THE POWER OF STORYTELLING

Stories provide us with a sense of place within our communities, organisations and ourselves. If we view our experiences as the forces that create an internal landscape within our minds, then stories provide us with pathways to orientate and make sense of that landscape.

Recent research reveals that we make sense of our lives through stories; it also highlights the impact that ‘Toxic Stress’ can have in developing negative pathways within our ‘mindscapes.’ This impact can be on an epigenetic level, affecting generations of people within communities. This results, not only in a ‘closed’ and negative, social narrative of certain communities and the people within them, but also on the physical and psychological well-being of these people. Through Narrative4Change we work to effectively challenge these.

The language we use to describe ourselves, our peers, our employees, our patients, our children, all creates a narrative that shapes responses and beliefs. The writer Joan Aitken said, “trees are shaped by the wind but people are shaped by words.” In Narrative4Change we start to recognise, explore and work with the stories that shape our children, our schools, our organisations, and our communities. 

the different types of narrative THAT FORM US 

traditional 

folktales

myths/legends

Personal

families

schools

social

community

cultural

In N4C we will start to discover how the forms and techniques used within centuries old traditional narratives can be harnessed to counteract the potential negative impact of personal and social narratives. We will start to gather the tools necessary to re-story our clients, organisations, communities and ourselves.

Museum Staff Training

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"Katrice has inspired us here at the museum and through her storytelling and training has opened up new possibilities for us."