This course will take you through the full process of telling your own story: from choosing a story to using a wide range of creative techniques to develop the story, you will work with a small group of other storytellers to craft a story that has significance for you. The creative techniques will be tailored to you and the group and will include visual, written, spoken and embodied forms of storytelling, via online platforms. You will learn to record and produce your own story. You will have the option to make a digital version of the story using open access or very low cost apps and software. At the end of the storytelling process, you will share your stories through a group screening. Finally you will have the opportunity to decide if and how you want to share your story beyond your storytelling group.

Foundations of Personal Storytelling/online/8 week course

Course fee: £850

Up to 4 discounted places available for researchers working in the global South or from small organisations.

Course limited to 8 participants.

Course dates and time: Weekly from Tuesday 13 January to 3 March 2025 from 12:00 to 15:00 London time

Course structure: 8 week course, with live sessions of 3 hours per week; video tutorials and remote support for story development and technical skills

What is included: course materials, video tutorials, access to platform for participating/sharing and connecting with others, up to 3 rounds of feedback on your story by the facilitator with additional feedback from the participants, one-to-one trouble shooting and support for the editing and production process, on-going membership in a network of others working with storytelling.

What you need: a working internet connection, a phone/tablet/computer capable of connecting to the internet and enough capacity to install apps needed for recording and editing, a private space from which to join the sessions, interest and willingness in exploring your own experiences and telling your own story. No prior experience with storytelling, technology or art required.

What people say about this course:

“What surprised me about the storytelling process was how everyone could produce a story which was immensely moving and meaningful as well as interesting to watch. How people who never thought they were creative found that they were. This course was one of the most impressive examples of facilitation I have ever experienced…just the right amount of tailored coaching, coaxing, pushing and pulling. Well done! Tour de force.” Dr Dee Jupp, Technical Advisor, Empatika

“Through telling my story, I learned how vulnerable you can feel at points and the importance of being willing and open to being and feeling vulnerable with a group of individuals you don’t know. I also saw the time and energy you need to be willing to invest as a participant in the process – not just for completing your own story but in order to be an active and present participant as part of the story circle. I also learned how fun and satisfying [this methodology] is both in terms of the individual skills you learn more about and getting the opportunity to develop and in terms of having a final ‘thing’ that you are working towards as documentation of a process and your story.”~Katie Turner

“What I learned through telling my story is that it’s okay to call out bad experiences for what it is, and not just suppress it. That like every other story, my story is important from the storyteller’s point of view. I was also impressed with the how the right space can help bring the right kind of reflection, which I will ordinarily think is difficult for me to do within a space of one week.” Dr Johnson Amamnsunu, Open University, UK

“I was surprised how well the storytelling methodology that I have experienced in person worked in a virtual format. The stepwise methodology was easy to keep up with week to week. Completing the story felt fun, a different way to engage my mind and analytical skills…It is a good process for training academics and action-research practitioners to carry out story-based participatory action research practices….The deep reflection that accompanies the development of the story is a different lens through which to make sense of complex experiences and to do so without suppressing emotion. The engagement with emotion seems particularly important in academic and professional environments where this is typically frowned on.” ~Dr Felix Bivens, Co-director and Founder, Empyrean Research

“Congratulations on the design of the course and the facilitation. Thank you. You create such a comfort zone and the group was great...It was a space of trust, respect and discovery. A self-gift. For me, it was also a privileged space to meet with people from Bangladesh, South Africa, Jordan…” ~Ana María Claver, Oxfam Spain

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