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The ethical foundation of storytelling

The foundations of storytelling are built from ethical practice. We have a responsibility to gather and share stories ethically. It's about telling and sharing stories in a way that’s fair, respectful, and truthful.

How do we share stories ethically?

Stories are highly personal, and their power means that there’s a responsibility to gather and share stories ethically. The ethics of storytelling, whether it's sharing our own or other people's stories, is based on acting in a way that’s fair, respectful, and truthful.

Honouring the dignity and agency of storytellers means getting permission from people before sharing their stories. It’s also about being sensitive to people’s feelings and backgrounds, and making sure that everyone involved feels respected and valued.

Before gathering and sharing a story, there are some important considerations: 

  • think about what it might involve for the storyteller, yourself and your audience
  • be sensitive to others who are involved in the story
  • make sure the process of obtaining consent is ongoing with a mechanism to review at agreed intervals
  • if you’re sharing a story with others or basing decisions on it, try and make sure the significant details in the story are accurate and that the facts are checked.

Be sensitive to people’s feelings and backgrounds, and make sure that everyone involved feels respected and valued

How can we protect stories?

Identify a secure place

Shared stories should be kept in a secure place, whether they are digital, audio or printed copies. How we safely store them can depend on the intended use. For example, stories captured for individual well-being might need different storage solutions compared to stories for learning and development that might be held by an organisation for training.

Develop a sharing plan

Before sharing stories, make sure everyone involved agrees on the final version and the plan to share. The sharing plan should reflect what, and how, the storyteller has agreed to share. To create this plan, everyone needs to understand the purpose of the story and the intended audience.

In some circumstances, it will be important to discuss the sharing plan in detail. For example, if you’re sharing a story on a website or through social media, you could agree a date to review consent to share with the storyteller. It's important people know that they can ask you to remove the story if they change their mind. 

laptop and person writing in a notebook

It’s also important to acknowledge with contributors that once something is shared online, it can’t be completely erased and will always leave a digital footprint.

Ethical processes

When we share stories, we follow the same principles as outlined in our Codes of Professional practice.

If you’re gathering and sharing stories for evaluation or research, you need to make sure:

  • your processes align with the ethical standards set out for each purpose
  • a person can give informed consent and, if they’re not able to provide informed consent, you follow appropriate guidance.
  • you record the consent that storytellers give you to use their stories.

We have resources that provide guidance on assessing capacity to consent. If you want to know more about ethics in relation to research and evaluation, we run a session on ethics in our Demystifying Evaluation series.

How can we make storytelling as inclusive as possible?

Storytelling recognises and values a range of voices. We think storytelling has most value when everyone is supported to be involved if they want to be. This is what we mean by inclusive.

It’s important to build genuine relationships with diverse communities. This helps us to hear and share richer, more representative stories that reflect the unique experiences of different groups.

There are some things you can do to make sure that you’re aware, and respectful, of cultural and communication differences when gathering stories:  

  • build your own understanding: take time to learn about the cultural backgrounds of the people telling their stories. Understanding their history, traditions, and values can help you approach their stories with respect and insight. Learning about people's preferred communication methods is also important.
  • build trust: establish relationships with the individuals and communities you’re working with. Show interest in their experiences and invest time in getting to know them and how they communicate.
  • ask permission: obtain the necessary agreements before gathering and sharing stories. Make sure everyone involved in these decisions understands how the stories will be used and feels comfortable with the process.
  • listen actively: pay close attention to what people are saying and listen without judgment or interruption
  • address barriers: think about what things might affect people's ability to share their story (for example, trauma, language choice, stigma). You can find some helpful guidance on inclusive practice here: https://carelearning.org.uk/blog/equality-and-diversity-blog/what-is-inclusive-practice-in-health-and-social-care/.