A Therapeutic Storytelling Workshop

This workshop is for anyone and everyone who enjoys listening to stories. The aim of the session is to explore our own thoughts and feelings through listening to stories, telling or re-telling stories, or creating ones.

In each activity, everyone decides for themselves how much they want to participate. It is perfectly fine to simply listen and observe. It is also fine to open up and tell about yourself if you wish to do so. Or anything in between.

Even if you don’t say a word during the whole session, the therapeutic effect is still working.

I realise that it’s difficult to decide to try something new, especially when you have no idea what it might be like. In this article, I will tell you what to expect if you choose to come to a small group story session. There are normally 5–10 people in the group, sitting around one or two tables. The sessions are only loosely connected; you don’t need to attend the previous one to be able to enjoy the next one.

As people arrive, I offer them a cup of tea (I have a great selection of herbal teas that have inviting names) and some cakes or biscuits. Then, I ask them to choose a small notebook, a pencil and a little stone. I bring all kinds of different stones that I have collected.

In the first session (or whenever I have some new people coming), I introduce myself and the group members to each other. I prefer not to put them on the spot by asking them to introduce themselves at the very beginning. Instead, I introduce them to each other, pointing out some interesting facts about them that might grab people’s attention.

I tell them a bit about what ‘therapeutic stories’ actually mean, stressing that any and all stories can be therapeutic, and they can be told, re-told, read or created by us; they can be true or made up, it doesn’t matter, as long as they touch our souls.

I tell people about the purpose of their stone, pencil and notebook. I am convinced that many of us can actually listen more effectively if we are doodling or fiddling at the same time. This way our hands are occupied, and we satisfy our needs for physical movement, so we are more able to focus all our mental attention on the stories that we are listening to. The book can be used for taking notes, for drawing, writing, doodling or colouring. There are colouring pencils and felt tip pens in pots on the table.

The stones can simply be objects to fiddle with, or we can even decorate them with felt tip pens if we wish to do so. The book, the pencil and the stone are to take home. We might also use them for some activities during the session. I put some mandala outlines on the table. Many people find it relaxing to colour mandalas while talking or listening.

There is a selection of novels, non-fiction books, children’s stories, poems and my own writings scattered on the table. Some of them are probably in different languages. At the beginning of the session, I don’t call people’s attention to them. I might use them later in the session, but at the moment they are just in the middle of the table providing an inspiring environment or background for the stories we are about to hear. It is simply good to have books around us.

Also, I am hoping that some books might catch people’s attention; they might pick them up, leaf through them, read the blurbs or recommendations, read a random paragraph. People might ask about the books. It might turn out that somebody else has read the book who can tell their opinion about it. My intention is to make people familiar with good books, to give them an opportunity to explore, which might even lead to actually reading some of those books. Later in the session, if we are talking about a topic that can somehow be connected to a book, I will, of course, show the book and recommend it to the group.

I would like to call your attention to the cups of tea that we are having during the session. Anyone is free to get up at any point and pour themselves a new cup, and get some snack. The small cups are there to be held in lieu of fiddling, warming our hands, taking a sip when we momentarily want to hide our faces or re-direct people’s attention from our reactions. The smell of the herbal teas can help us relax. As we settle, get our objects and teas, take in the environment, conversations start in a natural way. Someone might make a comment on the weather, the tea, a book on the table or someone else’s pretty scarf, etc. I listen and try to pick a topic that I think can possibly trigger something in the members of the group. I often start with a pack of cards. It can be a pack of photo cards, painting reproductions, drawings, fantasy pictures or even pictures of perfectly normal everyday objects.

I sometimes ask people to pick one or two cards at random from the cards spread on the table upside down, and tell us about what comes to their minds about the pictures they get. I intentionally do not remove the books from the table. I spread the cards on the top of books, again, giving people an opportunity to spot a book that they haven’t noticed before. Other times, I put the cards face up and ask people to choose one, two or three of them that represent their answers to some questions. For example: How do you feel right now? What is your dream for the future? What is your relationship like with your sibling? Which card represents your best friend ? etc.

People are free to choose not to talk to the group about why they have chosen those particular cards, and that is perfectly fine. The thought process about the question and their chosen answer to it is still happening; the therapeutic effect is still working, even if the story is only told in their minds. People can share as little or as much of their thoughts and feelings as they want. Anyone can respectfully comment or ask questions, and fruitful conversations start happening. I let people talk, asking questions when needed, until I feel that the conversation is interesting and thought-provoking for the group.

With the next activity, I either take a topic forward which I feel could still be elaborated on, going deeper into it; or I choose a different topic that is somehow connected to the previous ones. At any point in the session, when I feel it is relevant, I might read an extract from a book, a children’s story or a poem, one that is connected to the topic discussed; or one that I think takes the conversation forward, making it even deeper. I might recommend some relevant books.

I have a great selection of tiny objects that can be used as symbols. I might ask people to pick some without looking , or I might put a pile of objects onto the table for people to look at them and choose from them, giving them a task, e.g.: Make your family, represent each of your family members with a little object. As always, people can choose not to share their thought processes with the group, but if they do, anyone can sensitively ask them questions, or comment on their choices. And again, great conversations begin.

Instead of elaborate objects, very simple ones can be used for the same purposes: buttons, beads or natural objects like stones, sticks, shells, etc.

Simpler objects usually need more detailed explanations, e.g.: I chose this sharp, dark stone for my father because he was very strict. They can provoke deeper conversations. Each member of the group decides for themselves how much they would like to share their thoughts and feelings, if at all, in each activity. They can choose to be completely silent or to open up as much as they wish. Similarly, they can choose whether they want to comment on each other’s stories, or ask questions, and whether they use the opportunities to reveal more about themselves.

Sometimes I choose to do some sillier activities with the group, like using story cubes. A person picks a die, rolls it, and starts telling a story about the picture they rolled, e.g.: Once upon a time, there was a bicycle that got abandoned for some reason in a small lane, leaning against the iron fence of a little church.

The person next to them rolls their die and continues the story including whatever picture they got, e.g.: One day, a cat wandered into the small street and saw the bicycle. He thought it would be nice to have a ride, and jumped on the seat. The next person continues the story, and so on. The point of this activity is to reinforce the feeling of belonging to the group, to work together, to get to know each other in a less serious way, and, of course, to have fun.

Another less serious activity involves placing a large sheet of white paper in the middle of the table, clearing everything else away, and having one person start a story with a drawing. For example they might draw a curved line and say, ‘Once upon a time there was a mountain.’ I use the mountain example because it requires just a curved line. Many adults are reluctant to draw, feeling ashamed, thinking their drawing skills are not good enough. In this activity, you don’t need any special drawing skills, even a single line is enough to take the story forward. The next person continues the drawing, such as adding a little stick figure next to the curved line and saying, ‘One day a man walked to the mountain.’ The next person might draw an arrow and say, ‘The man climbed the mountain.’ And on and on it goes.

It works best to finish both activities – the story cube and the drawing ones – with a happy ending. The sillier the story gets, the better, as laughing together fosters a sense of belonging and acceptance in the group.

Even in these lighter activities, serious topics can arise. For instance, it is much easier to start talking about something that is hard or painful if it seems to be only about a stick figure on a story cube or on the paper, such as. ‘When the man finally gets to the top of the mountain, he realises how lonely he is.’ In this case I might ask, ‘What is he thinking?’; or I might revisit it later with asking, ‘In the story, you said that the man felt lonely at the top of the mountain. Do you feel like that sometimes?’ This provides an opportunity for the group to discuss loneliness.

It’s crucial to ensure that everyone is respectful towards the others, we only ask sensible questions and only make constructive comments. Each person decide how much to reveal, and nobody is forced to open up any more than they wish.

The list of the activities that can be done in a group session like this is endless. I can never fully plan a session since it all depends on the people who form the group on that particular day, their personality and mood, the relationships that they form with each other. Each and every workshop is different because different people bring different elements into it. After the workshop, you should leave with new thoughts, questions and stories, and with a better understanding of yourself and others.

Please come and try it out.

For more information feel free to email me at cats@koka.me.uk