Puppetry is more commonly associated with seaside shows of Punch and Judy than with helping children in care talk about their problems. 

But it is being used by NSPCC practitioners in Croydon to help youngsters overcome specific concerns or problems.

The charity runs a Face to Face service that gives children aged five to 19 support to overcome the effects of their previous experiences and to deal with their emotions.

Barry O’Sullivan is one of the workers at the NSPCC service centre in central Croydon working with up to 12 children at any one time.

He said: “At the beginning of any work I agree with the child what the focus of the work will be and what they would like to achieve from the work.

“Within sessions we use scales from zero to 10 to track the child’s progress towards their preferred future and to develop action plans for them to use between sessions.

“For the younger children we can be creative with the scales and use tools such as ladders or beads, which are more visual.

“We use a solution focused approach, meaning that instead of always talking about the problem we look for a solution.”

Mr O’Sullivan said puppets are used with some of the younger children, including a boy who is in foster care and is worried who he will be living with in the future.

The 32-year-old added: “Sessions with him are focused on helping him to manage some of those worries and anxieties.

“Because of his age, we use puppets to act out a scenario and ask him what advice he would give to the puppet who is experiencing a similar situation.

“By projecting the problem on to somebody else; it can make it easier for children to identify possible solutions which they can use to address their issue or concern”

Call the Croydon service centre on 020 8253 1850 to find out more about the service or make a referral.