SEST FUNDAMENTALS Story Emotion Social Therapy: WholeStory Therapist Guide and Principal Curriculum Paperback – November 3, 2024

Are you ready to guide children through social challenges with confidence and clarity — while bringing yourself and parents into the process?Too often, social-skills programs focus only on the child, leaving the adults who support them on the sidelines. SEST Fundamentals: Story Emotion Social Therapy changes that. This research-based guide introduces a powerful, story-driven framework for helping children build social understanding through language, emotion, and connection.What you’ll learn inside:• The core principles of Story Emotion Social Therapy (SEST): how story structure strengthens communication, empathy, and self-awareness.• How to use the WholeStory Map to help children identify “what happened,” “what they wanted,” and “how they felt,” turning social moments into teachable stories.• Strategies for collaborating with parents so social learning continues beyond the therapy room or classroom.• A full Therapist and Principal Curriculum with lesson outlines, reflective roadblock questions, and real-world examples.Whether you work in a school, private practice, or family-based setting, SEST Fundamentals offers a clear roadmap for integrating emotional understanding and narrative development into everyday interactions. Through story, children learn to make sense of their social world, and adults learn to guide them with empathy, structure, and calm.Created by Dr. Rochel Lieberman, PhD — 2025 NYS Distinguished Speech-Language Clinician Award recipient, researcher, author, and founder of the WholeStory Speech Practice , this curriculum blends decades of clinical expertise with a compassionate, evidence-based approach that honors the voices of both children and parents.Start the conversation that changes everything.Help children grow socially and emotionally — one story at a time.Dr. Rochel Lieberman, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a nationally recognized speech-language pathologist, researcher, and founder of WholeStory Speech. She is the creator of Story Emotion Social Therapy (SEST), a framework that integrates storytelling and emotional learning to help children make sense of their social world. Dr. Lieberman is the 2025 recipient of the NYS Distinguished Speech-Language Clinician Award and author of multiple professional and children’s titles, including Pearla and Her Unpredictably Perfect Day. Her work bridges clinical practice and parent education, empowering families, educators, and therapists to connect through story-based communication.Praise and Endorsements“…This well-written and well-organized manual will help SLPs and mental health professionals help children, and their parents/caregivers, blossom…” —Thomas W. Phelan, PhD, author of 1-2-3 Magic“…I started using the SEST WholeStory Maps with my clients who struggle with Selective Mutism, and am already seeing how much easier it is for them to tell stories this way…” —Serel Frankel, Sisters Who Speech“…The layout is user-friendly, the book is filled with relatable examples, and the chapter summaries and appendices/handouts are practical and clear!...” —Sandra G. Combs, Ph.D., CCC-SLP“The SEST Approach is a powerful and empowering way to help children communicate about and draw connections between inner experiences and the outside world…” —Eileen Kennedy-Moore, PhD, author of Growing Feelings: A Kids' Guide to Dealing with Emotions About Friends and Other Kids, and host of the Kids Ask Dr. Friendtastic podcast“Children with speech and communication issues everywhere now have a new champion in their corner…” —Hunter Clarke-Fields, author ofRaising Good Humans, creator ofMindful Parenting Read more