Thoughtfully Speaking: Keeping Conversation and Storytelling Alive
By Val Walker
My new blog spotlights the thought leaders and organizations working to reclaim conversation and storytelling. I profile authors, speakers, podcast hosts, educators, and researchers dedicated to the power of communication through the spoken word. I also take a hard look at how social media and other technologies are threatening our ability just to have a decent conversation—from a casual chat to a serious heart-to-heart.
Studies show how loneliness and isolation (compounding pandemic isolation) escalate in our lives without meaningful in-person conversation. Having a good talk requires our eye contact, warm expressions, listening with empathy, allowing pauses, patience, time to think and thoughtfully respond. If our conversations are shortchanged, distracted, and fragmented, day in and day out, we find ourselves feeling invisible and alone.
Instead, could we stand up for the time and full attention we need-- for a good, two-way conversation--for clarification, planning, problem-solving, closure? And better, still, could we make time to tell stories, reminisce, reflect, dream?
As a preview of the groups and thought leaders I will be profiling, I would first like to offer a roundup of fifteen essential resources. Over the next year for the Health Story Collaborative, I will be writing in depth about each of these listed below.
15 Organizations and Thought Leaders Reclaiming Conversation and Storytelling
Empathy Bootcamp
Kelsey Crowe, Ph.D., Founder, Author, There is No Good Card for This
Four years ago, I interviewed Kelsey Crowe for the Health Story Collaborative when her timely and hugely popular book was just released. Now she has teamed up with educators, therapists, and writers, creating Empathy Bootcamp which “provides practical insights and practices in communication and connection, tailored to your Empathy Type, to help you build trust with your team (and at home).” Kelsey Crowe earned her PhD in social science from the University of California, Berkeley. She declares on her website that she “hopes for a day when no one suffers alone because others didn’t know what to do or say.”
Sidewalk Talk
Tracie Ruble, Founder (Podcast and Service)
“When we hear each other, we change the world by creating belonging, inclusion, and wellness,” says Tracie Ruble, the founder of Sidewalk Talk. Started in San Francisco, this street initiative is active in most states around the US. Volunteers trained to listen empathically sit on sidewalks with chairs in public places so people can conveniently sit down to talk about what is on their minds. Tracie’s podcast features thought leaders on topics ranging from empathy, listening, storytelling, and pandemic-related communication.
Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age
Sherry Turkle, Ph.D., Author
Renowned media scholar Sherry Turkle examines how diminishing conversation in our culture threatens our relationships and increases anxiety and loneliness.
Jean Twenge, Ph.D., Author
Jean Twenge is a professor of psychology at San Diego State University and the author of two books and hundreds of articles about the impact of social media on youth. She explores the ways being “super-connected” ironically increases loneliness, anxiety, and depression. Further, she encourages families to provide more conversation and engagement in person.
“Common Sense is the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of all kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century”—as stated on their website. Founded by Jim Steyer in 2003, Common Sense Media reviews books, movies, TV shows, video games, apps, music, and more. This website is an essential tool for families to provide media guidance for conversation and play within households.
The Conversation Project
Ellen Goodman, Co-Founder
Said best on their website, “The Conversation Project® is a public engagement initiative with a goal that is both simple and transformative: to help everyone talk about their wishes for care through the end of life, so those wishes can be understood and respected.” I look forward to learning more about Ellen Goodman, the co-founder, and formerly a journalist with a fascinating and extensive background.
Ana Bess Moyer Bell, Executive Director
Ana Bess Moyer Bell was interviewed four years ago for Health Story Collaborative, and I am pleased to provide an update on her exciting new developments. She heads up the initiatives of 2nd Act, Inc, and reports, “Our mission is to change the way people and communities respond to the impact of substance use through theatre and drama therapy. We envision a world in which all stories are honored and healing is inevitable.”
StoryCorps
David Isay, Founder
Declared on their website, “StoryCorps’ mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. We do this to remind one another of our shared humanity, to strengthen and build the connections between people, to teach the value of listening, and to weave into the fabric of our culture the understanding that everyone’s story matters.” I look forward to profiling their founder David Isay and learning more about how he launched Story Corps at the Grand Central Terminal, New York, in 2003.
The Human Library (Denmark)
Ronni Abergel, Founder
Imagine sitting down with a complete stranger from a different background in a safe, friendly environment and learning all about his or her life. And further, imagine that this human being is registered with a local library to literally serve as an open book? Indeed, this concept was put into action in Denmark twenty years ago and now The Human Library has reached seven more countries. Their website states: “The Human Library works to create a safe framework for personal conversations that can help to challenge prejudice, aim to help rid discrimination, prevent conflicts, and contribute to greater human cohesion across social, religious, and ethnic divisions.”
Street Wisdom
David Pearl and Chris Berez Brown, Co-Founders
In a nutshell, Street Wisdom is all about “inspiration on the go.” Essentially, this is the wisdom of wandering and learning about the environment around you—just by taking a long walk. Their website explains, “Street Wisdom is an everyday creative practice you use as you walk. A smart fusion of mindfulness, neuroscience, and wellness, it unlocks our minds and unblocks our creativity with every step. Suddenly every street is full of inspiration. And whatever our questions, we are finding answers are everywhere.” I look forward to writing about David Pearl and Chris Berez Brown who created this whole new approach to walking in cities.
Crossing Divides (UK)
Emily Kasriel, Journalist with BBC
Crossing Divides, an innovative experiment produced by BBC News Labs, was an interactive news game to give audiences new skills for navigating polarized conversations. Emily Kasriel headed many of these special projects, dedicated to deep listening, hosting difficult discussions, and writing about healing divisions through honest, thoughtful conversations. The Crossing Divides website adds, “At a time when it’s increasingly hard to find common ground, we’re bringing people together who disagree and might never normally meet to discuss big issues, like climate change, class, immigration and Brexit…”
The Moth Podcast (Moth Radio Hour)
The Moth Podcast features re-airs of the Moth Radio Hour and selected archived stories. The Moth Radio Hour is celebrating twenty years of storytelling events. “By honoring a broad range of individual experiences, we believe we can challenge dominant narratives, deepen connection and create a more productive dialogue around the world.”—from their website.
Reply All Podcast
“‘A podcast about the internet’ that is actually an unfailingly original exploration of modern life and how to survive it.” – The Guardian
This podcast airs stories from individuals in everyday life who struggle with the wide, complex world of devices, and often become lost in the mazes of technology. The stories often grapple with ethics, social dilemmas, or humbling predicaments. In short, these stories help those of us who frequently get tangled in the vast, wide web.
This American Life Podcast
Ira Glass, Founder
Heard by 2.2 million people, this is a highly popular weekly public radio program and podcast aired on NPR. Each week a theme is chosen and different kinds of stories on that theme are selected. Recent themes have included “Stuck in the Middle,” “The End of the World as We Know It,” and “Suitable for Children.” Ira Glass created this radio program in 1995 and it has won five Peabody Awards for particular episodes over the years.
Social Pro Now
David Morin, Founder
According to David Morin who founded Social Pro in 2012, their aim is to provide the “most actionable, well-researched, and accurate information on how to improve your social life.” Over 60,000 people receive their newsletter and 400,000 people visit their website each month. Younger adults with social anxiety are particularly attracted to this website that offers useful training for skill development in conversational skills such as how to read social cues.
Val Walker, MS, Author, Educator, Rehabilitation Consultant
Val Walker is a contributing blogger for Psychology Today and the author of 400 Friends and No One to Call, released in 2020 with Central Recovery Press. Her first book, The Art of Comforting (Penguin/Random House, 2010), won the Nautilus Book award and was recommended by the Boston Public Health Commission as a guide for families impacted by the Boston Marathon Bombing. Val received her MS in rehabilitation counseling from Virginia Commonwealth University and is a rehabilitation consultant, speaker, and educator. Her articles and Q&As have appeared in AARP, Caregiver Space, Babyboomer.com, Caregiver Solutions, Time, Good Housekeeping, Coping with Cancer, Boston Globe Magazine, Belief Net, Marie Claire, and Sweety High. Keep up with Val at www.ValWalkerAuthor.com