Storytelling and cartoons Potenza, Italy
Magdolna Bone – Speech and Movement Therapist, Psychologist, Family Therapist-candidate (H-1125 Budapest, Szarvas Gábor u. 23. Hungary) Target group: Sensory Integration Therapists who had not known each other very much before. My pilot activity was a workshop for Therapists and Special Education Teachers with different backgrounds. I tried to apply the skills of storytelling and making cartoons learned in Potenza, Italy. My goal was not just testing my outcomes of the workshop but team building and getting to know one another better through telling a story and draw together. Description: I had planned to create a story together, make the scenes and draw them together. We were sitting around in a nice atmosphere. At first I was leading a personal imagination to members arrive, calm down and to facilitate our inner stories for about 5 minutes. The main part of the workshop was telling our story one after the another to build one common story. Somebody began to tell the story and anybody else could continue it. Then we described the storyline and the scenes and made some drawings of them to create a cartoon. Unfortunately we did not have either technical possibility or enough time to create a moving cartoon. The whole workshop was about 2.5 hours long. Results: From different personal inner stories we could build a beautiful common story. It was fascinating to see how members could resonate with someone’s own story. It was interesting to see how therapists can reflect on other’s storyline and continue it. Pro for the methodology: In my opinion, this methodology can be used very well also for teambuilding as for deep therapies, also in individual as in group sessions.
Contra: to use the program Flash as a skill we should have had more time to practice in Italy. As a helper I should teach the members of the team to use it that needs a lot of time. Reflections: •
It was very nice seeing people who hardly known each other to destroy their own bias and share their inner stories with each other while they were creating a new common story.
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Members had to create spontaneously their story they did not have time to change their stories later. If the main goal had been to create a cartoon together they could have got some days for it.
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Members were very much motivated and active. It was good to see members were amused by the activity. It was fascinating that the created story facilitated an interesting sharing about members’ thoughts and feelings of being different, acceptance, self-esteem, self-respect and body image in our society.
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If we had had time I would have tried to move and dance to have not just an imaginary picture about the story but also a body experience. (Although it was not a part of the original workshop in Italy either.) Still I believe the more creative skills we use in a workshop the better.
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Timing was not the best because people took a workshop in Sensory Integration Therapy in a foreign language whole day so everybody was quite tired. That was the reason I wanted to make a personal imaginary to get everybody in a creative mood.
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It was hard to finish our story therefore it got to be too long. I should have explain the whole goal of storytelling. Next time I may instruct everybody should say just a few sentences.
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Another way to create a common story when anybody could say ‘stop’ to interrupt the storyteller and continue it in another way.
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Members expressed they loved to draw a picture with other 2 members together as a group activity. They said it was easier in that way and they were able to motivate each other and change ideas. However, everybody created their own story in a different way so it was hard to make one unite art way, i.e. should it be symbolic or real.
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Although the main goal was to make one unite story, it was amusing to see how different work styles were getting together.
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Next time we could apply not just pencils but crayons, oil, pastel, acryl, watercolor paints or creative media such as clay and plasticin.
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Unfortunately, I was not able to use the program of Flash for creating a moving picture because of my own disabled skills. On the workshop in Italy I
had not got enough time to train my skills so I am not able to use the program by my own now. •
I love to work with teams when members need to work together. While they create their own story they need to work together, communicate, reflect, resonate and make impressions.
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Usually I work with children individually and groups. I rarely lead a workshop for adults therefore I felt a little anxious. After all it was a very nice experience.
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I felt a huge difference between working with children and adults. With children you need to motivate them more intensive but usually they have less prejudice.
Personal and professional reflections •
How did the training in Hungary support/challenged/altered my professional approach? The training reminds me to create a story together in my therapies. Usually I work with children individually and they tell their own inner story. I would love to try it with different age groups how it works and see how they can reflect and resonate on each other. It was fascinating to see how people can create a beautiful art work together when they drew the scenes. It could be an independent cartoon.
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What did I get from the training that I can use in my work based on the pilot activity? I really can use the work with stories, storylines and make scenes and make pictures of them also in individual as in group therapies.
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What is not fitting my work from the training based on the pilot activity? I will not be able to use program Flash because I did not have the skill to use it.
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Personal and organizational statements, materials summarising the process that may be shared public (text, visuals, video), if any. I attach some pictures of the storyline, scenes and the drawn story.
Copyright Recipients are free to use all or parts of this document for personal use however are requested to inform the author. Recipients are requested to acknowledge The artist within – Applied eMOTION consortium and the author in any reference to the content of this document. In the event of any further queries please consult the author. Acknowledgements This project was possible with the financial support from the Erasmus+ program. The methodological resources and inspiration came from the The artist within – Applied eMOTION long-term adult
education project (www.theartistwithin.eu). The generosity from the fund and these organisations is much appreciated.