SAM’S HOUSE PROJECT
Little Child Friendly Space; A place to play, heal, and grow.


Sam’s House – Little Child Friendly Space is a safe, therapeutic, and nurturing environment designed especially for pre-school children aged 2.5 to 5 years who have been affected by trauma, bereavement, displacement, or conflict. Located within tented settlement areas, IDP camps, or disaster zones, Sam’s House provides a warm and welcoming space where young children can play, explore, and express themselves through creativity. Using age-appropriate activities such as art, music and movement, drama, storytelling, and role-play, children are gently supported to process their experiences in both verbal and non-verbal ways.

Rooted in the principles of dramatherapy, early years psychosocial development, and the Developmental Play Model (Jennings, 1990), Sam’s House is not formal therapy but a therapeutic resource offering creative psychosocial support. The programme is delivered by trained adult facilitators—such as teachers, social workers, or health professionals—who receive foundational training in early childhood development, creative therapeutic techniques, and psychosocial support. While not trained as therapists, these adults are equipped to create safe, engaging spaces where children feel seen, heard, and valued.
Sam’s House helps children develop a strong sense of protection, trust, and belonging, while also building confidence, resilience, and emotional expression. The focus is on supporting “the healthy child” through joy-filled, play-based experiences that foster healing and hope. If a child requires more intensive therapeutic intervention, appropriate referrals will be made to specialist practitioners.
At Sam’s House, every child is given the chance to simply be a child again—to laugh, to create, to connect, and to begin the journey of healing.

In 2014 IS launched a coordinated attack across a region of Northern Iraq, the attack came from all four sides and the local population were unprotected and defenceless as IS advanced. In the hours and days that followed 12,000 people were killed or abducted by IS.
It is estimated that around 250,000 people fleed to Mount Sinjar where they were surrounded by IS for days in temperatures above 40 degrees. IS prevented access to food, water and medical care, and many died before a rescue operation finally provided an escape.Many houses were destroyed leaving them homeless and Refugee camps both offical and not offical have been set up.
Many children still suffer from the traumatising events that occured and we want to be able to reach this generation. We want to provide training and support on trauma therapy and offer the listening stone programme to these children. Ideally we would like this to be in a Sam’s House space, providing arts and crafts, toys, games, and music.