Welcome to Own My Story

Hi, my name is Louis and I'm the founder of Own My Story. I'm excited to introduce my vision for innovative life story work. Keep reading for details and thank you for join us!

What is Own My Story?

Own My Story aims to improve access to life story work for care experienced children and young people. Life story work is a therapeutic process that helps children in care make sense of their experiences and understand their journey. A life story book is created to record key events, relationships, and memories, supporting identity and emotional development.

We're building a service to strengthen life story work through collaboration between young people and their social workers. By combining direct work, AI tools, and graphic design, we create beautifully crafted life story books that help young people take ownership of their narrative.

How does it work?

We’re currently in the early development stages working on an app to guide users through the life story process. The app will be used for information gathering, interactive direct work sessions and reviewing the final book before its printed.  

Information for the book will be submitted by social workers using our app. This can include case records and assessments, as well as information about identity, relationships and photos. Personal information is safely stored within an encrypted data base. Equally, we use AI tools that comply with UK GDPR standards to create a chronology and support us in writing a compassionate and empowering narrative for the book.

Structured direct work plans will be provided to the child's social worker focusing on the design of the life story book and exploring the key parts of the story. Session plans are designed on principles of trauma-informed practice and therapeutic life story work.

Own My Story uses graphic design software to produce book templates and themes. Young people will be able to choose their book’s design features, including themed templates, fonts, picture frames and colours.

We compile the book using the information submitted, the young person's voice and design choices, and creative graphic design. By using AI information processing tools, we're able to transform complicated local authority records into the book's age-appropriate narrative.

Once complete, the life story book is professionally printed and sent to the young person and the supporting local authority.  

Where did the idea for Own My Story come from?

Working in statutory services for children in care, I’ve noticed limitations in some areas of relationship-based practice, such as direct work and life story work. This is a practice approach that most social workers are passionate about but tends to become overshadowed by routine statutory processes.

Own My Story was created to improve the quantity and quality of life story work. We believe that social workers need efficient and collaborative tools to reduce the time-consuming elements of life story work. Our mission is to empower all children in care to tell their stories and take ownership of their life story book.

Why is Own My Story needed?

Life story work is a statutory duty in the UK for children in care and children placed for adoption. The Children Act 1989 Guidance & Regulations (2010) states that life story work “is essential if they (children in care) are to understand what has happened in their childhood.” It’s a vital therapeutic process needed to support children to recover from trauma and develop a healthy identity.

The standard of life story books often does not reflect the significance of the stories they hold. Social workers face unrealistic expectations to simultaneously gathering information, design the book and complete direct work without the time, training or tools to do so.

Children and young people deserve to have a clear understanding of their journey into care, not just for their sense of identity, but to hold services accountable for the decisions made on their behalf. Own My Story aims to promote opportunities for children to explore their stories alongside their social worker and carers.

By taking care of the design, technology and admin, Own My Story frees up social workers to focus on the important relationship-based aspects of life story work.

How does it differ from pre-existing services?

There’s a growing number of innovative services and apps supporting social work practice. Some of these focus on life story work, others on participation, case recording or case management. Like Own My Story, many aim to streamline processes and ease the demands on social workers.

What sets Own My Story apart is our complete journey from referral to professionally printed life story book. We believe in the power of individual social workers. By equipping the child’s existing social worker with creative tools and removing time-consuming tasks, we avoid introducing unfamiliar professionals and reduce outsourcing costs.

How is Own My Story using AI and is it safe?

AI is slowly being introduced in many areas of social work, particularly to optimise administrative processes. Its potential uses are vast and we’ve found a unique way it can benefit life story work. Own My Story does not need the life story worker to comb through masses of records to create a narrative. We’re working with AI to simplify information processes and help children unlock accessible stories from complicated social service records.

Own My Story is publishing a full blog article on our use of AI, its risks and how we plan to safeguard children’s information. We have spent considerable time understanding and piloting AI systems to support our service. We’ve identified systems that strictly comply with UK GDPR regulations to ensure our information handling aligns with our social work values.

Register your contact details below to be informed when our full AI blog article is published.

How will Own My Story be funded?

We’re currently working on a full business model. One thing we can confirm is our commitment to providing cost effective pricing for organisations. We understand the financial pressures on local authority budgets and aim to create a low-cost solution to improving life story work.

We’re exploring several potential funding options, including social enterprise grants, partnership deals with local authorities and socially responsible income models to reinvest profits back into the service.

Our long-term vision is to ensure that life story work is not only meaningful and impactful, but also widely available and affordable to those who need it.

What’s next?

These are exciting times and we’re looking forward to the future of Own My Story! We’re launching our website, sharing our knowledge and connecting with likeminded professionals.

Its vital that we pilot our service design to include children and social workers. We’re committed to co-producing the final app and book creation process with care-experienced young people. We're looking to connect with local authorities interested in piloting Own My Story for their service.

Please register your interest below if you wish to discuss piloting Own My Story for your service.

We hope to hear from you soon!

References:

Children’s Act 1989 Guidance & Regulations (2010). Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67a0d251cae64da4967b3fdc/CA1989_Transitions_Guidance.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com