Creating Belonging Through Small Group Storytelling: a trauma-informed pathway to individual and community resilience

This interactive, student-centric course will offer participants a measurable increase in the experience of belonging as they learn how the natural laws of the interdependent human system provide us with guidance to restore the social connectedness that fosters mental, emotional, behavioral, social, spiritual, and physical health. We will explore the structure and application of stories and storytelling in small group settings as a tool to weave together a shared narrative in which our identity, value and needed social resources are discovered and activated. This content is rooted in the NEAR sciences (neuroscience, epigenetics, ACEs, and resilience) and the gathered wisdom of respected psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and literary masters. The learning in this course will be valuable within the course itself and immediately applicable in family relationships, business and career contexts, community building, and personal development. Participants will be able to facilitate small group storytelling as a way to share and increase belonging in a variety of settings and circumstances. It is not a writing class, though participants may find writing or journaling to be a benefit.