by Gail Rosen. Grief is complex, with many qualities, many dimensions, many feelings, and many colors. A number of researchers have tried to define it, or at least lay out the path so that we can walk it with a little more wisdom or peace. It was once thought that there were stages to grief […]
Seeds, Mirrors, Hands and Keys: Stories to Support Mourning Details »
by Laura Simms. A strong disease needs a strong medicine. – Mende proverb, Sierra Leone For 10 years, an unimaginable atrocity of civil war took place in Sierra Leone, a West African country, previously known for its hospitality, natural beauty and kind people. Hearing about what occurred there from the lips of children forced to
by Shawn Small. Our small group of Boise, Idaho, high school students sat under the shadow of the ornate, white-chalk Comayagua Cathedral in central Honduras. We circled up on the ground, most cross-legged, creating an ideal atmosphere to process an exceptionally challenging yet remarkably fulfilling week in the summer of 2007. The soft breeze, brought
by Lewis Mehl-Madrona, MD, PhD. Major life shifts, including the curing of disease1, do occur following transformative spiritual experiences2. Spirituality has been defined as those aspects of human striving that relate to God, the Divine, the Universe or Largest Whole, Higher Beings, and/or those things that we have construed to be sacred. Spirituality is a
Stories of Spiritual Transformations Details »
by Fran Yardley. A number of years ago, a beloved storyteller named Nancy Duncan taught me a valuable technique for eliciting stories and poems from others. She said to start with the phrase “Once upon a time…” and explore what that brings up. Then move to “Then one day…” and do the same thing. Finally,
by Sheila Wee. Every now and then storytellers may be asked to come up with a tale to address a very specific medical issue. In 2003，I was asked by the Singapore Health Promotion Board to create a story about asthma to perform at a Polyclinic (community health clinic) event for World Asthma Day. The story
The Three Little Sheep: A Healing Story Redux Details »
by Melany Cueva, R.N., Ed.D. The intent of the Readers’ Theatre, created for my doctoral dissertation, was to open hearts and minds of Alaskan residents to address cancer issues through the reading aloud of, and simultaneous listening to, a scripted conversation. As story, Readers’ Theatre embraces a holistic, interconnected process of living and learning as
Stories Embrace: Readers’ Theatre for Cancer Education in Alaska Details »
by Barbara Esrig. I have been the Writer-in-Residence with the Shands Teaching Hospital Arts-in-Medicine program and involved in an oral history project at this Gainesville, Florida, facility since 1999. Every week I go to patients bedsides and ask them to share their life stories. I tell them that in every room there is an amazing
Playback Theatre: Putting Story on Stage as an Opportunity for Healing Details »
by Lani Peterson Psy.D. The first Public Voice Project (PVP) was launched in November of 2004 by the City Mission Society in Boston. Over the course of four evenings, seven formerly incarcerated men met for the purpose of exploring the use and effects of storytelling. My participation with PVP was as the storytelling coach. Carla
The Public Voice Project: Creating a Storytelling Program with the Formerly Incarcerated Details »
by Lorna MacDonald Czarnota. For the past ten years, I have worked with at-risk youth. One of the facilities I visit regularly is a residential treatment center or minimum- security detention center. Although it originally housed only girls, three years ago the facility added two boys’ cottages. It currently houses up to 30 boys in
Healing Storytelling: An Old Technique that Reaches the Young Details »
