The Healing Story Alliance invites you to share in the resources, research, and reviews we have accumulated. We hope to be a repository for information that is helpful to our members and community. We welcome your comments and ideas.
Storyteller Helps People Reconnect With Nature
Jamaica Plain Gazette July 12, 2019 Some of storyteller Diane Edgecomb’s most popular events are her Summer solstice events with Margot Chamberlain, a Celtic harpist, at Arnold Arboretum. These events are limited to around 30 people maximum, she said. However, […]
The Honest Truth: Folk tales of giants, the brounies and selkies have been told since time immemorial
The Sunday Post May 29, 2018 Summary In order to keep Scots folk and fairy tales alive, Scottish Storytelling Centre director Donald Smith has published a book Wee Folk Tales In Scots, Luath Press. When asked what inspired […]
Another Man’s Shoes
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Another Man’s Shoes © Naomi Baltuck Most kids are teens before their parents sit them down, usually just before the first date, for that awkward talk about the unfortunate consequences of the […]
Listening Beneath The Weather
DIVING IN THE MOONHONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Listening Beneath The Weather:A Storytelling Strategy For Healing In Haiti © Laura Simms This winter in Manhattan, on a day when the snow had all but melted after a storm, I was walking […]
i remember home (old stories)
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING i remember home (old stories) © Kwanza Msingwana back home doing flips in the rain rolling in the sand sliding in the mud happy as a chicken bathing in dust giddy with […]
Stories That Spark Reflection
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Stories That Spark Reflection © Faye Mogensen For some of us, hunting for stories is both a passion and a necessity. Having stories in hand is vital for performance and workshop requests […]
Evil In The World Today
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Evil In The World Today © Kate Dudding Every time there is yet another terrorist attack, I draw comfort from this story. People say there is a lot of evil in the […]
Sharing And Creating Stories In A Mental Health Recovery Centre
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Sharing And Creating Stories In A Mental Health Recovery Centre © Lillian Rodrigues-Pang Once a week I offer a storytelling workshop at a local mental health recovery centre. For one hour I […]
Paperman Jack And The Origami Mommy
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Paperman Jack And The Origami Mommy © Megan Hicks “Forget not to entertain strangers, for some thereby have entertained angels unaware.” New Testament, Hebrews 13:2 That happened to me in the 1980’s. […]
Story Shaping the Grief
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Story Shaping the Grief © Susi Wolf I use Story as a healing tool within all walks of life. Women in crisis. Prisons. Individuals cowering under the tyranny of domestic violence. […]
The Miracle
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING The Miracle © Patricia Rose Ballard Coffie This is the story of a miracle. My sons found a caterpillar on a stem and brought it home. They wanted to see the butterfly. […]
A New Story
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING A New Story © Terra Lea Dennis I often assume I know how every story is going to go. Well, I have been around awhile and I watch the news; different settings, […]
Why I Keep At It
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Why I Keep At It © Joan Stockbridge I stumbled into the therapeutic use of storytelling almost 20 years ago, when I was asked to tell stories to women in […]
Bubbles
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Bubbles © Shirley Routliffe The woman slumped in the wheelchair in front of the picture window. A blue knitted hat covered her hairless head. She was draped […]
Broken Bones
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Broken Bones © Jacqueline Jules He said a clumsy fall down the dorm stairs kicked him off the tennis team and onto the school newspaper making a broken bone the […]
Scheherazade On The Fourth Floor
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Scheherazade On The Fourth Floor © Dan Yashinsky >According to the Thousand and One Nights, every night Queen Scheherazade told a story, and every night she stopped halfway through. It […]
Blaming The Chicken Tikka Masala
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Blaming The Chicken Tikka Masala Or what happens when a storyteller has a stroke © Janet Dowling “I think this is an allergic reaction to nuts in a Chicken Tikka […]
Little Red Car
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Little Red Car A Toileting Tale © Susan Perrow I’m a little red car – I go fast and far But sometimes I’m slow – too slow to go! Oh no. Oh […]
Therapeutic Learning
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Therapeutic Learning © Kay Stone What makes a story a source of healing? I asked myself this as I prepared to fly south to Florida to visit my sister Jolene, who is […]
The Story We Tell Ourselves
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING The Story We Tell Ourselves © Lorna MacDonald Czarnota The art of storytelling brings forth many images—children, elders, comedy, tragedy, audiences large and small, but we may not consider how we tell […]
Standing Up While Lying Down
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Standing Up While Lying Down © Patricia Rose Ballard Coffie Three days before the only three-day Cedar River Storytellers Festival in Waverly, Iowa, I found I would have to have surgery to […]
Hymn to Persephone
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Hymn to Persephone © Teeya Blatt How I came to write Hymn to Persephone As she is Goddess of the Underworld, I have spent much time getting to know Persephone, and never […]
The Upside Of Alzheimer’s
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING The Upside Of Alzheimer’s © Jan Turner A Message of Hope There is a large and growing number of adults engaged in the care of older individuals, often their parents, suffering from […]
The Golden Key: Wisdom from the Heart
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING The Golden Key: Wisdom from the Heart © Mary Louise Chown There is a snippet of a story in the Grimm’s collection about a boy who finds a golden key, and a […]
A Hungry Princess
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING A Hungry Princess © Srebrenka Peregrin Writing This Story In 2012, as a result of walking away from a high-demand religious community, I went through a number of traumatic experiences that included […]
Her Story, Your Story, Our Story
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Her Story, Your Story, Our Story: An Afternoon With Women Who Have Escaped The Troll © Regina Ress and Art by Emily McPhie What message do you want to send to other […]
Storytelling, Movement and Drama with Children
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Storytelling, Movement and Drama with Children © Sue Proctor Over many years of telling stories, I have discovered the healing value of imaginative play by using oral storytelling as a platform for […]
Stuck In History
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Stuck In History © Donna Jacobs Sife This month is a busy one for storytellers in Sydney. Being Book Week, or more accurately Book Month, I am scheduled for scores of performances […]
Sometimes A Wild God
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Sometimes A Wild God © Tom Hirons Sometimes a wild god comes to the table. He is awkward and does not know the ways Of porcelain, of fork and mustard and silver. […]
Putting Down the Burning Coal
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Putting Down the Burning Coal: Transforming Resentments Into Forgiveness Through Story © Elisa Pearmain ‘Harboring resentment is like holding a burning coal that you wish to throw at your enemy, but instead […]
A Chelm Story
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING A Chelm Story © Dan Yashinsky Shlemiel woke up one day and looked around his little house. The kids were busy playing video games. His wife was already starting to scold him […]
The Most Important Thing
The Most Important Thing © Susi Wolf 2013 A mystic was meditating deep in the forest when he heard a noise and 3 young men appeared in the brush. “We are sorry to bother you, but we are seekers of […]
Storytelling and Meditation: An Oasis of Repair
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Storytelling and Meditation: An Oasis of Repair © Laura Simms 2014 In 1979 I fell in love with traditional tales: fairytales, epics, myths and teaching stories. I was intrigued by what happened […]
After War
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING After War © Margaux Richet, 2014 Is it possible that a war can make stories disappear? Is it possible that adults can force themselves to forget that there was a time when […]
Farmers Market at the Autumn Equinox
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Farmers Market at the Autumn Equinox © Merna Ann Hecht 2013 wanting to nest in the yellow-leafed wind, inside this basket heaped with saucers of late summer squash, bunched arugula, lipstick […]
The Mystery And Magic Of Metaphor
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING The Mystery And Magic Of Metaphor © Susan Perrow In simple terms, a metaphor shows us one thing as another, and in doing so extends the way we see the world, […]
Sacred Messenger
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Sacred Messenger © Gloria Two-Feathers 2014 Rain and drought have a rhythm. But during the times of drought there is always someone or something that holds the seed for the future generation. […]
Social Work and Storytelling: Fusion for Healing
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Social Work and Storytelling: Fusion for Healing © Jeri Burns, MSW, Ph.D. 2014 Crazybowlz is a lovely restaurant in Kingston, NY. Boasting a unique menu of vegetables that are cooked to preserve […]
The Story is Oblique
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING The Story is Oblique © Donna Jacobs Sife “It’s no coincidence that just at this point in our insight into our mysteriousness as human beings struggling towards compassion, we are also moving […]
Shaping The Story Of Dame Cicely Saunders
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Shaping The Story Of Dame Cicely Saunders © Margaret Murphy 2014 “You matter because you are you, and you matter until the last moment of your life. And we will do everything […]
Talking to Strangers
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Talking to Strangers © Dan Yashinsky Many summers ago we were strolling on a path by a lake when a man walked by. Our three-year-old son asked if we knew him and […]
Inside A Person’s Heart: Finding Solace from Stories and Poems
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Inside A Person’s Heart: Finding Solace from Stories and Poems © Merna Ann Hecht 2013 In each setting where I have worked with children and teens who have experienced profound loss, they […]
What do the Military and Creative Aging have to do with each other?
by Mary K. Clark Did you know there is a National Initiative for Arts & Health in the Military? You might find it interesting to peruse the site. While your there, take a peek at their Reports and Publications. You […]
A resource to keep in mind: Storytelling — It’s News!
Have you checked out Storytelling — It’s News!? Lucky we are that storyteller, Kate Dudding and cohorts, add to this collection throughout the year. As they share, “From classrooms to boardrooms to operating rooms, storytelling is being used as an […]
Where Stories Draw Breath
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Where Stories Draw Breath © Thomas Doty 2013, Photos and Drawings © Thomas Doty When stories are doing their best work, when they are working their deepest magic, they touch us deeply […]
Offering Water From The Well
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Offering Water From The Well © Joan Stockbridge, 2013 I’m sitting on a couch in a residential treatment facility, and I’ve just told a five minute story called “Why Man is Strong […]
Courageous Conversations: Stories That Foster Self-Awareness, Build Skills and Cultivate Confidence
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Courageous Conversations: Stories That Foster Self-Awareness, Build Skills and Cultivate Confidence © David Lee 2013 Sharing stories about challenging conversations provides tremendous educational and therapeutic value to the listener. In this […]
Healing, Change and Storytelling
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Healing, Change and Storytelling © Steve Banhegyi 2013 “The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease” Voltaire (1694 – 1778) Narrative medicine is not something you’ll […]
Listening To the Fool: Breakthroughs In Understanding
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Listening To the Fool: Breakthroughs In Understanding © Andrei Armeanu, 2013 In my early twenties, I went through a very polarized time in my life when I was experiencing a “double immersion”. […]
At Crescent Lake
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING At Crescent Lake © Kimberley King 2013 All this commotion! Wind on water Be still Watch Listen Kimberley King, writer and storyteller, lives in Bend, Oregon.
Story Listening as a Transformative Process
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Story Listening as a Transformative Process © Doug Lipman 2013 “Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force… When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and […]
Answering the Call to Adventure
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Answering the Call to Adventure: A Hero’s Journey Group for People Facing Life-Changing Illness and Disability © Jennifer Lunden LCSW, LADC, CCS The artist is meant to put the objects of this […]
Arriving in Workshop Story
DIVING IN THE MOON HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Arriving in a Workshop Story © Reginald Dorian Haarhoff, D Phil, 2013 “Let us say I am here because of you and you are here because of me.” Nasrudin we’ve arranged […]
Dandelion
DIVING IN THE MOON: HONORING STORY, FACILITATING HEALING Dandelion © Michael Williams, 2013 She was a weed of a girl – tough, spindly and spiky. Yet there was something terribly fragile about her too – the downcast eyes, waif-like expression, […]
Research – a place to begin: ArtsEdSearch.org
by Mary K. Clark Ever want to find some research on storytelling? ArtsEdSearch.org might be a place to begin. They are an: online clearinghouse that collects and summarizes high quality research studies on the impacts of arts education and analyzes […]
Healing Power of Digital Storytelling
by Mary K. Clark Where does the power lie in a story? Does the story have the power? What or who has the power when it comes to story? I will confess, I believe story has no power, people do. […]
The Narrative in a Suitcase Project
by Mary K. Clark How can journey metaphors be used to assist child refuges? Zimbabwean psychologist and narrative therapist, Ncazelo Nucbe-Mlilo shares the Narratives in the suitcase project. Story, play and creativity are used to help children connect with their […]
Memory Making & Personal Storytelling
by Mary K. Clark Are our memories static? Do they change? What impact does this have in the stories we tell and the stories we live out? In Greg Miller’s article How Our Brains Make Memories, Karim Nader, a neuroscientist […]
Graphic Storytelling & Medical Narratives
by Mary K. Clark Are you interested in storytelling and medical narratives? While many who visit the Healing Story Alliance Website are oral storytellers, we can learn much from story as it is expressed in other art forms. Penn State […]
A Word, A Story, A Resource
by Mary K. Clark In this moment what word strikes you as powerful? Once you have that word, does it evoke a story? I thought of the word yes and it did evoke a story. I was having a difficult time […]
Memory and Stories: Truth, Tales and Understanding
by Mary K. Clark We all have them – personal stories. Whether we are performing, sharing anecdotes, family stories or heartfelt remembrances, we often tell our stories as if they were absolutely the truth and nothing but the truth. And, […]
Wisdom, Stories and Healing
by Mary K. Clark Do you have an interest in learning more about healing stories, untold stories, indigenous cultures and topics such as intergenerational trauma? I stumbled upon a treasure of a site today and came away with a greater […]
Metaphor, Language and A Very Simple Mathematical Formula!
by Mary K. Clark Ah metaphors! A knight in shining armor. It’s raining cats and dogs. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. We use metaphors all the time, but what is known about how they are processed […]
Life Oral Review
by Mary K. Clark Imagine that your job is to record, edit and produce a story – the “last story” of a person who has entered hospice. This story will be shared with family and loved ones. How would you […]
Waking Up the Stories Within Us ~ Interview with Nancy Mellon author of Body Eloquence
Interview with Julie de Bastion, July 9, 2008 Nancy Mellon is [a] storyteller, healer, visionary and artist. Her workshops brim with creativity and wisdom, and now she has written an extraordinary new book, Body Eloquence, published by Energy Psychology Press […]
Why Telling a Story is the Most Powerful Way to Activate Our Brains
by Mary K. Clark Really? Is it that simple? Just tell a story and we’ll activate the brain of the listener. Ah! If only I’d known it was this easy. It is fascinating to read about what we are just […]
Manipulation, Story and the Truth – When do we go too far?
by Mary K. Clark A mystery unfolded for me just the other day. I found I was between stories and storytellers, between two fine people who shared very different truths with me about the same event. If only each could […]
Power of Being Heard, Empathy, Understanding and Research
by Mary K. Clark How does it feel to be understood? What is involved in empathy? How quickly do impressions of others form? What is the connection between empathy and emotional contagion? How do we come to understand each other? What […]
Transforming Fear in the Aftermath of School Shootings
Compiled for public use by Laura Simms. The Healing Story Alliance is grateful to Diane Wyzga for sending these resources collected by Morgan Adams. They are for those working with children and parents affected by the Connecticut tragedy. The increasing […]
The Race Card Project
by Mary K. Clark. Race? How do you start a conversation or share a story around race? In 2010, Michelle Norris started a national conversation on this prickly topic with The Race Card Project. Jesse Washington, recently wrote about Norris […]
Storytelling, Body Maps, Research: Undocumented Workers
by Mary K. Clark I found myself captivated by the storytelling and body maps used in gathering research for the e-book, Entangled in a Web of Exploitation and Solidarity: Latin American Undocumented Workers in the Greater Toronto Area, authored by Denise […]
The Art of Conversation Revived
by Mary K. Clark. Imagine having a conversation without someone glancing down at their smartphone – repeatedly. The ancient art of conversation was revived in lower Manhattan this week; people talking with people, sharing and telling stories, in real time […]
Forgiveness – a Story and a Project
by Mary K. Clark. Revenge? Forgiveness? Busyness? Paul Vallely suggests that there is more involved in forgiveness than we might think. He shares with us the revealing story of Eric Lomax who recently passed away, in an article entitled, The […]
Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are
by Mary K. Clark. We talk with our bodies don’t we? Isn’t that what body language is all about? A person’s body language helps convey their story to the listener. It turns out that body language may also change how […]
Children Full of Life – A Teacher Shares His Wisdom
by Mary K. Clark. How do we teach our children to be happy? to understand feelings? to cope with bullying and death? to share compassion? Mr. Kanamori, a 4th grade teacher and his students share their wisdom in a wonderful […]
Stories of Mesothelioma Survivors Inspire Hope Among Patients
by Faith Franz. When cancer survivors share their stories, they do more than highlight their own experiences – they provide others with hope for similar success. Survivor stories can help patients with rare cancers such as mesothelioma feel less isolated […]
Patient Voices Website
by Mary K. Clark. What a delight it is to discover the Patient Voices website! This site houses over 250 digital stories that help viewers gain insight into health care and social responsibility. In addition to stories, you will find […]
Play – It’s Necessary, Could It Be Healing?
by Mary K. Clark. Play is especially important. According to Dr. Stuart Brown we need play just like we need to sleep and dream. He writes: Play energizes us and enlivens us. It eases our burdens. It renews our natural […]
The Storytelling Project Model: A Theoretical Framework for Critical Examination of Racism Through the Arts
by Mary K. Clark. This essay, The Storytelling Project Model: A Theoretical Framework for Critical Examination of Racism Through the Arts by Lee Anne Bell & Rosemarie A. Roberts describes . . . . . . the evolution of a […]
The Timeslips Program: Story, Dementia and a Bit of Imagination
by Mary K. Clark. The joy and importance of shared connection and communication are discussed in a recent NPR story entitled Alzheimer’s Patients Turn To Stories Instead of Memories by Joanne Silberner. She writes: On one recent day, 15 elderly […]
The Placebo Effect, Language and Story
by Mary K. Clark. In Counterclockwise ~ Mindful Health and The Power of Possibility, Ellen J. Langer explores aging and mindfulness. The book is a fascinating read on the topic of mindfulness, however, she also explores the effect of placebos and […]
The Brain, Story and the Written Word
by Mary K. Clark. Can stories stimulate and possibly even change how we act in life? Neuroscience is showing that it can according to Annie Murphy Paul in her New York Times Opinion Piece, Your Brain on Fiction. Researchers have […]
Untold Stories
by Mary K. Clark Though stories may not be shared in spoken or written word, they often are shared between the lines – between moments – seemingly invisible, yet ever present. These are some of my musings after coming upon […]
The Robe of Love: Secret Instructions of the Heart
Retold by Laura Simms. Codhill Press: ISBN 1-930337-05-1 Book Review by Karl Hallsten. I was pressed one morning, getting ready for a 6 hour-workshop I was presenting the following day, when a package came. I had ordered a new release […]
The Healing Heart Books
by Allison CoxBook Review by Antoinette Botsford Imagine hanging out with many of your favorite storytellers from near and far, sharing tales, batting theories and experiences about, musing over a surprising twist on an old yarn, and then finding yourself […]
Spinning Gold out of Straw
by Diane Rooks ISBN 0-9709598-4-2 Salt Run Press Book Review by Kathy McGregor Diane Rooks suffered the sudden death of her son and went on to write about. In her book, Spinning Gold Out of Straw; How Stories Heal, she […]
Bill Noonan’s Annotated Bibliography
(Student’s Research 1988 – 1997) Becvar, Dorothy & Raphael, J. “Storytelling and Family Therapy.” The American Journal of Family Therapy 21, no. 2 (1993): 145-60. This article examines four aspects of storytelling as they relate to various therapeutic models. The […]
Storytelling with Children
by Nancy Mellon Hawthorn Press, 2000 ISBN – 1-903458-08-0 Book Reviews by Katrina Kenison and Thomas Moore Katrina Kenison Nancy Mellon invites us to liberate the inner storyteller who resides within each one of us. In this wise and wonderful […]
Inviting the Wolf In: Thinking About Difficult Stories
by Loren Niemi and Elizabeth Ellis Book Review by Joan Stockbridge Like a good story, this book can be taken on many levels. Niemi and Ellis have written a book that is an excellent how-to handbook on telling difficult stories […]
Curriculum: The Women’s Empowerment Program in 2008
By Joan Stockbridge It is a pleasure to offer this report and curriculum for posting on the Healing Story Alliance website. When Gail and I received the $650 grant from NSN in 2003 to develop and document a transferable curriculum, […]
Bibliography
(** denotes favorite resources) See Also: Annotated Bibliography by Bill Noonan Ajjan, D. The Day My Father Died: Women Share Their Stories of Love, Loss and Life. Philadelphia, PA: Running Cliffs, 1994. Akeret, Ed.D., and Robert U. Family Tales, Family […]
Culture and Facial Expressions
by Mary K. Clark Are facial expressions a universal language? This was a very small but intriguing study which challenged the theory that facial expressions are the same across diverse cultures. Facial expressions have been called the “universal language of emotion,” […]
Digital Storytelling Resources – Health, Education, Social Change …
by Mary K. Clark Some wonderful digital storytelling resources are shared at Culture and health: A Festival of ideas and resources. Digital storytelling connects us in many ways. If you haven’t checked it out yet and/or are interested in learning […]
Culturally Appropriate Storytelling to Improve Blood Pressure – A Randomized Trial
by Mary K. Clark Can story be used to improve blood pressure? African-Americans with uncontrolled high blood pressure benefited from an intervention using DVDs of real patients’ stories of how they dealt with their chronic disease. Read the rest of […]