Once Upon a Time...

It’s National Storytelling Week, so we put on an event at work this afternoon to mark the fact.

Any fans of The Moth Radio Hour or Podcast https://themoth.org/podcast will know the sort of thing. We invited four people that we’ve worked with on projects over the last few months to stand up in front of an audience and share their stories about navigating their way through the health and social care systems. The stories focused on 

* accessing support for a child with special educational needs when you’re a refugee
* dealing with cancer treatment whilst trying to access support for gender dysphoria
* the long wait for a kidney transplant and the psychological impact of receiving donor organs
* the journey through addiction and homelessness to employment and sobriety.

All the storytellers were brilliant, moving and memorable. Thanks to them all!

The afternoon closed with a fun workshop delivered by today’s Blip subject, local storyteller Andy Johnson (aka @Andyoutnabout). 

After telling us a story, Andy had us all break it down and re-tell it to each other in our own ways, keeping the key components but making it ours. We also drew our own interpretations of it and identified the various emotional elements contained within it. There was a collective groan when it was time to pack up and go home - which is a rare thing on a Friday afternoon!

Today’s tune is ‘Treason (It’s Just A Story)’ by Liverpool legends The Teardrop Explodes www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-fSCXE80eU