A storytelling framework for social care in Wales
“We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling.”
- Jimmy Neil Smith, Director of the International Storytelling Center
About this framework
This framework is the result of partnership work between Social Care Wales and the Developing Evidence Enriched Practice (DEEP) programme to support and encourage the use of diverse storytelling methods.
People engage with social care services individually and collectively through the ups and downs of life. Management systems have an important role in social care services, but they can push us towards focusing on processes and numbers, rather than on people and their stories (Pascoe et al 2023).
What do we mean by storytelling
A story tells us about events and experiences and often has a beginning, middle, and end.
Stories:
- are a powerful tool that help us share experiences, ideas, and emotions
- can bring people together and build relationships
- help us understand how people see and experience the world
- make complex ideas and situations more relatable and memorable
- support resilience and well-being in challenging times.
Storytelling can help us engage with people. Story sharing involves exchanging narratives between people and can help us foster connection and understanding. Stories have the power to inform, inspire and challenge. This makes storytelling and story sharing essential elements in human communication.
Storytelling can also be used in evaluation, learning and development to support the implementation of the Social Services Performance and Improvement Framework around gathering and learning from people’s experience and personal outcomes.
Storytelling framework: a foundation of ethical practice, three pillars of storytelling practice and a roof of benefits.
What's included in the framework
We all have our stories of sorrow, joy, experience, hope and change. Storytelling can play many roles in improving lives and organisations, whether you’re a practitioner, manager or someone accessing care and support. This framework aims to help people working in social care place storytelling at the heart of their work.
It can be helpful to view the storytelling framework as a building that is constructed with:
References -
Pascoe, K., Waterhouse-Bradley, B. and McGinn, T. (2023) Social Workers’ Experiences of Bureaucracy: A Systematic Synthesis of Qualitative Studies, The British Journal of Social Work, 53, (1), pp. 513–533.