Darkness and Dawn:

Storytelling in Support of Grieving


Storytelling is an ideal vehicle for engaging and integrating cognitive and affective modalities in death education and bereavement. Stories affirm the grief process by serving as models for integration, healing and growth, and can teach listening skills that are vital in grief work.


We will discuss and experience the use of both personal and traditional stories, and how stories have the power to support us in our grief journey by validating and honoring the experience, clarifying beliefs, and nourishing ongoing relationships with those who have died. Bring your personal and professional experiences, your intellect and your compassion, and your own stories.



Gail Rosen

       Consultant, Facilitator, Educator, Storyteller

Storytelling Workshops

 

My Folk and Folk Tales:

Interweaving Traditional and Personal Stories


Find personal meaning in traditional stories and make personal stories universal. Acquire skills to guide others in finding individual wisdom in "wisdom tales." When we hear stories from generations ago and cultures strange to us, and recognize our own experience, we affirm belonging to the human community. How can we hold that knowledge in two ways, knowing there are common experiences of the human journey, and each person's unique experience deserves honor and respect?


This workshop is for anyone interested in the connections between traditional and personal stories and may be of particular interest for those using storytelling in healthcare, social service or spiritual/religious settings.

Photo by Tyler Britt

A woman found a cocoon of an emperor moth. She took it home to watch the moth emerge. As she watched, a hole appeared in the cocoon, and through it she could see the moth struggle. She watched patiently, but the hole grew no larger. In her kindness, the woman took a blade and cut the cocoon, releasing the moth. But the moth was fragile and its wings were frail. It could not fly, because it is the struggle to emerge from the cocoon that enables the moth to fly.

How Do I Tell THIS Story?


Some stories are particularly challenging, due to content or personal material. This workshop is based on a series of questions in relationship to a particularly challenging story. I believe that these questions are useful in deciding whether to tell and how to tell any story, though the answers may be more or less complex. For some stories and some questions, there will not be one answer or a “right” answer, but the willingness to engage the questions enriches the telling.

Other workshops are available.

Please call or write to discuss the needs of your group.

Making Midrash


In Jewish tradition, Midrash is story about the stories in the Bible.  Creating our own midrash is a way to study, understand and wrestle personal meaning from sacred texts.  No particular religious perspective or affiliation is required.

Photo by Eve Rennebarth

Photo by Eve Rennebarth

Gail is a master of taking huge issues and amounts of material and respectfully shrinking it to little more than a sound byte that plunges you deep into process. Her workshops ... are indeed “work” shops. She masterfully orchestrates the environment and process to bring you where you need to go to deal with issues. She is so incredibly attuned to participants’ needs and safety. The workshop is truly about you--not about her.


Karl Hallsten at Florida StoryCamp 2007