As part of Tribal Pride Week (Janjatiya Gaurav Divas), a Workshop on “Storytelling for Teaching and Therapy” was held at Divine Saviour Parish, Nongshylliang. The program was compered by Ms. Jochanan Diengdoh, Faculty, Dept. of Psychology, MLCU.

The first workshop “Storytelling for Teaching” was designed to help educators improve their own storytelling, to assist their students to improve their storytelling. A value of working with stories for education present information in manageable, vivid, colourful and memorable packages. Through stories, students can relate to the material emotionally, allowing them to identify with the story characters and situations. The second workshop “Storytelling Therapy” was a peek into how storytelling has traditionally been used to give comfort and guidance.

Stories allow the participants to share information in a way that creates an emotional connection, gain a deeper understanding of other people’s experiences, elicited from one’s unconscious providing a key to what is in one’s mind and heart. When emotions, fears and hopes are presented as part of a personal story, a folktale or a myth, they create a connection between the listener, the characters and the teller. That connection, the one that recognizes the ways that we’re the same and promotes understanding despite our differences, is the foundation of building stronger communities.