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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to all the individuals who have supported during the course of this project with their time, expertise, enthusiasm, and encouragement. I would like to extend a special thanks to: Sarah Glen for unwavering support and guidance; Neighbour to Neighbour Centre for partnering in the process to make this project possible; Krista D’Aoust for leading communication and planning within Neighbour to Neighbour Centre; Jennifer Landicho for her administrative expertise and assistance in making this project possible; Clare Wagner for sharing her insights, connections and offering to assist with recruitment; Dr. Kimberley Dej for her assistance with the approval of the project, and offering encouragement and support; Lil Blume for sharing advice on preparing and facilitating workshops; and Fellow undergraduate student-researchers and friends for giving timely help and encouragement throughout the process.
TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………... 3 ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………….….………. 5 RESEARCHER’S STANDPOINT…………………………………………………… 5 BACKGROUND ON NEIGHBOUR TO NEIGHBOUR CENTRE……………… 6 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………….….……… 8 Definition of Terms……………………………………………….….……… 9 STUDY DESIGN…………………..…………………………………….….………
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Narrative Theory…………..…………………………………….….……..…… 9 Community-Based Research……………….…………………….….…………. 10 ETHICS…………………..……………………….…………………….….…………. 11 METHOD………………..……………………….…………………….…..………….. 11 Research Question...……………………….……….…………….….…………. 11 Workshop Development.……………………….………….….………………... 12 Participant Recruitment.……………………….………….….………………… 12 Ongoing Consent.……………………….………….….………………………. 12 Pilot Workshop.……………………….………….….…………………….….... 13 Focus Group.……………………….………….….………………………...…. 13 Data Collection & Storage.……………………….………….….……………… 13 Data Analysis.……………………….………….….………………………...…. 14 RESULTS………………..……………………….…………………….…..………….. 15 Literature Review..……………………….…………………….…..…………... 15 Narrative.……………………….…………………….…..……………. 15 Narrative Theory.……………………….……….…………….…..…… 16 Narrative Inquiry……………………….……….…………….…..……. 16 Public Narrative……………………….……….…………….…..……... 19 Workshop Development……………………….……….…………….…..…….. 20 Findings & Analysis……………………….……….…………….…..………… 21 Stories and Narratives……………………….……….…………….…... 21 Focus Group……………………….……….…………….…..…………………33 DISCUSSION…………..……………………….…………………….…..…………… 35 Limitations of Study……………………….……….…………….…..………… 37 Next Steps /Future Directions……………………….……….…………….….. 38 CONCLUSION…………..……………………….…………………….…..…………..38 REFERENCES…………..……………………….…………………….…..………….. 39 APPENDIX…………..……………………….…………………….…..……………... 41
ABSTRACT In collaborative partnership with Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, this project serves to explore narrative practice as an apposite method for the non-profit organization to capture and share impact and positively support the client and the organization. Insights gleaned from a literature review on the practice of narrative theory, narrative inquiry and public narrative established a pilot workshop to understand how “impact stories” at Neighbour to Neighbour Centre can be created and shared. Using three elements of public narrative: (1) story of self; (2) story of us; and (3) story of now, the developed storytelling workshop provided prompts and creative activities for writing and sharing. A total of 12 participants were invited and 2 participants were in attendance for the storytelling workshop piloted on April 27th 2016. Stories captured and shared at the workshop were manually analyzed using coding and thematic analysis. Common themes included: challenges; behaviours/specific acts; positive thoughts; and relationships/connections. For further analysis on word frequency, an incoherent string of text containing the words of the participant responses were used. Study findings and future directions were disseminated to the organization for future development and application. RESEARCHER’S STANDPOINT For as long as I can remember, stories of lived experiences are a source of insight of the past, understanding of the present and inspiration for tomorrow. In 2008, the sharing of a man’s storied life at a soup kitchen in downtown Toronto taught me the power of sharing, the value of empathy and the impact of community organizations. From his musing of day-to-day experiences and recollected moments of overcoming challenges to expressing his gratitude for those who helped him, I reckoned that exploring told stories can give an understanding of the human condition and offer truth to lived experiences that are shared. Recent participation in workshops on narrative medicine have granted me with a deeper understanding that conveying complexities with quantitative measures can be limited. However, my undergraduate studies in the sciences may bias the research approach towards a quantitative methodology. As such, I devoted to reflecting on my learning as a student-researcher and seeing the value of both quantitative and qualitative research in this project. A few steps taken include
gleaning insight from literature of an array of interdisciplinary fields, partnering with Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, and turning to stories for methodological access to meaningful lived experiences. With some tools of narrative workshop facilitation and realized value of narrative humility, I step into this research and the terrain of storied lives ready to listen, learn, attend and engage. Notably, facing the challenges and needs of poverty is not a firsthand experience I have; I likely do not fully understand the challenges and needs of community members. Before the inchoate stages of this research project, I heard Dr. Richard Heinzl, the founder of MÊdecins Sans Frontière (Doctors Without Borders), share that poverty is not limited to experiences that result from economical insufficiency. As this research project began, I was encouraged to understand that poverty means to have a lack of choice. With my past participation in 30-hour famine awareness campaign and serving at a soup kitchen and drop-in center in Toronto as a starting point, I strived to develop cultural humility, to be open-minded and to be empathic throughout the research process. While I may not be able to completely eliminate the biases I introduce to the project, these biases are not necessarily negative as the nature of community-based research can be subjective and not fully objective. With that said, there may be statements and insights that are of opinion, shared with the hope of providing insight. BACKGROUND ON NEIGHBOUR TO NEIGHBOUR CENTRE Neighbour to Neighbour Centre establishes its own narrative as a non-profit, charitable organization with a vision of leading poverty prevention in our neighbourhood and the mission of alleviating and preventing poverty in the Hamilton community (Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, 2013).
History During 1985, a group of concerned individuals were deeply affected by issues of economic, social and emotional hardship because of un(der)employment and poverty in the community on Hamilton Mountain. At the time, data and research shows that there were over 15 000 people living below the poverty line and a needs-assessment indicated three concerns requiring
immediate address: (1) access to emergency food, (2) resource counseling, and (3) self-help programs and services. Neighbour to Neighbour Centre was created in response to these concerns. On April 20, 1986, the Neighbour to Neighbour Centre officially opened its doors (Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, 2013, p. 3).
Location In 2005, the poverty rate in Hamilton was at 18.1% (Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton, 2009, p. 2). According to the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton, higher than average rates of poverty are reported across different neighbourhoods with an uneven distribution in areas of downtown Hamilton and pockets of Hamilton Mountain (SPRC, 2009, p. 3). Located on Hamilton mountain, the organization serves families and individuals who are unemployed, and the working poor living at or below the poverty line on Hamilton Mountain, Stoney Creek Mountain and some surrounding communities (Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, 2013, p. 3).
Approach Neighbour to Neighbour Centre upholds the values of respect and dignity, innovation and leadership, partnership and collaboration and integrity and accountability to achieve its charitable purposes through three primary areas of programs and services: Community Food, Educational Support Services, and Family Services (Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, 2013, p. 1). For over 30 years, the organization has supported un(der)employed residents through food access programs, tutoring programs, community gardens, counselling services, women’s group, family and educational services and other community partnerships (Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, 2013). A team comprised of 11 Board of Directors, 11 equivalent full-time staff and 800+ volunteers implement best practices in Community Food Programs and Services (Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, 2013, p. 3). Neighbour to Neighbour Centre focuses on preventative, relief-focused and educational programs to support residents.
INTRODUCTION Community organizations have made and continue to make sustainable efforts to evaluate and improve their work in the community. In the charitable sector, strides toward understanding and furthering the impact of charitable organizations have garnered interest in using both quantitative and qualitative measures (VanDeCarr, 2015). Over the years, feedback surveys have become the standard practice and evaluation tool (D’Aoust, 2016). Yet, implementing qualitative methods of evaluation is an area for further exploration. In collaborative partnership with Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, this research project was conducted to explore and pilot narrative practice as the apposite method for the Neighbour-toNeighbour Centre. With the purpose of positively supporting individuals that use services at the Neighbour to Neighbour Centre and the organization, this project works to capture and share ‘impact stories’. Insights gleaned from a review of literature informed the development of storytelling tools. As a result, an interactive training workshop providing a variety of storytelling tools (e.g. prompts and questions) to allow ideas, thoughts, and themes to emerge and develop into stories was piloted. Stories, narratives and feedback shared were analyzed. This research aims to highlight the impact that Neighbour to Neighbour Centre has on the Hamilton community, understand how to better support the storytelling process for community members and engage participants with an experience of creating and sharing their story.
This paper addresses the research questions: (1) How can "impact stories" of the clients who access the services at the Neighbour to Neighbour Centre be effectively captured and shared to support the client and the organization? and (2) What are some example impact stories from clients who use services from the Neighbour to Neighbour Centre? The findings of the project hope to offer insight into individual experiences with the organization, and in doing so, assist in furthering the work at Neighbour to Neighbour Centre. Giving voice to individuals that use the services may help identify barriers of access and inform areas of where further support can be given to prevent and alleviate poverty. In all, this project serves to explore the efficacy of narrative practice as the apposite method for the Neighbour to Neighbour Centre to capture impact and positively support the client and the organization.
Definition of Terms Prior to exploration, key terms akin to this field of work will be defined to provide distinction prior to exploration. In colloquial conversations, the use of “story” and “narrative” act as interchangeable terms. However, for the purposes of clarity, story refers to individual experiences - personal stories, while narrative refers to collective stories and community narratives (Rappaport, 1993). The definition of other terms will be provided in context in the remaining of the report. STUDY DESIGN
Narrative Theory Understanding how community narratives are created and appropriate into personal life stories is one of the aims of narrative theory that establishes the framework of this research approach. “Narrative theory is an approach to knowledge that recognizes that communities, organization and individual people have stories and that there is a mutual influence process between these community, organizational and personal stories. [The narrative approach] opens new methods and ideas...[and] requires collaboration with both citizen and scholars in other disciplines”
(Rappaport, 1995, p. 796). Implications of this approach leads to listening to and giving value to the stories of people when helping citizens in the community discover their own stories, create new ones and develop space to make such narrative sharing practices possible.
Community-Based Research The nature of this study is community-based research (CBR). CBR is an interdisciplinary research methodology that enables community members, organizational representatives and researchers to be equal partners on all aspects of the study design and implementation (Anderson, 2002, p.84). Built on a foundation of collaboration, distribution of power, clear communication and documentation of expectations, this methodology ensures that the study meets the research needs of the organization, uses appropriate language and recruitment methods, and allows for meaningful implications for staff, service users and all involved (Minkler, 2005, p.ii7). Furthermore, a community-based approach emphasizes transparency, communication, and a lasting relationship between the academic and community partner (Bringle & Hatcher, 2002). Combining qualitative and quantitative methods to address challenges in the community, CBR begins with a research question that originates from the community and is co-designed with all partners (Minkler, 2005). The co-development of a clear research question, method of approach, collection and analysis of data and dissemination of the findings to all relevant stakeholders establishes community partners to be essential stakeholders in the process. With research participants as expert informants, the researcher learns from individuals who have a direct experience with a phenomenon (Minkler, 2005). As such, this type of research also promotes reflexivity, in which the researcher is able to acknowledge and reflect on how one’s own subjectivity influences one’s research (Minkler, 2005). ETHICS Ethics approval for the project was given on February 10th, 2015 and the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board (HIREB) number was issued: 14-749-S. All participants were fully made aware of the purpose, procedure, potential harms/risk/discomforts, potential benefits,
reimbursements, confidentiality, participation and withdrawal options, nature and involvement requested for the study prior to giving consent. Participants were fully made aware that their participation is voluntarily and their decision would not impact their relationship or service with Neighbour to Neighbour Centre. Adhering to the ethical considerations of community partnership involving vulnerable populations, this project attends to the considerations of research with vulnerable groups outlined by Thynne (2010) and the recruitment and engagement strategies of low-income populations by Schnirer (2012). Thynne stresses the capacity to do research as an extended privilege in which the ethical risks and processes concerning informed voluntary consent, protecting participants from harm are thoroughly considered (2010). With consideration of lowincome barriers for participation, Schnirer highlights printing advertisement (e.g. posters), word-of-mouth, referrals and in-person recruitment (2012). METHODS
Research Question Aligned with the values of community-based research, the research question and design was codesigned with all partners: academic supervisor (Sarah Glen), community sponsor (Krista D’Aoust), and student-researcher (Crystal Chan)
Literature Review To evaluate the best practices of narrative theory and practice, an in-depth literature review was conducted to examine both academic and grey literature. For a thorough understanding of previous literature, the following databases were consulted: “Google Scholar,” “EBSCOhost,” “Web of Science” “Journals @ Scholars Portal” and “The Canadian Best Practices Portal,” and several key search terms were utilized in various combinations: “narratives,” “stories,” “storytelling,” “impact stories,” “community,” “engagement,” “charity”, “tools”, and “workshop.” Literature specific to North America and
published after 1990 was selected to ensure relevance. For a more vigorous search, sources of relevant literature were also evaluated. In addition, a review of evidence that substantiates best approaches of engaging with vulnerable populations, informs risks to consider (Sole, D. & Wilson, D. G., 2002, p. 1-10) and evaluates the efficacy of utilizing reflection and narratives as a means for constructing self-awareness, selfefficacy and collective sense (Boyce, 1998, p. 1) were implemented.
Participant Recruitment Adults aged 18 years old and up who were involved in a/the program(s) at Neighbour to Neighbour Centre were recruited during mid-February 2016 to mid-April 2016 to participate in the pilot workshop and follow-up session (i.e. focus group, interview). Recruitment strategies includes the following: •
Recruitment Posters with a call for participants and pull-off tabs providing contact information to student-researcher were posted in various locales at Neighbour to Neighbour Centre: food bank waiting area, lower floor washrooms, community kitchen and women’s’ drop-in space, bookstore and reception. Any interested participants were asked to contact the student-researcher (via provided phone number or email address).
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Food Bank Outreach involved engaging with users of foodbank by the waiting area
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Community Cooking Group Outreach involved engaging with users of the program by the church kitchen
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Women’s Group Outreach involved announcing a call for participants with posters and contact information.
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Dental Health Bus Outreach involved engaging with users of the dental health services program by service bus.
Ongoing Consent Consent was not an one-off event; ongoing discussion between the participant and the studentresearcher was an ongoing process in which the purpose, procedure, potential harms/risk/discomforts, potential benefits, reimbursements, confidentiality, participation and
withdrawal options, nature and involvement requested for the study were thoroughly explained to all participants prior to receiving signed consent. A copy of the consent was provided to the participant for personal reference and the option for further discussion and answering of questions was made available through the provided phone and email information. A total of 12 participants with expressed interest were formally invited to participated. Of those invited, 2 participants completed the workshop and a follow-up session, while 10 participants were unable to attend due to personal reasons or other unspecified reasons.
Pilot Workshop Information from the literature review was used to develop and establish a pilot workshop that utilizes reflection and the sharing of stories from individuals with a poverty experience. This pilot workshop on storytelling implemented on April 27th 2016 offered participants an opportunity to develop their capacity to capture and share about at a time in their lives that really matters. Participants were asked to complete three sessions of activities following the theory of narrative inquiry and the structure of public narrative: (1) story of self; (2) story of us; and (3) story of now.
Focus Group To guide sharing and offer writing space to participants, a feedback questionnaire with questions were provided to complement the focus group dialogue.
Data Collection & Storage To maintain the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data, a variety of methods were utilized to protect data in motion, at rest and its destruction. All data in this project was only accessible by the student-researcher, unless otherwise specified. Hard-copy Data
All consent forms and data on paper was stored in a cabinet located in the Bachelor of Health Sciences office. No hardcopy of data will be retained past one year of the study in the event a need for revision arises. After this period, all files will be confidentially shredded. Electronical Data To safeguard the electronic data stored on electronic device(s) (e.g. laptop computer) of student-researcher, files, folder and the electronic device with information were password-protected for security. Collected data in the form of audio recording was subsequently transcribed into written form using coded numbers to ensure accuracy of statements. Any personal identifiers (e.g. name or age) were removed in the transcription process to ensure codes had no connection to participants. Once transcriptions were complete, audio files were deleted. For electronically-stored data, encryption of files via TrueCrypt, secure socket layers and a Virtual Private Network were used.
Data Analysis Workshop and focus group transcripts were analyzed using a mixed-methods approach: manual and analytical coding techniques for qualitative analysis (Boyce, 1998, p. 8-12); and semistructured interviews and surveys for quantitative analysis (Stoecker, 2007, p. 97). The analysis of key domains or themes were coded using a priori approach and the appropriate field methods outlined by (Ryan & Bernard, 2003, p. 85-100). To visualize the greater prominence of particular terms from the workshop, NVivo and Voyant were used in the creation of a word cloud. This method graphically represented and emphasized words that appear more frequently and for analysis, the word clouds were slightly formatted: the font was changed to a san serif font and the colour was changed to black and white.
Dissemination
The dissemination of the research will detail the project research to all stakeholders. In summary, the knowledge gleaned from the literature review and pilot workshop offers a more evidence-based practice model for possible future narrative training and sharing opportunities at Neighbour-to-Neighbour Centre, and future directions. RESULTS
Literature Review To ensure a thorough understanding of previous literature, a review of relevant academic and grey literature was conducted. The following databases were consulted: “Google Scholar,” “EBSCOhost,” “Web of Science” “Journals @ Scholars Portal” and “The Canadian Best Practices Portal.” Several key search terms were utilized in various combinations: “narratives,” “stories,” “storytelling,” “impact stories,” “community,” “engagement,” “charity”, “tools”, and “workshop.” Literature specific to North America and published after 1990 was set to ensure relevance and exceptions were made based on Narrative The ubiquitous practice of narrative is woven throughout society to support humanity in understanding where we come from and where we are headed (Irvine, 2015). As a means of organizing experiences, American psychologist Jerome Bruner asserts that narrative is a way of knowing – offering the opportunity for sense-making of the world around and within our consciousness (Bruner, 1986). Narrative has been studied in ancient and modern times by scholars among diverse disciplines including anthropology, psychology, sociology, political science, philosophy, legal studies, cultural studies, theology, ministry, law, military, politics, business and the arts (Ganz, 2015). In keeping with its diverse heritage, the study manifests under other names: narrative theory (Aristotle, trans. 1967), narratology (Ricœur, 1980; Clandinin & Rosiek, 2007, p. 35), narrative unity (MacIntyre, 1981); narrative analysis (Polkinghorne, 1988) and literary ideas of narrative (Coles, 1989).
Narrative Theory “Narrative theory is an approach to knowledge that recognizes that communities, organization and individual people have stories and that there is a mutual influence process between these community, organizational and personal stories. [The narrative approach] opens new methods and ideas...[and] requires collaboration with both citizen and scholars in other disciplines” (Rappaport, 1995, p. 796). Implications of this approach leads to listening to and giving value to the stories of people when helping citizens in the community discover their own stories, create new ones and develop space to make such narrative sharing practices possible. As a manner to process human experiences and memories that influence identity and behaviour, the aim of narrative theory is to understand how community and organizational narratives are created and appropriate into our personal life stories (Rappaport, 1995, p. 796). Narrative Inquiry In academia, narrative as a mode of inquiry emerges as a distinct research approach and method that engages the head and the heart. Coined as “narrative inquiry” by contemporary theorists, Michael Connelly and Jean Clandinin (1990), narrative inquiry holds “a long intellectual history both in and out of education” (Clandinin & Connelly, 1990, p. 2) and substantiates to be a legitimate means of gaining knowledge (Clandinin, 2007), as both phenomena under study and method of study (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000).
In an educational context, narrative inquiry is the interdisciplinary study of the activities involved in generating and analyzing stories of life experiences and reporting that research (Schwandt 2015; Rapport, 1995). As a literary form of qualitative research, the practice of narrative inquiry places emphasis on relationship and collaboration in which participants become the expert and focus in on their stories of experience (Young 2012). However, contrasting views towards narrative as an inquiry practice and research method exists. In opposition, twentieth-century education approaches popularized by
individuals such as Thorndike offer numerical observation and representation of human behaviour as modus operandi (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Conversely, the supportive view offers perspective on the totality of knowledge, in which the construct of individuals’ lives hold continuity in the informative and detailed way of narrative. In the same spirit, arts educator and qualitative researcher Eisner expressed: “you [can] say in a novel what you cannot say in a set of integers� (cited in Saks, 1996, p. 403). As a student-researcher, I find both views and perspectives to hold merit without one prevailing over the other. Similar to distinctions found in scientific and artistic research practices, I find both approaches complementary, valuable and capable of uniquely offering contributions towards a holistic understanding of storied lives.
Building on the methodology of Clandinin and Connelly, a researcher-consultant on Figure 1 Narrative Inquiry in Context (Kurtz, 2013, p. 1)
organizational and community narrative, Cynthia Kurtz, offers a diagram (Figure 1) to demonstrate the nascent existence of narrative inquiry within the context of similar fields (Kurtz, 2013). Figure 1 presents two axes: a vertical axis denoting the degree of participation of storytellers, rather than from researcher and community leaders, and a horizontal axis denoting depth of inquiry involved in attending and analyzing collected stories.
Along the vertical axis of participation, the first degree of participation indicates that storytellers have opportunities to speak but have less control over its use and application (i.e. what their words are used for and by whom) (Kurtz, 2013, p. 26). At the second degree, storytellers hold authoritative voices where their interpretations over their words are taken into account (Kurtz, 2013, p. 26). Along the horizontal axis of inquiry, the first degree of inquiry refers to the reading and listening of collected stories (Kurtz, 2013, p. 26). The second degree involves comparison and clustering of collected stories and the third degree involves scientific methods of investigation for collected stories (i.e. text analysis, data visualization, grounded theory, report writing) (Kurtz, 2013, p. 26).
In Kurtz
Figure 2 Categorical Processes of Narrative Practices. To complement the narrative practices found in Figure 1, this diagram introduces categorical processes as indicated by same axes and domains. (Kurtz, 2013, p. 27)
the
Figure 2, identifies shared
domain for narrative inquiry to be categorized as social research. This field of narrative inquiry research focuses on evidence to contribute to solving a problem.
Rooted in phenomenology (Ricoeur, 1991, p. 80), the application of narrative inquiry for research is the study of activities related to generating and analyzing stories of life experiences (Schwandt, 2007, p. 204). The field of inquiry draws upon standard research instruments (e.g., life histories, narrative interviews, journals, diaries, memoirs, autobiographies, biographies), engages collaborative participants (Young, 2012) and reports that research for further application. The field of inquiry offered by narrative inquiry suits the needs and nature of this study. In collaborative partnership with Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, this project seeks to explore the best practice of narrative inquiry to highlight the impact Neighbour to Neighbour Centre has on the Hamilton community and to better support the storytelling process. After a systematic search with key terms in various combinations: “impact story”, “charity”, “charities”, “narratives or stories or storytelling”, “workshop”, “tools” and “impact”, a universally agreed upon definition of “best practice” or gold standard of narrative inquiry could not be found within the scope of the literature review. In reality, narrative inquiry provides a theoretical framework in which initiatives/projects adapt their practices to situational and organizational needs. For further exploration of narrative inquiry applied in practice, public narrative offers a streamed process to facilitate narrative inquiry and guide the necessary adaptions for best practices at Neighbour to Neighbour Centre. Public Narrative Public narrative is an exploratory practice that engages the “head” and the “heart”, in which choice-making, identity construction and action can be inspired (Ganz, 2015). As a discursive process, stories and narratives told by individuals and communities translate values into moral or emotional resources that can be accessed in respond to challenges of uncertainty (Ganz, 2015). At Harvard University, senior professor and lecturer, Marshall Ganz, emphasizes three elements of public narrative: •
A story of self: why you were called to what you have been called to.
•
A story of us: what called to your shared purposes, goals, visions.
•
A story of now: what are the current challenges, the choices that must be made, and the hope that can be aspired.
These three elements provide structure for the development of a storytelling workshop. For a good pubic story, a story plot is drawn from a series of points where challenges are faced, choices were made and outcomes were experienced (Ganz, 2007, p 38). The act of telling personal stories of challenge expresses values as lived experiences rather than abstract principles, inspires others and shares own wisdom through the choices made or the lessons learnt from outcomes (Ganz, 2007, p. 38). In application, public narrative has been practiced internationally by Sierra Club, Episcopal Church, Immigration Reform Movement, Amman institute (Jordan), Serbia on the Move (Belgrade), National Health Service (UK), Peking University Civil Society Center (Beijing), Tatua (Kenya), Community Organizing Japan (Tokyo) and the Obama campaign (2007-8) to name a few. Workshop Development In the midst of living their stories, participants enter the narrative inquiry field as researchers arrive in the places in which they live. To capture and share stories, the elements of public narrative established a structure for individuals ‘to offer a public account of who [they] are, why [they] do what [they] do and where [they] hope to lead [their lives]’ (Ganz, 2007, p. 37). (1) Story of Self Telling a “story of self” allows the author and others to understand ‘what makes you, you” (Ganz, 2007, p. 37-39). Exploring memorable moments, challenges, achievements and sources of inspiration provides others with a chance to experience the values and emotions that guide your experiences at certain places and times. “Stories of self” are constructed and reconstructed based on the choices we make to deal with challenges that we are faced with. Those moments are remembered for what is learnt (Ganz, 2007, p. 37-39). (2) Story of Us
Telling a “story of us” allows others to connect and understand each other (Ganz, 2007, p. 37-39). Instead of a ‘categorical us’, we become an ‘experiential’ us – people who share similar experience. The shared values that are rooted in common experience can encourage our individual stories to join together for a shared identity (Ganz, 2007, p. 37-39). Yet, our diversity gives us different perspectives and multiple narratives. The “story of us” is constantly being created and re-created with the sharing of stories and narratives (Ganz, 2007, p. 37-39). (3) Story of Now The “story of now” celebrates the “story of self” and the “story of us” by calling our collective values into action. The story of now draws on a challenge and ends with a choice. For the workshop, this action calls for a collective exploration of the connection and linking elements through dialogue and exchanges (Ganz, 2007, p. 37-39). Drawing on my studies and workshop experience as a student-research, narrative tools were developed and introduced as activities and prompts for each of the three components. A few examples include: creating a plot terrain by “Mapping Your Journal”, identifying “emotional weather” to an experience, and using “I had a hard time…” as a starting prompt for expressive writing. For a complete set of narrative tools used in the pilot storytelling workshop, please refer to the workshop booklet and facilitator guide found in the Appendix.
Findings & Analysis Stories and Narratives As an overview of the pilot workshop, the transcription and audio-recorded dialogue were analyzed to highlight key attributes. Upon creating and examining a word cloud (Figure 3), the terms: “bad”, “brings” and “challenges” and their stemmed terms (i.e. bring, challenge) were the most salient and repeated terms. The top three prevalent terms can fall into the category or associated theme of poverty. Interestingly, the reoccurring appearance of the
verb “bring” seems to suggest that anything related to the other two nouns “bad” and “challenge” are “brought” into one’s storied life more than one might suspect.
Figure 3 Word Cloud of Storytelling Workshop.
Resulting themes from the piloted storytelling workshop were expressed: (1) challenges; (2) behaviours / specific acts; (3) resilience; (4) connections/relationships; and (5) grateful. Overall, responses and stories had an overall theme of positive acceptance. One participant shares: “One bad challenge, [it brings] many good things in my path as well as many more challenges in order to be a better person. I probably should be more happy with how things are turning out instead of wishing it never happened the way it did.” (1) Challenges All workshop attendees shared about lived experiences involving challenges that led to some aspect of loss or instability in their life. These struggles may offer staff and other community members with some context to their circumstance prior to arriving and during their time at Neighbour to Neighbour Centre. Due to slightly different reasons for each individual, these challenges may differ and vary.
Bad relationships A separation of any significant relationship was characterized as transitionally difficult. This period was expressed with remorse and characterized with many changes in lifestyle and arrangements, such as figuring out housing-related and/or financial resources as a single mother as indicated by the repeated use of “that’s why”. “I had to move on after a bad marriage. That’s what my story is mainly about. Like, that’s why I wrote down, I wouldn’t have the three kids I have right now if it weren’t for that. I brought my ex here into Canada. I sponsored him here. A year after he got his citizenship, he asked for a divorce. So it’s like, now when I look back, I’m, like thinking, [it’s] probably why he didn’t want to buy a house when we were married. That’s why he didn’t want to own his truck because he already had it planned out. That’s why I said if I had known then what I know now, I probably wouldn’t have chosen down that path that I had gone through.” “I have been through bad relationships to where I had to finally leave and go forward.” Cancer For a close family or friend who had an issue with their health, the initial and subsequent times of diagnosis proved to be a stress time in both an emotional and spiritual sense. All participants were connected to and affected by cancer in some manner; witnessing the body of a loved one be weakened by cancer was an abysmal experience for all participants. “I remember watching my dad trying to walk, and he looked at me and he’s like, don’t feel – um – not to feel bad for him walking. You know, it is upsetting to see him not walking the way he was, because of the – because it’s hard to walk with the way they were. When he first came out and that’s what brought him down. He got sick and there was, um, bacteria in his blood, um, so they had to clean out his blood; get rid of the bad blood and put in the new blood and they put him in ICU. He was good in ICU. They put him out of a ward with a catheter, and he went downhill from there. He took out the catheter and then he went into the hospital wet. He thought it was theirs.”
Either diagnosis or death, all participants expressed a sense of loss, grief, and stress in an emotional sense. Some felt the difficulty was a loss of time shared with a loved one or an inability to find closure. Reoccurring struggles with mental health issues, such as depression, contributed to feelings of purposelessness, discomfort and hopelessness and a sense of loneliness and anxiety that further contributed to the need for emotional and spiritual support. “[sobs] Mine is dealing with grief and I lost my dad nine year ago – died of brain cancer. I had no goodbye and that took me into a dark place of depression. That’s how it brings me into feeling alone and depressed, there’s a lot of things I can share …. my grief of my dad brings me back. He was always there for me and my children. The hurt of not saying goodbye always stays. And if I could change things I would…” “That’s just like my daughter that just came by university because she has anxiety and depression. And we’ve been going to the doctors because she hasn’t been feeling very well. And she goes home and she goes, I don’t want to go apply for a job. Like get out. Because she’s already stressing about not being paid. You’re going to meet me and we’re going to go down there together. Cause if it were up to her, er-like she’s been sitting in her room for the past few days, she’s got to get out of the house.” Bodily Stress All participants indicated that day-to-day stresses were a major factor into their incapability of adequately taking care and nurturing their body into a healthy and satisfying state. Despite tracking their health with measures of blood pressure and weight scales, many expressed a sense of uncertainty towards understanding the measured values and what the adequate steps would be for adapting a healthier lifestyle. “My blood pressure fluctuates…It could be normal and then, go up a little high, and back to normal and then it’s go up high and then it’ll go back, aha. Like you said depending on the time and day too, right? So…I could have a little more stress that day than…Fluctuates.
And I’ve always got stress on my mind, so…Mine seems like every day. Aha, always thinking about something - doing something, whatever.” Weight Loss In the aspect of weight loss, the physical appearance of having a heavier-than-desired weight leaves individuals feeling conscience of their appearance and lowers their selfconfidence. This reduced self-esteem further adds to their frustration, desire to seek emotional and physical support and find clarifications to their uncertainties. “I hop on to the weight loss clinic and the scale is not moving, but people are noticing the weight loss and I’m like, I feel like strangling my skin. Ugggg-hoo. You’re not moving down the way ‘uh supposed to. But then... Ugh…. Cause I’m trying to exercise, so I’m gaining the muscle, the weight the muscle. And fat, so, it’s like, the fat went down, so that’s why it’s like, probably why the scales’ not moving, so…” “Just looking in the mirror. Okay, I lost this many pounds. How many more do I want to go? The hardest thing is you don’t notice it, but other people notice it. Like my mom, my brother notices it, and my kids notice it. But I don’t notice it. Maybe because my… Because my – myself, you know? Then I was like, I went to aqua fit the other day and I’m like, taking a shower, and I’m like, Oh! My behind kind of a little flatter. There’s not that big huge bump in the back, you know? It’s like, okay. Aha, so it’s like, okay I can see some sticking out like, sag, a little bit. Aha, sag. So it’s like, it’s headed in the right way, but now the scale has to go the right way too. But the dietitians tell me not to look at weight only, because it’s not always telling the true fact.” Employment “One time, I tried to apply for a job for a call center in city center and I went through the testing process and she goes, okay, are you willing to come in for an interview on -they picked out a particular date. She says okay, Tuesday you can come in. So I go into that interview and she goes, the positions taken. I’m like, why did you give me the interview. I came on this day, then why am I coming in for an interview if all the positions are taken already? And gave me a partial interview and wrote down the day on a sticky note. Whether she put it on the
computer, I have no idea. That day, I didn’t want to go because it was cold, the weather was crappy out. She didn’t call to see why I didn’t come in, which means they didn’t put me in the system.” Obstacles opposing individuals’ ability to enter the workforce and earn an income include personal, emotional and educational barriers. A few have expressed that negative experiences in the past have been discouraging and left them feeling powerless. In addition, their lack of technical knowledge to meet the current needs of the hiring process prevents their intent or application to be formally considered. “Yeah, ‘cause I know some stores now when I applied for a job, they told me to not give them the resumes. They want me to email it. Yeah, email resumes?! I’ve never done that before. Like where does it go to, an email? Like does it get read or does it get tossed. Yeah, you don’t like, known if it gets trashed.” These expressed frustrations indicate there is an increasing desire to learn how to meet application requirements and opportunities to feel respected and supported. (2) Behaviours / Specific Acts In the process of inviting participants to engage in workshop activities and prompts revealed their adamant intention to participate, but also their hesitancy and uncertainty. At the beginning, end and on several occasions between the workshop, participants expressed their desire to inspire others. “My hope is to inspire the general public because when I share with family and friends, they already know it, so that would be my inspiration to share it with other people that don’t me. Maybe they’ve gone through the same thing, maybe they haven’t. Maybe they can relate? You know? … A lot of what I wrote is in my journal… maybe I could inspire others by sharing my story or maybe they got to a rear end. Sometimes you don’t know what to do.”
Coming from a place of empathy, they hoped their storied life experience could help other in their similar struggles and circumstances. Despite their willing desire to share, their response to activities and prompts were marked with hesitancy, levels of self-doubt and a lack of confidence. “I’m not really that good with maps.” At one point, a participant vocally reflected a rhetorical question that helped them acknowledge their own mental barrier to help overcome their hesitancy. “Maybe because my…Because my – myself, you know?” (3) Resilience Participants maintained positive thoughts that demonstrated a sense of resilience. When offered an opportunity to share about an geographical, emotional or spiritual place, one participant shared a fantasy party. “…my little zone, my imaginary spot where I put, like, headphones in my ears, listen to music, and I’ll go into my own, like, my own world, my own imagination and image that everybody’s having one big party, like, with my family and friends altogether in one place. With music and dancing …and just everybody getting to know each other. Just happy. Watching everyone laugh and get along and watching friends make new friends. Um. There’s nobody thinking bad thoughts. Only good thoughts. Good and happy thoughts. Everyone from, like, the kids to the elderly will be there having a good time. And then watch everyone leave with good feelings and thoughts. No hate, but only with love. Where, you know, I, like, just, put myself in my own little world. Aha.” This imaginary scenario seems to be an metaphorical analogue that acts as a contrast to her current geographical, emotional and spiritual place. Many of the descriptions echo the values that were personally highlighted in a subsequent activity: balance,
determination, faith, growth, inner harmony, learning, peace, responsibility, spirituality, and success. Although all participants shared stories marked with challenges and moments of struggle, a strong tone of positivity and a sense of hope was present. This hopeful positivity expressed their sense of resilience. “So now, for the appeal to go through, I’m waiting for the WSIB. I’m waiting for tha-that decision, so I can go back – to go for – to – a second career…. And keep moving forward. It’s never too late.“
(4) Connections/Relationships By way of engaging one another and mentioning connection outside of the workshop, it is clear that relationships were highly valued among the participants. This strong sense of bond was tied to family: their own children and parents. Children When an opportunity arose to share about their children, a sense of pride and hope was shared. As a source of hope in the face of struggle, their children offered strength and purpose. “…Cause I have to take care of my kids somehow and living on Ontario Work Benefit isn’t helping very much either, so I’m trying to get off of that as well. I want to get off of that as much as possible and try to do something better. Mhm. Mhmm. When I was doing my PSW course, I had all three of their pictures on my desk in front of me when I was especially writing the exams; to say this is why I am doing that.”
A common source of pride, strength and purpose was found from supporting their children to access post-secondary education. “Well, one just finished university, well, she finished her first year. And then my youngest one she just finished high school and she’s going to night school, so it’s like, nobody’s in school, so they’ll just eat it as a snack. My oldest one just finished her two-year program in e-college, which is in Kitchener. And I got the other one who finished her first year of university. And one will be starting one in university in September when they accept her.” “I only have my youngest still in school, my thirteen-year-old daughter. All my older ones are like… my oldest one just finished her first year of college in Barrie. So I’m proud of her.”
Parents When parents were mentioned, each were distinctly remembered by how they felt supported and the close connection that exists. In further expressing their value of family, the fond memory of paternal support was offered as an universal theme of empowerment and reconciliation. “Because I know my dad, when I was to school, he drove me to my clinical. He’d be driving me at 6:30 in the morning and then I’ll bus it home. So when you say he was your support, I know what you mean.” “We never had that bond. We were never that close. I was more daddy’s girl than mom’s. But now, it’s reversed, after you lose somebody, and now I’m mommy’s girl. I try to be there for my mom and my mom tries to be there for me, so… It’s weird how life changes after you lose someone – that one person you love. Yeah.” Ex-spouses
From the beginning of the workshop, mentions of family were shared about in the following order: participant’s children, parents and lastly, their spousal relationships. The silence on their spouse earlier on may be intentionally avoided due to the difficulty, embarrassment or shame of having a divorce and speaking about the topic in front of others.
Inter-participant Connection Throughout the workshop, the comfortable and trusting environment that was fostered facilitated the development of rapport between participants. As such, a common occurrence was when participants shared understanding of each other with the frequent use of “yeah”, “mhmm”, “mkay” and “okay”, or shared about having similar responses. “Aha, yeah, that’s me too.” “I can relate. Just like I can relate hers on some things. When me or my mom are upset, we can eat a whole box of chocolate chip cookies, and not know it.” “I know that feeling.” Connecting Personal Stories to Community Narrative The sharing of personal stories enabled a sense of solidarity to be found and encouragement to be shared. Through the telling of their own stories, participants found their own experiences to be shared experiences, in the same manner that personal stories become community narratives. “Sometimes you’re not the only one going through a bad time. Then she told me about it, and my dad had cancer, I thought I was the only one going through it all.”
A stronger sense of connection and community was witnessed when participants encouraged one another to be more engaged with the community group and programs offered by Neighbour to Neighbour Centre. “You should come to those cooking classes here in March. You just have to go the church over here. We gather here every Wednesday. We learn something new every week.” (5) Grateful for Help To illustrate the experience of visiting Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, the initial and current visits were two time points explored and a great deal of gratefulness was expressed. Service Both participants made their initial visit seeking service through the Neighbour to Neighbour Centre’s food access program and other resources: “To get help with food and conecte other recources” “The use of the food bank which I then started getting involved in some of the programs that they had to offer. I wouldn't have known about these programs if I didn't come in to use the food bank.” Personal Recalling a personal encounter, one participant identified an individual they liked during their visit: “yes, the one that is hold storytelling because she’s kind and me want to ‘share my story’. I liked that she listened, supported, respected, and guided me”, while another participant recalled that “the staff and volunteers…they are all great…because they listened, supported, respected, were non-judgemental, gave what I was looking for, and showed kindness”. To understand how services and encounters at Neighbour to Neighbour Centre have progressed between the initial and current visit, satisfied and not satisfied feelings were
Table 1 First visit vs. Current Visits: Satisfied and Not Satisfied Feelings
considered by participants and collectively analyzed.
Based on the responses (Table 1), more than half (approximately 54%; 7/13) of the feelings highlighted for the first visit are classified as not satisfied, whereas for current visits, significantly more feelings (80%; 12/15) highlighted are classified as satisfied. As visualized in Figure 4, an increased shift of approximately 26% from not satisfied feelings to satisfied feelings between the initial and current visits suggests that Neighbour to Neighbour Centre has been able to been able to help those who visit to feel more satisfied.
Feelings Visiting Neighbour to Neighbour Centre 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
First Visit Satisfied
Current Visit Not Satisfied
Figure 4 First visit vs. Current Visits: Satisfied and Not Satisfied Feelings
Overall, participant’s experiences at Neighbour to Neighbour are summarized as “helpful” and “hopeful”.
“I chose helpful because without them I wouldn't be able to get the extra staples that I need for the month even though its limited but I'm still grateful plus the extra programs that they have to offer. For example, budgeting programs, help to lowering my hydro bill, to womens space every week and cooking classes. “My first visit was hopeful because that’s how I feel. Neighbour to Neighbour are very kind and give me hope to meet other people and to help me with stuff that I never new that was out there..” In all, an expressed sense of gratitude for the received help contributed to an overall positive experience. Focus Group In summary, the workshop was well-received by the participants and a desire for future storytelling initiative for Neighbour to Neighbour Centre was expressed. All participants did not have much improvements to suggest and were left with a positive experience. As a whole, the workshop was described most frequently as: helpful (2); courage (1); informative (1); inspired (1); and interesting (1). When asked to consider the storytelling experience as a positive or negative experience, the workshop was rated 9.5 out of 10 overall (with one being negative and ten being positive). (1) Structure and Development In the creation of stories, the easiest to use aspects/tools were identified as: sharing what attracted you to this workshop (“my story matters”); and Writing the Story (“I liked the written part to tell my story because it explains it a lot more than pictures do”), while the hardest to use aspects/tools were: Challenges due to emotional difficulty (“the challenges I went through it was hard to choose but did it”); and the difficulty of self-reflection (“the Story of Self because it’s harder to explain how we feel about ourselves…no one really likes hearing a person who talks about themselves all the time. It always gets discouraged.”). The most important aspects/tools were identified as:
Mapping Your Journey (“the ideas from my mapping helped me”) and sharing (“knowing that there are people who would actually want to hear your stories and want to understand them”). Based on the participant responses, the crucial components to the workshop would be to focus on inspiring tools, such as drawing out personal challenges, and creating a safe welcoming space for authentic sharing. From the facilitator perspective, the identity-defining events from the pilot workshop resonated well with participants and generated more conversation. The individual points provided for the identity-defining events activity each hold potential to capture many unexplored stories. (2) Improvements From the responses of the feedback questionnaire and remarks made during the workshop, there are minimal to no improvements expressed by participants. When asked about possible improvements (i.e. what else could have been included or provided) for future storytelling, the response was minimal: “No. Nothing, everything was good”, “No, everything helped me to tell my story”, “having more ideas to go on” and “More workshops, more workshops like hers.” In terms of possible avenues to consider, interest was expressed to further investigate the “story of now because of how we learned about our need, how we feel”. However, a few suggestions casually given during the process were noted. From the workshop, a suggested remark made in response to avoiding the use of “and” during the activity entitled, One Word, was to replace the use of “and” with a comma. This suggestion could be added to the facilitator guide or used in future activities if the workshop is further developed. From the facilitator perspective, these activities work more effective with time between to rest and to mull over ideas and thoughts. When all activities are offered back-to-back, the writing can be physically demanding on the dominant (writing) hand. At one point in the workshop, one participant experienced a “hand cramp”, signalling the need for some possible hand exercises or more breaks between. (3) Benefits to Participants In all, the workshop was a natural and empowering experience for both participants. In deciding which tools of storytelling to use, one participant felt the experience of the pilot
workshop was natural, expressing that “nothing prevent me from using another tool [for] my story – it was based on [how] I feel and went through.” One participant found value in being truly heard: “I didn’t think about anyone audience in particular because I didn’t think they’ll be anyone who would really listen or understand me. I thought [the experience] would be different from what I expected. Didn’t know anyone would really be interested in hearing my thoughts out.” Another participant found courage to face her own challenges: “Just the people around me gave me courage to share it. It was hard but felt comfortable to [share]” and indicated that the most enjoyed part was “writing my story, sharing it and mapping.”
DISCUSSION Limitations While this paper serves to provide insight into the best methods of narrative inquiry for Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, it is importance to recognize that this study also has limitations. Literature Review Searches A major limitation in the literature review resulted from the search term and strategies. 1. There was no defined search string. Terms such as “narrative” and “story” were inconsistent and not conclusively defined across various fields and disciplines. Concepts, such as “narrative inquiry” were referenced under different names, descriptions and definitions. 2. There was no standard approach or domain for consistent search strategies between various disciplines. As such, different search strategies and avenues to research and present information between scholars further contributes to a less vigorous search and less comprehensive findings.
3. There was minimal research conducted in close relation to the research needs. It was not common for community organization to share their methods or capturing and sharing ‘impact stories’. For a more comprehensive search, various databases were accessed, however, relevant literature were minimal. Most effective search methods for relevant literature relied heavily on grey literature and their subsequent references. 4. There were some articles which did not fall under the original search scope that were included as exceptions. While the reviewed literature was diverse in terms of format, several articles were sourced outside the scope geographically and chronologically. Some excepted references include insights from a PhD thesis paper submitted to Simon Fraser University on narrative inquiry as a research approach (Young 2012), a medical lecture on narrative ethics (Irvine 2015), and a course syllabus on public narrative (Ganz, 2015). Due to the nature of the project, there would not be sufficient time to expand the geographical and chronological scope to include another country. As such, other relevant literature may have failed to be considered for this study. Taking the aforementioned limitations into account bias may have been unintentionally introduced. Recruitment Recruitment was mediated by the student-researcher engaging with users of the food bank services in the waiting room area on several weekly occasions. In this context, recruitment by convenience sampling uses the connections between the food access services providers and the population they serve. Although this approach provides immediate access to potential participants, this method may increase sampling bias. To mitigate the effects of sampling bias other methods were employed. In order to reach other community members, posters with tearaways were posted throughout the facilities. However, this method relied on interested individuals who may not be aware of their value in this study to contact the student-researcher. Given these limitations, the recruitment period significantly extended project timelines (by approximately a month).
Ethics Application & Approval Abiding by the requirements set forth by the HIREB, it is important to note that engaging with community members as potential participants for recruitment and data collection purposes for the study were postponed until approval was received. Notably, waiting for approval contributed to an extended timeline for the project. Sample Size (Workshop Attendance) Despite recruiting 12 individuals to attend the pilot workshop and confirming six participants over follow-up calls to be in attendance a day prior, a lower-than-expected turned out; two individuals were present. Getting community members who expressed interest to sign up to show up proved to be an inherently difficult task. Given the nature of the project, sample sizes were originally set relatively low (approximately 6-8) and may not yield strong statistical significance. Yet, the collection of personal and extensive storied life experiences of the two participants offered be a sufficient starting point for the purposes of this research. Future Directions / Next Steps An areas of further development include formatting the workshop to have follow-up sessions instead of organization the session as an one-day event. One participant proactively asked for more workshops alike while all participants asked for some sort of follow-up session. For future developments, I would suggest this workshop be offered to a support group (i.e. women’s group, cooking group, etc.) in which participants have developed some rapport with another in which the sharing of stories would allow for further connection. In facilitating the application of storytelling tools, noting down and incorporating any suggestions voiced by participants allows the process and practice of narrative inquiry to be tailored to the group needs. A possible area of exploration is increasing the depth of participation, in which participants become engaged with the theme recognition and analysis of their stories and narratives. Other artistic mediums could be considered to facilitate such processes. CONCLUSION
‘Best practice’ in narrative practice for Neighbour to Neighbour Centre is offered in the form of storytelling tools that equip and inspire participants, and safe spaces for sharing and connecting their individual stories into community narratives. The application of narrative inquiry with the streamlined structure and process of public narrative to capture and share “impact stories” provided potential for the value of the work at Neighbour to Neighbour Centre to not only be understood with the “head”, but also allows impact to be felt with the “heart”. Reoccurring themes included (1) challenges; (2) behaviours/specific acts; (3) positive thoughts; (4) connections/relationships; and (5) grateful for help. The positive experience resulted in participants being empowered and connected to a community narrative. Overall, this collaborative, community-based research project provided Neighbour to Neighbour with a resourceful workshop booklet, facilitator guide, garnered interest and insights for individual stories and community narratives at Neighbour to Neighbour Centre to be continually created and recreated.
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