Restorative Stories
Standalone workshops exploring how we can develop our emotional intelligence and actively humanise each other, inspired by the wisdom of traditional tales
These drop in online workshops are open to anyone interested in restorative work, peace and reconciliation, conflict resolution and the continuing development of emotional intelligence and resilience.
Restorative justice facilitator and traditional storyteller Hannah Moore offers a series of workshops that invite creative thinking and deep reflection about living and working restoratively, about how we cultivate a culture of compassion and develop our practices of actively humanising each other.
Each workshop starts with a different folk or fairy tale that speaks to the restorative themes of trauma and healing, repairing harm, overcoming conflict, reconciliation and finding compassion.
Bittersweet
In this workshop we will look at two short stories which explore the theme of the facilitator who works to repair the harm:
The First Argument (a First Nation story from North America) & Joe and the Carpenter (a British story)
Twist of Fate
In this workshop we will look at Miss Fortune (an Italian story) which explores the relationship between internal struggles and external behaviour, and how we learn to reconcile with ourselves.
Sticks and Stones
In this workshop we will look at The Stoning (a Moroccan story) which explores the dynamic between victim and perpetrator in a reparative process.
Snake Skins
In this workshop we will look at Prince Lindworm (a Norwegian story) which explores humanising responses to trauma and violence.
Using the traditional story as a starting point each session, we will explore the questions, relevance and wisdom it offers us for our own lives, for professional practice and for the world today through discussion, personal reflection, creative exercises and practical application.
Understanding, experiencing and practising compassion is key to effective relationships. But it is a quality we can be quick to lose when there is stress, pressure or disagreement, or when we don’t feel safe or understood. In these instances, we can forget or disbelieve that being compassionate will make us feel better. But our traditional stories don’t forget this…
This workshop series uses traditional stories as a starting point because they are creative, accessible, engaging and universal in their themes - they give us a depersonalised shared language for exploring behaviours, feelings and experiences that can be hard to talk about.
Starting in the world of the imagination can move us out of our busy minds and into a freer, more intuitive and responsive head-space. This helps to unlock deep discussion and expansive thinking in the workshop that follows.
Stories invite the listeners to experience compassion as they travel with the characters through the challenges and triumphs they face. Listening to a story together means participants come to the work from a creative experience that is shared yet personal – their own journey into the imaginative realm of images, symbols, emotional discoveries and a limitless potential for change.
Modern adult listeners to traditional storytelling often report that the experience of being allowed simply to sit and listen to a story. and to get lost for a time in their own imaginations, feels therapeutic and restorative in itself.
And these stories have been passed down for hundreds of years because they contain deep wisdom - what a wonderful place to start!