ECCAY RESOURCES

The ECCAY resources can help professionals to use in practice the solution focused knowledge they have just acquired.

Exercise nr. 25

TELL YOUR OWN STORY

Minimum number of participants	Average time length	Individual setting	Group setting	Special Equipment	Unit	Online	Challenges/ competition
3 persons	1-2 hours depending on the group size	yes	yes	Paper, pencils, ev. handout.	1,3,4,5,6	Yes (not recommended)	no

This exercise is about one's own story. The participants will learn about the typical element of stories and they will write/tell their own story. It is recommended to combine this exercise with the exercise “Tell your alternative story” , which should be done after this exercise.

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Aim / Benefits

The participants learn through the typical elements of stories that there are challenges in all stories, that the hero normally has to leave his/her comfort zone, that there are hurdles, adversaries and helpers. And that the heroes usually have learned something at the end.

The participants have to name their supporters, their opponents etc. and thus prepare the way to actively deal with these "roles".

Furthermore, by reflecting on the different stories, the participants can be introduced to the narrative approach and thus to the insight that their own story could also be seen/ told differently.

UNIT(s) related

Unit 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Why
This exercise can be related to Unit 1 as it externalises its own story to a certain extent through the storytelling in the story structure.
This exercise can be related to Unit 3 as it focuses on the participant's story from his/her perspective. This exercise can be related to Unit 4 as it enables better understanding of each other. By reflecting the stories of others, the participants can get ideas for other perspectives on their own history.
This exercise can be related to Unit 5 as it offers reflection on one’s own life.
This exercise can be related to Unit 6 as it makes the resources visible and therefore provides insight into the ecosystem.

How to do the exercise

Step 1 / Preparation:
(MANDATORY to explain how to prepare and introduce the exercise to the participant)
Prepare the equipment (Paper, pencils, walls, pins, tape) for each participant. Tell them that the exercise is about writing their own story.

Step 2
Introduce the different elements of stories. You can also make this part interactive and ask e.g. which roles the participants know from films (if this exercise is used with young people, films might be more suitable). You can use the “Handout Tell your own story” for this.

In most stories there are the following roles and elements:
-The hero/heroine: the main character of the story
- Pacesetter: has idea for change and supports the hero/heroine on the way to realising the idea; he/she is the reason why the hero/heroine acts in this way
- Helpers support the hero/heroine on his/her way
- "Dragons", obstacles, opponents: prevent the progress of the hero/heroine
- Setbacks: failures which can make the hero/heroine stronger
- Solution of the task, the challenge, the problem: successes/”Happy End” of the story – if not a happy end: parts of the problem are solved
- Target group/audience: for whom am I telling the story

It is important to emphasise that there is not only one story of our own life. We all have countless stories, and it is our decision which stories we choose as our "main story". We can decide which story determines our image of ourselves, what our dominant story is.

Step 3:
Ask the participants to write their own story on the provided paper. Depending on how literate the participants are and how deep you want to go with the analysis of the stories, choose the required length of the story. For participants who have difficulties with writing, you can ask them to write down keywords and tell the story only orally.
Tell the participants that they will be asked later to share their story. If someone does not like to share his/her story with the group by any means, he/she is not obliged to do so.
Give around 20 minutes for writing the story.

Step 4:
Ask the participants to share their stories. Ask questions with a resource-oriented attitude if you have the impression that the participant has problems telling his or her story.

If you do not do the exercise "My alternative story" after this exercise, you should take more time for this part and ask questions that show that the story could be told differently. For example, in more problem-oriented stories, hidden resources could be worked out.

Final step / Conclusion:
Discuss in the group the different ways in which the participants have told their story and invite the participants to think about alternative stories.

You can use questions like:
Were you surprised by how individual participants told their story? Would you have told this person's story differently?
Did you discover new resources, skills?
Did telling your story give you a new perspective about people in your life?
How can you use solutions used in the story in future challenges?

If you are also doing the exercise "My alternative story" afterwards (it does not have to be on the same day), you can start here with a preview of this exercise (see details here: Link to this exercise).

In this case, tell that you will work on your alternative stories in the next sequence and that you are welcome to think about them already.

Debrief

Summarizing the findings of the stories and the discussion/presentations and emphasise again:
- The person is not the story. He/she is just part of the story. This insight creates a distance between the problem and the person
- There are so many equally “true” ways to tell my story. It is my decision which one I make the most important/dominant one.

Specific materials

Paper, pencils
Handout

Tips and Tricks

We recommend combining this exercise with the exercise “My alternative story”.

If you are also doing this exercise, as an alternative to the suggested procedure, you can also ask the participants to already prepare their alternative story. However, this is only recommended if you assume that the participants do not need support in writing. The advantage of this approach is that the participants can prepare themselves and some may write/tell more than they would in the time available in the group.