Over the years, television and other cultural forces have robbed us of storytelling as a tool of communicating, learning, and healing. In The Healing Art of Storytelling, professional storyteller Richard Stone describes this crisis and its devastating effects, and then offers a step-by-step guide for creating a storytelling tradition that we can use to transform our families, our friendships, and ourselves. This ancient art offers us a fresh approach to issues such as coping with death and grieving, building esteem in ourselves and our children, finding courage in the face of uncertainty, and discovering the miraculous in the everyday. With The Healing Art of Storytelling, you will gain a deeper sense of integrity, purpose, and direction and, most importantly, see the story of your life in a new light. "Richard Stone is a captivating storyteller with an important lesson in his tale-you can do this, too, and in the telling, transform yourself as well as your story." -Henriette Anne Klauser, Ph.D., author of Put Your Heart on Paperand Writing on Both Sides of the Brain "Beautifully written, insightful and practical, a book for every storyteller and the storyteller in everyone." -Allan B. Chinen, M.D., author of Waking the World and Beyond the Hero "[Richard Stone] invites us on a rich adventure: To tell the smaller stories of our lives with exquisite precision, that we, ourselves, through the telling, may become larger and spacious, full of grace." -Wayne Muller, author of How, Then, Shall We Live? and Legacy of the Heart "This is the storyteller's workshop and cookbook, but more than that it shows the deep motivator and the healer of wounded hearts and souls at work in an effective and salvational manner A most helpful book and a good read." -Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, author of The Dream Assembly and From Age-ing to Sage-ing

This book looks at the benefits to children of listening to fairy tales, a selection of which are provided, and creating their own. I found Storytelling with Children in Crisis thought provoking and I am glad I was able to put into practice some of its ideas.' - Counselling Children and Young People Journal 'Describing home-based therapeutic work in real-life chaotic families, this book has relevance to anyone working with children and families. What is most helpful is the author's readiness to discuss her own doubts and vulnerabilities.' - Community Care Molly Salans has been a storyteller for many years, visiting children in deprived areas who have depression, ADHD and behavioral problems caused by poverty, absent fathers, depressed mothers, run-down schools and violence. Describing her therapy sessions as they happened, Molly Salans puts the children in the context of their lives and recounts her sessions, the folk and fairy stories she told and the ones they developed themselves. In doing so, she shows how storytelling and listening, thinking about characters in the stories and talking about alternative endings inspires the imagination, compassion and way of thinking needed to cope with such emotionally difficult lives. This remarkable book includes over fifteen original children's drawings and reveals the methodology Molly uses to help heal these children and their families, making it essential for all those involved in therapy and in storytelling.

From faculty and associates of the Stone Center's Jean Baker Miller Training Institute, this practice-oriented casebook shows how relational-cultural theory (RCT) translates into therapeutic action. Richly textured chapters-all written especially for this volume-explain key concepts of RCT and demonstrate their application with diverse individuals, couples, families, and groups, as well as in institutional settings. Emphasizing that relationship is the work of therapy, case narratives illuminate both the therapist and client factors that promote or interfere with movement toward connection. Highlighted are the ways in which cultural contexts profoundly influence relationships; how growthful connection inevitably includes conflict; and how experienced therapists work on a moment-by-moment basis to engage with and counteract personal and cultural forces of disconnection.

This distinctive collection explores the use of narratives in the social construction of wellness and illness. Narratives, Health, and Healing emphasizes what the process of narrating accomplishes--how it serves in the health communication process where people define themselves and present their social and relational identities. Organized into four parts, the chapters included here examine health narratives in interpersonal relationships, organizations, and public fora. The editors provide an extensive introduction to weave together the various threads in the volume, highlight the approach and contribution of each chapter, and bring to the forefront the increasingly important role of narrative in health communication. This volume offers important insights on the role of narrative in communicating about health, and it will be of great interest to scholars and graduate students in health communication, health psychology, and public health. It is also relevant to medical, nursing, and allied health readers.

The best medicine may not always be found at a pharmacy or in a doctor’s office. Sometimes it comes in the form of a four-legged friend. Three well-known leaders in their fields—award-winning dog photographer Jesse Freidin, adolescent HIV+ specialist Dr. Robert Garofalo, and LGBTQ advocate and journalist Zach Stafford—offer a refreshing, beautiful, and unique portrait of HIV infused with a deep message of hope. Each extraordinary profile shows the power of the incredible bonds between humans and their canine companions, whether that means combating loneliness and stigma, discovering the importance of unconditional love, overcoming addiction, or simply having a best friend in a time of need. When Dogs Heal shares the stories of a diverse set of people who are thriving and celebrating life thanks to the compassion and unconditional love of their dogs. A portion of the proceeds from this book benefits Fred Says, an organization dedicated to financially supporting HIV+ teen health care.

At the heart of any therapeutic encounter there is always a story. Patients seeking help bring with them stories, spoken or untold, fragmentary and whole, that collectively make up their own personal narrative, their lived autobiography. Whatever else their tasks, a central part of the doctor's or therapist's job is to facilitate the telling of these stories, to make meaning out of them and find the patterns within them. The aim of this book is to rehabilitate stories and story telling within medicine, psychiatry and psychotherapy and to consider a narrative approach both as a theoretical paradigm and a practical, therapeutic tool.