Stories as Catalysts: Community Healing through Oral Storytelling
2025-07-18 09:00 - 10:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Jim Brulé and Laura Simms explore the profound connections between storytelling, healing, and human resilience. Through rich dialogue and experiential examples, we will share insights from our unique cultural and personal perspectives, followed by an interactive Q&A where the audience can deepen their understanding of storytelling as a healing practice. The discussion will probe the central question: What truly makes a story healing?
This workshop is part of the Georgia 2025 National Storytelling Conference, sponsored by the National Storytelling Network. It is being delivered in person only.

The Mysteries of Caves
2025-07-23 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Join Jim Brulé and Peter Blum for a special spiritual spelunking on July 23rd: “The Mysteries of Caves.” What treasures lie hidden beneath the surface of our day-to-day world? Explore with companions as we navigate the twists and turns of the paths of our less-visited spiritual worlds.
OARS in the Water is a facilitated Zoom gathering that meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 7 pm Eastern Time. The Healing Story Alliance’s OARS in the Water offers a community listening space in which to share the experiences and stories that have emerged in turbulent times. OARS co-hosts facilitate the evening and provide participants with a warm welcome and a meaningful theme which we hope will be healing, supportive and inspiring.
Format: A typical 90-minute meeting consists of a 20-minute, theme-based opening, followed by 20 minutes in breakout rooms, and then we reassemble for a whole group conversation. Admission is free, although donations are deeply appreciated and help support our programming. Your tax-deductible donation can be made here: https://square.link/u/d9xbGN2I
About our Hosts
Jim Brulé is a transformational storyteller, death doula, teacher, and mentor. He teaches spiritual storytelling for healing and growth. His workshops address multicultural wisdom and end-of-life themes. Co-authored with Rebecca Lemaire, his book ‘Stories of the Heart’ presents 18 global tales for navigating life and death. He is one of the co-producers, along with lead producer Peter Blum, of the Woodstock Story Festival in October, 2025.
Peter Blum has had a practice in neo-Ericksonian hypnosis and shamanic sound healing for decades. He has gathered many honors and awards in the field, including being inducted into the Hypnosis Hall of Fame in 2021. Peter specializes in narrative trance work, and is on the Board of Directors of The Coyote Institute. He has co-led trainings and retreats for years with psychiatrist and indigenous storyteller Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona.

Dive Deeply - Prince Lindworm
2025-07-24 13:30 - 15:00 | Zoom
In a kingdom of beauty and sorrow, a queen’s fateful choice leads to the birth of a serpent and a quest for true love. This tale of transformation and courage invites us to explore themes of desire, consequence, and the power of compassion. Join us for a four-session seminar where we’ll unearth the story’s rich symbolism and its enduring wisdom.
We will meet for four consecutive Thursdays at 1:30 pm Eastern in a seminar format from 24 July – 14 August. Everyone will be a full participant in this deep dive into this Nordic story that carries treasures deep in its murky telling. Led by Jim Brulé, this promises to be a transformational experience. Please join us!
The calendar lists a single date, but the link provided will be good for every class.

Stories and (Im)Mortality
2025-07-27 10:30 - 12:00 | Temple Concord, 450 Kimber Rd, Syracuse, NY, 13224, United States
In this session, you will experience a diverse collection of tales that delve into the profound themes of dying and living, revealing how stories can help us embrace our mortality. Discover how the timeless power of storytelling can be a vehicle for living more fully and carrying the essence of what it means to be human.

In person, led by Maggid (and Death Doula) Jim Brulé.
Contact the Temple Concord office for registration details.

The White Snake
2025-09-11 11:30 - 13:00 | Zoom
The White Snake
A Seminar in Chinese Culture through Traditional Story
Explore Chinese culture through the lens of “The White Snake,” a beloved Chinese story that dates back well over a millennium. As Chinese culture evolved, the characters, motivations, outcomes, and themes of the story also evolved in pace with it.
Join Bowen Lee and Jim Brulé as we explore Chinese culture through the lens of this iconic story. We will meet for four 90-minute sessions in September and October, approximately every two weeks.
The event lists a single date, but we will meet on these dates for 90 minutes at 11:30 am Eastern:

Sept 11 (Thu)
Sept 25 (Thu)
Oct 9 (Thu)
Oct 17 (Fri)

The Zoom link you will receive will be the same for all four meetings.
Limited scholarships are available; please contact Jim Brulé to learn more and apply.
Register at https://www.simpletix.com/e/the-white-snake-tickets-228584
Biographies
Bowen Lyam Lee has been on the stage of regional and national storytelling events, conducts workshops for educators, and performs virtually with national, international, and regional programs. Bowen Lyam Lee is a fifth-generation Chinese American with a rich family history on the West Coast. She is descended from pioneer Chinese from the Gold Rush, the railroads, and the Chinese fishing villages of Monterey.

https://www.bowenstories.com
https://bowenleecreative.com

Jim Brulé is a transformational storyteller, death doula, teacher, and mentor with a diverse background, holding 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; its faculty and students come from around the world.

https://transformationalstorytelling.org
https://lovingtransition.com

Kind Stories in Concert
2025-10-05 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
‘Kindness is having the ability to speak with love,
listen with patience, and act with compassion.”
–Random Acts of Kindness Foundation
Join the Healing Story Alliance for a special gathering to share and explore stories of kindness in its many faces and forms. Through folk tales and personal stories, we will dive deeply into multiple experiences of kindness. What is it? How does it impact us and our relationships to ourselves, to each other, to the world? Come and listen to “kind stories” shared by both professional tellers and community members and see what memories of kindness emerge for you.
Featured Tellers
Jessica Piscitelli Robinson is the Founding Executive Director of Better Said Than Done, the organization behind the Women’s Storytelling Festival. In addition to producing storytelling shows since 2011, Jessica has performed at Exchange Place at the National Storytelling Festival, on WGBH’s “Stories from the Stage,” and for Artists Standing Strong Together, Six Feet Apart Productions, Mostly True Things, and three National Storytelling Network (NSN) Conferences. Jessica was featured at the Stone Soup, the Washington Folk, the Allegheny Highlands, the Florida, and the Hampton Storytelling Festivals and is a 2023 ORACLE Award recipient from the NSN. Jessica is a teaching artist, leading workshops for Story Crossroads, The Story Center at the MCPL, local Libraries and Community Centers, and through Better Said Than Done online. Jessica’s “Guide to Personal Storytelling” (published October 2024) is available through Story Crossroads. Jessica is the author of the urban fantasy novel Caged (p. 2019), as well as the memoir-in-stories, Stages: My Life in Stories. (p. 2024) JessicaPiscitelliRobinson.com
Jim Brulé is a transformational storyteller, death doula, teacher, and mentor. He teaches spiritual storytelling for healing and growth. His workshops address multicultural wisdom and end-of-life themes. Co-authored with Rebecca Lemaire, his book ‘Stories of the Heart’ presents 18 global tales for navigating life and death. He is one of the co-producers, along with lead producer Peter Blum, of the Woodstock Story Festival in October, 2025. https://transformationalstorytelling.org/
Rishi Nixon is a Maryland spoken-word storyteller and performing artist. For over ten years, he has performed for audiences from the Washington Folk Festival and National Parks Service to Artists Standing Strong Together and Irvington Peace Park’s annual summer camp for West Baltimore city youth. He was a performing member of award-winning youth touring group The Twinbrook Tellers from 2016 to 2020, after which he became an independent professional storyteller. Since then, he has been inducted a lifetime member of regional storytelling guild Voices in the Glen, served on its board, co-chaired the 2025 National Storytelling Conference, and is the incumbent president of the National Storytelling Network—the youngest person to hold that office.
Emcee
Lee-Ellen Marvin has explored storytelling as a performer, audio producer, educator, folklorist, and community advocate. She has told and taught storytelling to thousands in colleges and universities, developed and published Story Shifters, a non-competitive game, and holds a PhD in Folklore and Folklife. Lee-Ellen lives in Eco Village at Ithaca, New York. 607-229-8429

Community Tellers
Liz Walker co-founded EcoVillage Ithaca (EVI) in 1991, and dedicated her full-time work for the next three decades to bring this internationally acclaimed project from vision to reality. She’s written two popular books: EcoVillage at Ithaca: Pioneering a Sustainable Culture, (2005, New Society Publishers) and Choosing a Sustainable Future: Ideas and Inspiration from Ithaca, New York, (October, 2010, New Society) which have been translated into several languages. In 2022 Liz was interviewed about EVI for a YouTube video, which now has 2.1 million views. People are hungry for community! Liz lives with her husband at EcoVillage Ithaca. Whenever she gets a chance, she loves to go biking, or hiking in the beautiful gorges in the Finger Lakes region of NY.

Elan Shapiro has explored the integration of meditative practice with social and environmental activism since living in the SF Bay Area in the 1980’s. He was part of the birthing of eco-psychology and the flowering of the deep ecology and bioregional movements. He has taught about the intersection of social justice and sustainability through the Environmental Studies department at Ithaca College and co-founded Sustainable Finger Lakes, the Building Bridges coalition, and the local chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice.

Anti-War Stories with Jewish Voices
2025-10-12 08:15 - 09:00 | Zoom
Join Beverly Schwartz, Jim Brulé, and Sara deBeer as they present three anti-war stories as part of the “Get A Word in Edgeways” storytelling festival from Much Wenlock in England.
This free, hybrid event is organized and MC’d by Despina Ariou, a well-traveled storyteller from Greece.
Join us at 13:15 UK time (8:15 a.m. Eastern US) on Sunday, 12 October, for this essential and moving session via this link: https://tinyurl.com/WSCzoomlink
You can view the entire program here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1495988171716269

When Storytellers Write about Healing
2025-10-19 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Join us for the next event in Healing Story Alliance’s series, where authors are interviewed about their creative writing processes and the healing power of storytelling. Storytelling, unique among all narrative arts, engages listeners in a profound way, deepening our understanding of what healing means and how it functions.
In this session, Jim Brulé will interview noted author and physician, Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona, about his many award-winning books exploring indigenous healing ways and the power of storytelling. They will explore the evolution of Dr. Mehl-Madrona’s thoughts on story and healing.
Audience participation is encouraged, with opportunities to ask questions and share observations inspired by Lewis’ work and the interview. This event benefits The Healing Storytelling Alliance, dedicated to promoting healing through the art of storytelling.
Please register and learn more using this link.

Woodstock Story Festival
2025-10-24 19:00 - 2025-10-26 15:00 | Mountain View Studio, 20 Mountain View Ave, Woodstock, NY, 12498, United States
The acclaimed Woodstock Story Festival returns to celebrate story in all its forms, featuring three days (Oct. 24-26) of diverse guest presenters. The festival brings a rich tapestry of stories from talented & masterful tale-tellers and artists. Experience close-up story encounters of every kind through 16 regional through international guest presenters showcasing the power & impact of story.
Tickets, per day or for the entire festival, are here: https://woodstockstoryfestival.com/tickets/

Presenters are as varied as their expertise, including, among others:

David Gonzalez, Joseph Campbell Foundation Fellow, master storyteller, director, poet, and playwright.
Irish storyteller Maria Gillen, popular storyteller internationally and on the storytelling circuit in Ireland, and a well-known Bean An Tí (Irish Session Host).
Noted author and teacher Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona, a leading proponent of narrative psychiatry and author of Coyote Medicine, Coyote Healing, and Coyote Wisdom, a trilogy on storytelling and traditional healing.
Laura Simms, worldwide storyteller, writer, healer, and humanitarian, combines sacred myth and fairytale with personal narrative.
Denise Manning Keyes Page tells stories to heal, challenge, inspire, inform and connect. Founder of Ubuntu Storytellers and “Women Tell by the Decades” with Jen Munro.
Matoaka Little Eagle (Tewa, Apache, Chickahominy), long-time Native singer, dancer, storyteller, and educator.
Jim Brulé, internationally respected storyteller and author for his stories of healing; his Transformational Storytelling school is certified by the National Storytelling Network.
Shelley Stockwell, world-renowned storyteller, author, and hypnotist, founder/ president of the International Hypnosis Federation, has authored 25+ books including Storytelling 101.
International bestselling author, seasoned storyteller, and classically trained pianist, Doug O’Brien’s book The User’s Guide to Storytelling has helped coaches, speakers, and therapists bring their stories to life.

Complete presenter biographies: https://woodstockstoryfestival.com/biographies/
The Woodstock Story Festival kicks off on Friday evening, October 24 from 7-10 pm, continues on Saturday, October 25 from 2-10 pm, and concludes on Sunday, October 26 from 9 am to 3 pm. Schedule details can be found here.

Welcoming the Stranger
2025-12-02 19:00 - 20:30 | May Memorial, 3800 E Genesee St, Syracuse, NY, United States
Welcoming the Stranger:
What Do Our Faith Traditions Teach and Call Us to Do?
CNY Interfaith Sanctuary Coalition presents perspectives from
the three Abrahamic traditions shared by Central New York faith leaders:
Jim Brulé ~ Judaism
David Pasinski ~ Christianity
Magda Bayoumi ~ Islam
Live music by the Cadleys
December 2 at 7:00 pm
May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society
3800 E Genesee St, Syracuse NY
All are Welcome!

Diving Deeply into Tatterhood
2026-02-06 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
Join Jim Brulé and Marianne Jessen as we dive deeply into the story of Tatterhood, a Norwegian tale about a fierce princess who rides a goat wielding a wooden spoon, who must save her passively beautiful twin sister after a witch replaces her head with a calf’s head. Our four-session seminar will uncover the tale’s deeper meanings, from the symbolism of her magical transformation to its roots in ancient Norse dualities of beauty, power, and worth.
This is a seminar series, meaning that participants add their own research and understandings to the substantial material provided by the leaders. Register here!
We meet for four Fridays every other week from 6 Feb – 20 Mar, inclusive, at noon EST / 18.00 CET. The single Zoom link you receive will be the same for all four sessions.
Jim Brulé is a transformational storyteller, death doula, and teacher. He directs the Transformational Storytelling school, accredited by the National Storytelling Network, which trains spiritual storytellers from diverse traditions to craft narratives that inspire healing and foster spiritual growth. His Transformational Storytelling Community uses storytelling with communities to recall strengths and build new resilience. Jim received the 2025 Oracle Regional Service & Leadership Award (Northeast Region), and was one of the Guinness Book of World Records award winners as part of the 2025 Marrakech International Storytelling Festival.
Marianne Jessen is a phonetician and linguist. Alongside her academic work, she volunteers in her community and has trained in storytelling and mindfulness-based resilience teaching through seminars in Germany. Her personal interests include photography, medieval and 20th-century history, and exploring storytelling across different media as a way of connecting with others.

Stories of Courage and Resistance
2026-03-08 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Join the Healing Story Alliance for a special gathering to share and explore stories of social justice in action in its many faces and forms. Through folk tales and personal stories, we will dive deeply into multiple experiences of justice in action. We all deserve to be treated with respect and to have our needs heard and responded to. Since resources and power are so unequally distributed in this world, it is vital to stand up for those in need. Hearing the stories of justice in action can give us courage and inspiration in these tumultuous times.
Stories of Courage & Resistance
March 8th 7:00 pm-8:30 pm EDT
Register here to Receive a FREE Zoom Link:
https://www.simpletix.com/e/social-justice-in-action-march-8-2026-tickets-257775
Can’t attend in real time? No Problem!
All registrants will receive a link to watch the recording.
Click here to Donate and help make programs like this possible
Featured Tellers
Sherry Norfolk is an award-winning storyteller, author and teaching artist, performing and leading residencies and professional development workshops nationally and internationally. A dynamic storyteller, Sherry has appeared in the Manitoba International Storytelling Festival, Taiwan International Storytelling Carnival, International Art of Storytelling Festival (Miami, FL), International Storytelling Center (Jonesborough, TN), Singapore International Storytelling Festival, Manila International Storytelling Festival, and many more festivals, schools, libraries, museums and universities nationwide. A Kennedy Center National Teaching Artist, Wolf Trap Teaching Artist, Young Audiences Teaching Artist, and an Arts Integration Teaching Artist on the rosters of several state arts commissions, she leads residencies in PreK through high school classrooms across the country and southeast Asia. As co-editor and/or co-author of five books that explore rigorous, standards-based storytelling strategies for learning across the curriculum and a former Adjunct Professor at Lesley University, Sherry is a recognized leader in integrating learning through storytelling. shnorfolk@aol.com
Lani Peterson is known for her personal tales of wit and wisdom. She is not only a storyteller, but a psychologist, story consultant and coach. With a specialty in the use of story as a healing art and change agent, Lani has been storytelling, leading workshops and teaching about story at universities, organizations, hospitals, homeless shelters and prisons for over 25 years. When she is not telling, teaching, counseling or coaching, Lani stays busy living a life that she knows will lead to more stories. lani@lanipeterson.com
Nancy Wang, playwright, dancer, director, actor, and project manager is the founding co-director of Eth-Noh-Tec, an Asian American kinetic storytelling theater non-profit, with her husband Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo. Drawing on her background in modern and ethnic dance, theater and playwriting, she co-scripts and choreographs Eth-Noh-Tec’s synchronistic and seamless tandem movements for performance. Eth-Noh-Tec has performed as featured tellers in festivals, schools, museums, libraries and conferences around the world. As a playwright, her plays of Asian American themes include: Leave Me My Dreaming; Unspeakable Moons; Takashi’s Dream; In Need of Goddesses; Bittersweet; Red Altar; and Shadows & Secrets. She is also the co-author of a children’s illustrated book – A New Pair of Wings and has recently published her novel Red Altar based on her ancestors who in 1850 started the fishing industry in California’s Monterey Bay Area. nancy@ethnotec.org
Community Tellers
Jim McKeever of Fayetteville, New York, has made a dozen trips to the US-Mexico border since 2019, volunteering with human rights organizations that assist asylum seekers and others fleeing violence and poverty. For the past year, he has focused on his long-standing volunteer work with the Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network. “The courage and resilience of the men, women and children I have met at the border and right here in Central New York inspire me to continue this vital work,” he said. “They deserve our solidarity as we fight against the cruelty and evil of this administration.” mckeever262@gmail.com
Mallory DeJohn, human rights advocate and public health employee, volunteers for the Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network (SIRDN) to make direct contributions to immigrant and refugee defense in Central New York at the leadership and guidance of affected communities. Mallory supports SIRDN by informing the public of legislative efforts that benefit the lives of immigrants, farm workers, and migrant workers. Mallory monitors streets in Syracuse weekly and responds to urgent notifications of ICE as an eye witness in order to confirm and deny sightings using photo or video evidence. mustardpatch@proton.me
Emcee
Jim Brulé is a transformational storyteller, death doula, teacher, and mentor. He teaches spiritual storytelling for healing and growth. His workshops address multicultural wisdom and end-of-life themes. His substack, Healing Monsters, dives deeply into old folktales and stories to pursue healing for individuals and communities. https://transformationalstorytelling.org/

Learning from All Our Relations
2026-03-11 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
In alignment with the guiding principle that every living thing carries its own sacred creation song, this OARS in the Water event invites us to gather with “all our relations” to honor and recollect the profound lessons whispered to us by the more-than-human world. Join for free here.

About our Hosts
Hears Crow (Nootauau Kaukontuoh), “she hears the crow”, is a woman of the Eastern Woodlands. She lives her life in the tradition of the Nanhigganêuck, the people
known today as the Narragansett. She is a Storyteller of Longhouse Tales, told in many different ways, including Native Sign Language, call and response as well as other
traditional styles. She brings to life the oral tradition at schools, community centers, Indigenous gatherings, and wherever the stories lead her.
Jim Brulé is a transformational storyteller, death doula, teacher, and mentor, drawing on a unique background that includes advanced degrees in both clinical psychology and artificial intelligence. For the past decade, he has directed Transformational Storytelling, an online school that trains spiritual storytellers from diverse traditions to craft narratives that inspire healing and foster spiritual growth. His current endeavors include his “Healing Monsters” substack, his podcast (with Maria Gillen) “From Cork to New York,” and recurring visits to Marrakech and the Atlas Mountains of Morocco to encourage storytelling across cultures.

Storytelling as Civic Repair
2026-06-10 09:00 - 11:00 | Zoom
What if the stories we tell could heal the places we live?
Cities are living narratives. Yet, in our fast-paced world, many of these stories have become fragmented or lost. Join us for a transformative webinar exploring Storytelling as Civic Repair: Narrative, Healing, and Reconnection. 🌿
We will dive into “Story as Method,” moving beyond simple communication to view storytelling as a civic ritual, a planning tool, and a vital infrastructure of meaning. Together, we will ask the key question: Who gets to tell the story of the city, and how can storytelling reweave our civic life? 🌀🤝
From memory mapping to speculative design, let’s rediscover how reclaiming our collective memory can serve as a pathway to social cohesion and city healing.
🗓️10 June 2026 🕒15:00 – 17:00 CEST / 9:00 – 11:00 EDT📍Online
The session brings together three distinctive voices working across storytelling, public leadership, systems change, civic imagination, and place-based healing: Jim Brulé, Dr. h.c. Violeta Bulc, and Dave “Tex” Smith.
Free Registration and more information: https://www.ecocivilisation.earth/events/storytelling-as-civic-repair-narrative-healing-and-reconnection/

The Tower and the Thorn
2026-07-01 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
The Tower and the Thorn:
Weaving Transformation through Lanjeh and Lunja
In the shadows of our greatest fears lie the seeds of our most profound growth.
Join professional storyteller Jim Brulé for a four-session deep dive into two mesmerizing Moroccan variants of the “Maiden in the Tower” myth: Lanjeh and Lunja. While the world knows Rapunzel, these versions offer something deeper: a story where the monster is a mother, the escape is a transformation, and the “hero” often fails because he cannot see the value in the struggle.
This is more than a folklore study; it is a journey through the Healing Monsters model. Together, we will step into the role of the Weaver, learning to take the fragmented threads of past trauma and spiritual wounds and spin them into a narrative of agency and anti-fragility.
This is a Diving Deeply Seminar. We meet every other week for 90 minutes to allow ample time for discussion and self-exploration between sessions. The cost for the general public is $100 for all four sessions; paid subscribers to the Healing Monsters substack are admitted for free.
We will meet on these four Wednesdays at noon Eastern:
1 July
15 July
29 July
12 August
You will receive a single Zoom link that will be valid for all four sessions.
