic, playfulness and much more…. We will share examples of our work with children to highlight principles of practice, as well explore entries into magic lands in faraway places. There will be opportunities for participants to both experience and reflect upon the key practices of the narrative approach. 

 

This workshop will be suitable for counselors, social workers, psychologists, teachers, therapists, community workers or anyone working with children.

The workshop will provide insight into:

  • Exploring ways to support preferred identity developments

  • Engaging with children using imagination, magic and playfulness

  • Introduce “wonderfulness” in working with families

  • Writing magical letters to children

Facilitated by Jehanzeb Baldiwala and Jill Sanghvi

​​Jehanzeb Baldiwala has aligned herself with narrative ways of working for over twenty years. and is a voracious reader who believes in dreams and magic. She loves to travel and to connect with people.

She is a therapist, supervisor, trainer and Co-Founder of Narrative Practices India Collective. Her work includes consulting with persons, families, and children in responding to a range of issues that include anxiety, depression, school related issues in addition to training and supervising mental health work.

She has been instrumental in developing several long and shorter training programs in narrative practices with a team of narrative practitioners and mentors Shona Russell, Maggie Carey and Peggy Sax. She continues to develop and facilitate training in narrative ideas and practices and is visiting faculty for the Master's program in Life Span Counselling at the St. Xavier's university, Mumbai. She is also a mentor to several organizational leaders such as Apni Shala and Setco Foundation.

She has a keen interest in exploring the use of narrative ideas and practices in therapy as well as diverse contexts including supervision and development of professional identity of mental health workers as well as in organizational development.

She has written several articles, participated in international conferences and contributed to documenting the narrative work being done in India.

Formerly Director of Mental Health Services and Head of Training, Ummeed Child Development center (2004 – 2021) she has also served as Director of Family Support and Social Rehabilitation Services at North East Community Center, Philadelphia, USA, and has a Master’s Degree in Applied Psychology from the University of Mumbai.

Jill Sanghvi is a mental health practitioner who currently resides with her family in Mumbai, India. She received a Ph. D. in Psychology from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and her research explores and brings forward voices of autistic young people in India. Jill has a Masters in Applied Psychology from Mumbai University and a Masters in Mental Health Counseling from Pace University, New York. 

Jill came together with a group of like-minded colleagues to co-create Narrative Practices India Collective in 2020, with the hope of exploring narrative practices in diverse spaces through conceptualizing and facilitating trainings and collective programs in collaboration with communities, therapists, and educators working in the field of mental health. She has co-founded Happie World in 2014, a leisure and fun space for disabled young people. Jill has also been a part of Ummeed Child Development Center since 2009, where she currently works as a supervisor. 

Jill has always been interested in people’s stories and loves to witness the sparkle in people’s eyes and voices when they speak about their hopes and dreams. She has been drawn towards narrative ideas and practices in her work and holds a stance of social justice and a hope to nurture preferred ways of being when she collaborates with communities, groups and individuals in therapeutic conversations.  

Jill teaches in various mental health training programs in India with the intention to make visible the role of oppressive structures in maintaining problems in the lives of people and communities and nurturing collective accountability with the participants in the training programs. She has a particular interest in communities in the local context and has been actively engaging with community workers in conversations about mental health since 2014. She is also a visiting faculty at the UDAP, Mumbai University since 2022 where she guides students to conduct research from the social constructionist lens. 

Jill has published articles about her work with children and families with developmental disabilities in Indian journals and has been invited to speak about her work at several national and international conferences. She hopes to collaborate with more young people in the disability space and write about deconstructing the disability experience, centering voices of self-advocates and challenging ideas of ableism and other oppressive systemic discourses.