Workshop Examples

These workshops offer content and exercises the Story Shepherds use in a variety of spaces. This is a preliminary list, enough to give a sense of the work the shepherds do and the level at which they are meeting individual communities. These descriptions seek to ensure humility among all when in the presence of a story.

Lived Truth Bigger Truth: This workshop addresses a phenomenon we all experience. We believe we are serving what is “good,” otherwise we would not be doing what we do. What methods do we have for determining the validity of what we are engaging in? What stories are we basing our actions on? What stories do we hold onto? What story is most difficult to let go?

Turning Point Stories: We have had moments when we realized the path we are on needs to be let go. What do we expect from such stories? How do we listen to such stories? What comes up for us as facilitators, and what comes up for us as tellers and listeners? What expectations do we have for such stories? How do we let those expectations go?

No Ordinary Story: No story is ordinary. No story lacks any element at all. All stories warrant listening. Everyone has a story to tell. This workshop invites the “boring story.” Listen to one another and discover together just how much story every story holds.

Facilitation: These workshops prepare future shepherds for responsible, meaningful story-work.

Ethical Use of Storytelling and Narrative in Presenting Research: Stories belong to the teller. This workshop explores this cornerstone concept for everyone working with research-related narratives.

Ethics of Story Facilitation: This workshop models ethical listening and holds it up as a model for effective posture in doing this work. What are the proper “uses” of story? What is the risk of injury if a story is mishandled? We will look at the sacred value of story.

Getting to Acceptance: Story heals. As with all medicine, story can take some time. We will look at facilitation models for healing and for conflict resolution, honoring how these are sometime yet not always the same stories. We will look at realities and limitations as well as goals in effective story facilitation in emotionally charged circumstances

Safe Space Sage Space: This workshop presents methods for creating and maintaining a space where truth feels welcome. This is not just about workshops and facilitation. How do we make each other safe? In relationship? In workspace? In all encounters?

Caring for Stories: These workshops address the nuances of what happens in us when we tell.

The Disenfranchised Self: People who have lived in silence are often disenfranchised not only by society (for any reason) but by their own self-perception. When the world comes after us, the poet Galway Kinnell once said, we go after ourselves. We internalize oppression and trauma. We carry it, until we are invited to unburden ourselves by telling.

The Opening Heart: In cultures spurred by objectification, we objectify ourselves. In cultures that honor a “toughen up” and “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” approach, we bury our brokenness under personas. When we begin to tell, the toughness on which we have relied for our survival weakens. This is terrifying for the teller. A person might say, “I thought I was over this” or “I don’t know why I’m crying.”

Silence: In telling of traumatic events and even non-traumatic events, a person will feel they are breaking a code of silence with whatever force they have internalized. We often normalize an experience in order to avoid a phantom recourse. Being invited to tell can feel like being invited to risk punishment. This feeling is very real. It is direct experience with the self. The teller might go silent. A person who has been told to “shut up” is often shut up inside their self. To break back out of this requires great support, and sometimes just having our silence heard is a powerful start.

PTSD: Judith Herman, author of Trauma and Recovery (a text that has done for trauma what Kubler Ross has done for grief), we heal in stages. The first stage is getting to a safe place, followed by flashbacks and integration. Telling comes next, being able to put the unspeakable experience into words. This stage is the threshold from isolation and shame into community, and soon: play. The psyche is fragile at every stage. Words spoken after a story hold great weight.