Telling Tales Is A Healing Art

By Nancy K. Crevier

Parents might admonish children not to tell stories, but on Wednesday, November 9, Dr LaDonna Dakofsky was at the Newtown Senior Center to help seniors break the rule they learned at their parents’ knees.

“I am a storyteller.”

One by one, the seniors who had come together to take part in Dr Dakofsky’s workshop “Storytelling as a Healing Art” passed the sentiment to their neighbor. Dr Dakofsky, a Sandy Hook physician who specializes in medical counseling, uses the technique of storytelling to help people understand medical issues and to provide emotional and spiritual support. Once a person has gone through treatment of a disease, it is one of many healing methods she uses in conjunction with exercise and nutrition counseling.

“Stories help people understand how the illness affects their lives,” she said, and is a way of helping people bring meaning to their health experience. It is a healing process that “stirs the pot” when we listen to someone else’s story, she explained. “Stories can hold messages, evoke courage and bring meaning,” Dr Dakofsky told the group.

As a doctor, story telling helps her know what works for her patients and what is important to them. Many times, she said, heart patients need to learn new ways to keep themselves healthy after surgery. “Jogging isn’t for everyone,” she said, but through information she gleans from patients’ stories, she can guide them to the relaxation method that best suits them. For some, it may be playing the piano, for others, it may be through writing or sewing.

Story telling is not just for those who have been seriously ill, as her workshop demonstrated. As part of an exercise, she asked groups of three to four seniors to share stories about something they were wearing. “Listen generously,” she suggested to the groups, who jumped quickly into the activity. From comfortable sneakers to medical bracelets to jewelry, each person had a special story to share. “Why did you wear that item?” Dr Dakofsky asked, as she encouraged the storytellers to elaborate. “Who would you give this to, and why?”

The thing about story telling, said Dr Dakofsky, is that it creates a way of connecting with others and oneself. Aptly so, the room was abuzz with one tale leading to another before long, as though they had been storytellers their whole lives.

Said Dr Dakofsky, “People say some pretty meaningful things when they tell a story.”