'Love and Laughter' Workshops

'This is why I am so passionate about my 'Love and Laughter' therapy - it works! It heals! It lights up the deadened traumatised life with love and laughter and leads people into hope for the future - what can be better than that?!' Linda Rose

'We learned how to release our worries, frustrations and grief' Kilinochchi student

The combination of joyful activities and self expression leads young people to a sense of release and freedom, and Linda teaches young people how to have hope for the future, with some practical advice how to reach their goals. The evaluations for these one or two day workshops speaks for their success, and are incredibly positive no matter the age of the participants or their cultural background. Linda adapts and adjusts each workshop to ensure it is relevant to all the specific needs of the participants and has run this workshop in prisons, IDP (refugee) camps, schools, children's homes, field work, police stations, hotels, community halls and anywhere there are people and spaces to work with them, even on the beach!

Linda Rose developed the 'Love and Laughter' workshops after spending more than 20 years developing creative ways to support young people's future expectations and life potential. Having spent a large part of her professional life working to help young peoples life expectations and mental health in many practical ways, Linda Rose was most concerned how to effectively help young people suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) in Sri Lanka.

Linda coined the phrase 'love and laughter' for her workshops as she realised that this was the winning formulae for the success with those suffering from various traumas. Love and laughter are two of the most important ingredients in healing as the physiological chemicals produced in genuine laughter help the physical healing process, and the joy and loving social acceptance in the group games promote healing in the psyche. Together they promote self confidence and self acceptance and go some way towards healing some of the hurts from the past and the false messages of hopelessness that they have believed which contribute to blocking their expectations for a positive future. Many of the evaluations say how the workshop has given them courage to face the future and knowledge of how they can achieve a good future. Hope is a powerful motivator.

Working alongside experienced psychologists in Sri Lanka enabled Linda to develop her theory and practise of creative therapeutic work, and she received encouragement and further requests from highly skilled professionals demonstrating the importance of her work as opposed to traditional counselling methods. In a multitude of workshops throughout Sri Lanka, experienced counsellors and other psycho-social workers write their appreciation for the new skills to add to their 'bag of tricks' and express how well these new techniques work in practise.

Linda's format is based on active learning through games and creative arts, puppets, drama, dance and music. She uses mime and drama skills to engage in psycho-social games which relax children in each others company and lead to more self confidence and self exploration through 'parachuting' little pieces of information and challenges while playing seemingly fun activities.

'After the war we have grief and bitterness in our lives, now this programme removes all those feelings and prepares us and now we are able to face the challenges in our lives.' Kilinochchi student, 2013

Time and again, experienced counsellors are amazed at the difference of the group work responses in these love and laughter workshops, including highly traumatised abuse survivors who cannot communicate on an individual level but were laughing and smiling with others in the workshop. Young people write of the impact of the workshops and longer term evaluations have been taken to check longevity of the workshops which have also shown the longterm impact.

'This is a great opportunity for me and also is a very amazing gift. I can manage my emotions on my own. I learnt more games for working with children. Your 'mind map test' is very useful for my career life. And everything is very good and your approach is an very friendly as well as teaching method. I learnt more from drawing of picture 'window through heart' picture drawing. Especially your ending relaxation time is very help to me.' Counsellor, Jaffna

Creative activities need to be added into all that is done with young people, not as a replacement for traditional methods of therapy. As young people have many different personalities, all techniques should be tried to give young people a variety of medium to see what suits them best.

What's different about love and laughter therapy?

Her experiences of counselling as a youth worker hearing young people reporting their experiences, many courses in counselling techniques, play therapy and motivational interviewing, and her own personal experiences of counselling is that much of the traditional core of counselling techniques are not the most helpful method of intervention for children.

Children find the intensity of one to one talking therapies too intense and often the objective questioning techniques leave young people feeling that the therapist is cold and disinterested. Much of the success of counselling comes down to the individual therapist and how they adapt the basic tenants of their teaching to young people's needs, but Linda has witnessed active harm from counselling rather than help or even a neutral experience. She considers psychology a science in its infancy - only being studied for little over a century.

'I think the human race will look back on this time as being primeval in its treatment of mental health issues and mock us like we mock some outdated medical procedures. We seem stuck in some old methods of mental health treatment without having enough flexibility to make changes or be open to new approaches. The problem is that many practitioners do not have the time to undertake quality research, and the researchers often do not live in the real world and use small samples for big outcomes. The joy with 'love and laughter' work is that is can do no harm as it brings joy and laughter through games. There is little intrusive work, therefore little that can bring pain. But the benefit is vast as young people have hope and courage to face the future.'

Siva: 'This workshop is really good - we like it again like this workshop. This workshop can really quickly change our mind. And also I pray to God we need again like this workshop. Please God. I wish all of you God bless you and thank you.'

Young people have come to her in the UK in tears, complaining about their experiences with counsellors, and many war affected young people in Sri Lanka hate the idea of undertaking counselling as they say 'we are not mad'. Some of this may be rectified by broader training, and some is the way it is advertised or perceived, but there is no doubt that much of the traditional counselling and especially Freudian psychotherapy that often focus on the past and assume understanding their past gives skills for the future. This is not borne out in practise, especially with PTSD, and young people who have faced disasters need to have the past healed and move on from it into a hopeful future.

The future is the most important aspect, and opening the Pandora's box of the past is only necessary in that it support their movement to the future. Many times therapists have forced open Pandora's box without a real idea how to close it again. As children trust adults, they assume that they know how to help them, and when they are left with renewed nightmares of their experiences and little new help or strategies for how to live for the future it is not fair to the young people.

One to One Creative Exercises

In the UK, Linda always uses techniques for her one to one session where young people can play and fiddle with fun objects like squishy body parts or stress balls, or play with clay. She uses a lot of art work on flipchart or A2 paper for all her exercises so that not only do young people share a task with the therapist, but they do not have to stare at each other, and also the client enjoys drawing the picture representing their problems which then can be worked on.

So, for example, anger problems can be drawn as a volcano and the young person can write their physical reactions as they become more angry up the lava flow; and describe what happens when they start to act out their anger. This gives them a visual representation which is easier to work on, and in itself often makes a difference to them being able to identify patterns and plan contingencies. 'What do you do when you feel like this? What can stop you getting to the next stage? What can you do to let your anger out instead of punching someone?' Then I often use 'cool down' exercises like drawing a glass with ice cubes in and write in each cube what they can do to cool down instead of acting out the anger negatively. A thermometer is also a good diagram for anger as most people get hot when they are angry. Then these can be referred back to on subsequent sessions so say 'Where are you today?'

One teenager with ADHD struggled with life issues especially in education, and Linda worked closely with him between 2009-2012. He started 2014 with a long Facebook post about his relationships; a section is copied here with his permission:

To all my old teachers i gave so much grieve and was such a little brat although you were tryna teach me valuable things i did not pay so much attention until it was too late and last but no least linda rose she has been like an angel in disguise i dont even know where i would be without you i mean i have learnt so much from you and im so greatful i feel like the only person that taught me sense and well being was you linda and u have helped so many other people and sometimes live has thrown in straight back into you face but you are so strong you just pick yourself up and carry on you are my hero i look up to you so much and feel that you deserve so much more back for what you do. You taught me the means to not be selfish and to help others you have helped me to mature into the person i am today. But for all this i can say that maybe my life is not as bad as it seems there is so much joy and love in the world if you just open your eyes.'

Over 20+ years Linda has developed many different drawing templates and some of her training sessions for adults teach them how to develop their own drawings. The important thing is to be able to think in metaphors. What can represent loss or anger or grief or loneliness, or drugs and alcohol etc? We then draw this and use this to work on the issue. So for alcohol Linda often draws a beer glass and puts a scale up the side to look at the physical and mental reactions as the person drinks more. What do they enjoy? When does it become a problem? How can they experience warning signs? What can they replace the positives that alcohol gives to them?

Linda would love to undertake a PhD to document the success of these creative techniques, a possible plan for the future, though she is not sure she has the patience and stamina for this.

In summary, what does the 'love and laughter' workshop achieve? It reaches the parts other work does not reach; by genuinely relaxing the child, they open their heart to the messages of hope and love, and begin to see the positives in the world around them.

As Linda says 'This is why I am so passionate about my 'Love and Laughter' therapy - it works! It heals! It lights up the deadened traumatised life with love and laughter and leads people into hope for the future - what can be better than that?!'

Staff Evaluations

'This training workshop is really perfect. The thing is you all try to make it really happy for the kids and clearly, perfectly you do workshop. It is a really useful workshop. This practical workshop is a really good thing for the children . From this workshop the children have to explain their things. Example is the paintings. Thank you very much, again do like this workshop at our place.'

Probation staff, Hikkaduwa certified boys' home

'This is a great opportunity for me and also is a very amazing gift. I can manage my emotions on my own. I learnt more games for working with children. Your 'mind map test' is very useful for my career life. And everything is very good and your approach is an very friendly as well as teaching method. I learnt more from drawing of picture 'window through heart' picture drawing. Especially your ending relaxation time is very help to me.'

Counsellor, Jaffna

'This day has taken me back to my childhood for sure. I am sure that this workshop has touched each point to deal with kids, parenthood and teachers. This programme taught me to understand the importance in creativity which I never thought plays a major role in relationship with kids. Thank you for your valuable time with us to share your views and experiences. We look forward to more sessions from you.'

Children's worker, Colombo

Children's Evaluations

'Today is the most happiest day in my lifetime. Really we were really happy today so we would like that you come here every day then we can smile every day. So I don't forget this day ever. We would like to have you next week also. So Jesus Christ bless you.'

Girl from Probation centre, Galle

'I learned how to accept success and failure together. I have got a chance to renew my life. I got some peace in my mind. by blowing and bursting the balloon made me relax and be happy. There's a big change in my attitude.'

War affected girl, Jaffna girls' home.

'I am ---. I havent any words to say thank you; again we need like this workshop to make us happy. Today is really funny. This day is really important day in my life. In my life time I haven't had a day like today. I will never forget this day. And I thank you from my heart. Thank you for everyone who helped us. Thank you.'

Boy from Hikkaduwa certified school

'This is an unforgettable day for me. Really I would like to thank you mam because today from your lectures I got confident, strength and I'm very happy. I feel flexible, relax mind, and we have many games from those games we learned leadership qualities. Once again than you so much mam and Sir. We would like to have another event like this. So please come once again to our school and give some programmes to other students.

Hindu Ladies College student, Colombo

'We really enjoyed the workshop. It was really awesome. From the beginning to end we got so many knowledge and at the end our mind was really pleasant and calm. We are so proud to participate in this workshop. And also we are so lucky to be here. My wish is you have to do these same activities to many children and make the future bright. Thank you so much.'

Colombo student

'It's very useful for us. Thank you very much. I like you soooo much. This programme is like a trip. We look at our life. We can develop our life and lifestyle. We thought about our life and other's life; how to help us, how to understand us. Thank you a lot. God bless you. I love you. I think you like to us. I can't English well - but I try to learn it!'

A Level student, Kantale