Storybank Guidelines May2017

Here's a Story for You!

STORYBANK GUIDELINES Stories are powerful. They can inspire, educate and foster empathy.

Calgary agencies have a profound impact on the lives of adults with developmental disabilities.

We aim to generate a new and richer understanding of what it's like for a person with a disability to live in the community, and of the contribution of the many agency experts who are dedicated to supporting good quality of life, with choice and a full experience of community living.

That's why we need to hear your stories. Please help us put a human face on the issues affecting thousands of adults with disabilities, and the valuable role agencies play in their lives.

1. What Makes a Story Good? • How will you know if an experience you've had at work will make a good story submission? Generally, if something has inspired you, there's a good chance it will inspire others. Use the Here's a Story for You! form to tell us about those rewarding times that reinforce for you the importance of your role and your agency. Tell us about those moments when you feel you or someone you work with has really had an impact on someone's life. These moments are the start of good stories.

For example: you and your agency intervened to support a client to achieve a change or outcome that would not otherwise have been possible; a client or family expresses gratitude or shares their story; an agency offers a creative solution that has a positive impact on policy. •

The range of possible stories from 33 Calgary and area agencies is vast, so we've narrowed our focus on a few categories of stories we think have the most potential to build support for our sector. Please be alert to and submit stories like this from your agency: Story Categories: (Stories may be tagged in more than one of the following categories) Relationship Stories: these stories drive home the unique nature and importance of relationships between agency and client, agency and family, or agency and policymaker.

They show how relationships of trust – how truly knowing someone -- generate positive outcomes.

Advocating for Rights: advocacy stories describe the rights of people with developmental disabilities (the right to have a direct say in their lives, to have choice about their lives, to participate as any citizen does) and how the agency intervened to protect these rights on behalf of a client, with a positive outcome.

Employment Support: these are stories about how agencies help people with developmental disabilities obtain employment and how this contributes to their development and well being.

Residential Support: these are stories about how agencies help people with developmental disabilities obtain housing that works for them, reflecting their preferences, and how this contributes to their development and well being.

Community Support: these are stories about agencies’ programs to help people with developmental disabilities experience community relationships and experiences, act on their own choices, have independence and good quality of life.

Policy Impact: these stories primarily describe how agencies have collectively influenced the rules, the practices and the public policy that affect people with developmental disabilities in a positive way OR they use a personal story to illustrate the need for a policy change.

Agency Staff 'Heroes': by profiling the work of agency employees, these stories demonstrate the depth and range of expertise of staff in the sector.

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All stories will feature real people. We will not share stories in which the client is a composite, or 'broadly representative' of clients or families.

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Service Provider Council and agency storytellers will take care to ensure the story sharing process is empowering and respectful for clients, and that client privacy is preserved.

2. Collecting Stories •

If you think you have the germ of a good story, document the details using a Here's a Story for You! form available on the Calgary Service Provider Council website at http://calgaryserviceprovidercouncil.org under the Storybank Project tab. Please jot down as much information as you can and submit the completed form to Erin Waite at Connections at erinw@connectionscounselling.ab.ca.

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The Council will accept stories in two ways: in scenario A, the Agency writes/records the story using its own resources and submits a draft to Council for review. In scenario B, the Service Provider Council may arrange resources to write/record the story on the agency's behalf.

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After you submit your story, someone from Service Provider Council will contact you to 'vet' the details and ensure we understand the story and how it could be told. Together we will confirm story facts, theme, ideal release timing and uses, and ensure approvals have been secured and all parties involved are comfortable sharing the story broadly.

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Ideally stories in written form will be no longer than 650 words. Calgary Service Provider Council reserves the right to edit for length, style or appropriateness of content. If Council makes any changes to the copy, we will review the revisions with you as the submitting agency before the story is released. You can opt out of any opportunity.

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All stories will require a signed, written authorization to release the story from all parties involved or mentioned in it. The Consent Form can be found under the Storybank Project tab on the Council website at http://calgaryserviceprovidercouncil.org.

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A picture is worth 1,000 words. As the story develops, arrangements will be made between the submitting agency and Council to take an appropriate photo(s) to accompany release of the written story.

For more information: erinw@connectionscounselling.ab.ca

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3. "Banking" Stories in the Storybank •

The Service Provider Council Storybank stores each story submission form and article by date, specific story category, and tag so it can be searched and located easily.

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Some story submissions may be written up and released right away, while others may be saved in the Storybank to be used at a later date at Council discretion. Before Council uses any agency story, we will always contact the submitting agency to seek permission and check that the story is still appropriate for release. Agencies can always opt out of any opportunity.

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After a story is made public by Council, it will be tagged in the Storybank as 'PUBLICCOUNCIL’ along with information on where the story appeared and what outcome was generated.

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Submitting agencies who wish to access and release one of their stories from the Storybank will have full access to use the content, pending a conversation with a Council representative. This story will be tagged in the Storybank as 'PUBLIC-AGENCY' along with information on where the story appeared and what outcome was generated.

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A submitting agency can withdraw a story from the Storybank at any time by contacting Erin Waite.

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Stories may be collected in written, video or audio format depending on the desired use.

The optimum format for a story can be discussed in the story vetting conversation.

4. Sharing Stories with the Community •

Stories may be featured online on Council and agency websites, released to traditional media outlets proactively or in response to media requests, shared on Council and agency social media channels, published in newsletters, excerpted in letters and speeches for policymakers, and published in advocacy and fundraising materials.

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Once a story is shared publicly, Council cannot control how people will react to it, or how it will 'play out' in the public forum. This is particularly true if the story is being used to achieve an advocacy objective or is contentious in some way. For instance, an aspect of the story that we think of as minor or background, becomes the story and changes the emphasis or focus. We at Council will work closely with storytellers and story participants before and after the story is released to ensure they are as prepared as possible for all outcomes, including providing coaching on how to respond to media and public enquiries if required.

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After Council releases a story, it will monitor the impact of that story -- how many people read, viewed or heard the story, how people responded, if the story was retold by key influencers or if the story influenced public opinion. This will help Council share with all members the impact of our stories and to continue to get better at collecting and sharing our successes.

Thank you ...for sharing your stories in support of people with developmental disabilities!

For more information: erinw@connectionscounselling.ab.ca

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