The Healing Heart for Communities: Storytelling for Strong and Healthy Communities (Families)

About this book

The Healing Heart provides powerful examples of the use of stories and storytelling in encouraging resiliency empathy respect and healing. These engaging books contain stories and narratives about the use of the stories in activities with different populations (children teens those with disabilities seniors inmates etc.) or which address specific social or community problems (addictions poverty violence racism environmental degra-dation homelessness abuse). The books are a collective effort containing the expertise of more than 60 storytellers and health professionals who illustrate the power of story in moving others to commitment and action in building self-esteem and mutual respect. The Healing Heart Families focuses on families dealing specifically with healing through story health promotion disease prevention early childhood intervention children with medical problems adopting families schools sexual identities grief and spiritual healing. The Healing Heart Communities focuses on community-building with sections on youth violence prevention poverty domestic violence substance abuse and addiction racism elders culture environmental protection homelessness and community development. Allison Cox is a therapist and Prevention Specialist in Tacoma Washington with 20 years experience as a professional storyteller and is a founder of the Healing Story Alliancepart of the National Storytelling Network. David Albert is a storyteller writer and Senior Planner and Policy Analyst with the Washington State Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse and a contributor to Spinning Tales Weaving Hope (New Society 2002).