Jim Brulé is a maggid – a transformational storyteller, teacher, and mentor with a very diverse background: he has advanced degrees in clinical psychology and artificial intelligence. His online school – Transformational Storytelling – trains spiritual storytellers from multiple traditions to tell stories that inspire healing and spiritual growth. It has been operating for seven years and is accredited by the National Storytelling Network. His “Stories for Healing” series saw over 75 stories told by over 50 storytellers worldwide which were viewed by thousands daily.
In 2020 he launched a multicultural series called “Diving Deeply into Stories,” which each month brought stories from different cultures and traditions to an online audience. Typically, each month involved collaboration with storytellers from those traditions, including individuals from Yoruba, Hungary, indigenous North American, Mexico, England, France, Spain, and Great Britain.
In 2022 he launched another storytelling series with a Buddhist storyteller residing in Spain called “Dancing with Dying and Living,” which examines four central topics revolving around end-of-life issues over a 24-week program. This program accompanies storytellers, caregivers, hospice workers, and others through this journey with stories, songs, music, dialogue, and other creative activities.
He developed a program “Welcoming the Other,” which uses storytelling to help create a visceral experience of what it is like to be the “other,” and what those of us in more privileged communities can do to be more truly – and practically – welcoming. Similarly, he led a storytelling and study group for over a year to encounter the riches in the close-in comparison of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian scriptures and stories.
His faculty and partners in these endeavors come from Hungary, Mexico, the Narragansett people, Spain, and Britain, as well as many other places around the world.
As a death doula, he works with families, individuals, and caregivers. He is a member of NEDA – the National End-of-Life Doula Alliance – where he has achieved the EOL Doula Proficiency badge, and has a subsequent certification as a death doula from The Dying Year.
Finally, he is also an interfaith chaplain in hospital, prison, and jail settings, and a storytelling healer at an “Omega Home” – a last home for the dying. Jim also works with organizations and communities to promote dialogue across learned boundaries of faith, ethnicity, privilege, and class using stories.
He has served on the boards of Northeast Storytelling (as President), Artists Standing Strong Together, and (currently) the Healing Story Alliance. He is a member of several storytelling organizations, and has told in person to audiences in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Raleigh, and throughout New York State. He has been an invited workshop leader and storyteller at the International Storytelling Festival in Marrakech, Morocco (2023 and 2025), National Storytelling Network’s annual conference, Northeast Storytelling’s Sharing the Fire, and the Kallah Biennial.
You can view his storytelling and commercial CV’s here.
