Leading Through Stories: When Your World Stops

Digital storytelling is a powerful tool in the realm of health and wellness. It allows individuals to capture and share their experiences in a deeply emotional and engaging way. This was the focus of our recent podcast episode where we sat down with Jennifer, a congenital heart parent and advocate. Jennifer shared her journey with digital storytelling and the profound impact it has had not only on her life but on the lives of others in similar situations.

Jennifer’s journey with digital storytelling began when she heard Kristy speak at a virtual conference, which led her to create ‘Day One’, a compelling digital narrative of her child’s diagnosis. This powerful tool enabled her to encapsulate the emotions and impacts of the moment, creating a poignant story that resonates with many families navigating similar experiences. She discovered the therapeutic potential of digital storytelling, using it as an education and advocacy tool.

Creating a digital story is a process that involves finding the essence of a story, weaving it together with captivating audio-visual elements, and setting the mood with the perfect score. This process is not just about capturing moments but also about unearthing the therapeutic impact of storytelling. It allows individuals to process their experiences in a deeply personal and meaningful way, providing a sense of comfort and understanding that can be invaluable in navigating health and wellness challenges.

The potential of digital stories as a platform for connection was also highlighted in our conversation with Jennifer. She shared her vision of fostering a community of shared experiences and her hopes of establishing a digital story library based on the stories in her book, When Your World Stops; Finding Hope in Your Child’s Medical Journey.

The power of digital storytelling extends beyond self-expression. It can serve as a tool for fostering empathy and understanding, allowing individuals to connect on a deeper level. Our conversation with Jennifer illustrates this beautifully, providing a glimpse into the profound impact of digital storytelling in the health and wellness realm. Her journey serves as an inspiration, highlighting the potential of digital storytelling to make a difference in our lives.

In conclusion, digital storytelling offers a compelling platform for sharing and understanding health and wellness experiences. Whether you are a health professional, a patient, or a family member navigating a health challenge, this tool can provide comfort, connection, and understanding. As Jennifer’s experience demonstrates, digital storytelling is not just about capturing moments; it’s about creating connections, fostering empathy, and promoting healing. Tune in to listen to Jen’s inspiring journey and discover how digital storytelling can make a difference in your own life.

About Our Guest

Jennifer Siran lives in Manitoba, Canada, with her husband and three children. For over a decade, she worked with marginalized youth in Winnipeg’s Inner City, learning the power of story when overcoming hardship. Writing has been a tool that she has used to process many complex emotions and all that life brings. After spending the last 12 years raising an amazing heart hero and navigating some major setbacks, she took time during Covid to write her book—a project to support fellow heart families in a unique way. Their family continues to navigate their son’s chronic illness in the midst of all the amazing things that childhood contains. 

Website: jennifersiran.com
Digital Story: Day One
Book:  When Your World Stops; Finding Hope in Your Child’s Medical Journey

About Leading Through Stories

Everyone has a story to tell—and what we do with that story can create lasting impact. Every episode, Leading Through Stories, helps unravel the how and why of digital storytelling with host Kristy Wolfe.

Life is made up of meaningful moments—which ones do you want to share?

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Digital Stories in Community-Based Research with Carolyn Brandly – Co-Created

A single well-told story can do what a stack of reports cannot: make someone feel the reality of living in a body, a system, or a diagnosis they’ve never had. We sit down with Carolyn, a newly trained Common Language Digital Storytelling facilitator and PhD student, to unpack how digital storytelling becomes a practical tool for health research, quality improvement, and stigma-breaking conversations.Episode Key Messagesrecreation therapy roots and building community programs for older adultsresearch and quality improvement as tools for systems change in long-term carediscovering Common Language through MAID digital stories and stigma reductionchoosing a more personal story and learning facilitation through vulnerabilityliving with disability, wait times in Canada, and rebuilding identity after surgeryKilimanjaro as a turning point for confidence, aging, and capacityadapting digital storytelling for people living with dementia in a PhD protocolco-research, simplified materials, slower pacing, and practical accessibility tweaksmaking a first volunteer story with her mom and deepening connection through memoryrecording voiceover many times and small changes that amplify a storyteller’s voiceinformed consent, sharing implications, and the ethics of public storytellingchallenging ethics board assumptions and shifting to assumed capacityrights-based approaches to dementia in public spaces and collaboration invitationsOther Links MentionedRead this episode's blog postWatch Carolyn's StoryWatch Marg's StoryLearn more about Fostering Inclusion for People with DementiaLearn more about Carolyn's work with Dementia Connections and PhD researchOther Episodes MentionedEpisode 37 Disrupting Death: Stories of MAiD with Kathy Cortes-Miller and Keri-Lyn DurantEpisode 52 The Storyteller’s Yellow Pages with Lisa JoworskiEpisode 57 What Changes When We Treat Stories Like Data with Dr. Katharine SmartAbout Our GuestCarolyn Brandly has worked with and for older adults and people with dementia for 20+ years in care and community settings – designing, implementing, and evaluating health promotion programs, and facilitating community development, knowledge translation and quality improvement initiatives and research. Carolyn has achieved an MA in health leadership, as well as completing graduate-level education in dementia studies, gerontology, and entrepreneurship, and is currently undertaking doctoral studies through the University of Victoria’s Social Dimensions of Health Program. Her aim is to contribute to global efforts shaping inclusive health and social systems that uphold the human rights, autonomy and dignity of people living with dementia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1. Digital Stories in Community-Based Research with Carolyn Brandly 30:02
2. Using Digital Stories in Clinician Training with Dr. Tricia Williams 30:41
3. Digital Stories Belong in Curriculum & Communities with Dr. Mike Lang 29:05
4. What Changes When We Treat Stories Like Data with Dr. Katharine Smart 26:36
5. Through Her Lens: Cameras For Girls with Amina Mohamed 24:36

Common Language DST facilitator trainings are open for registration.
Learn more here.