Surviving to Thriving: Sharing Stories of Trauma Using Ethical Storytelling
Written by Molly Jarone, Communications Specialist
Earlier this month, Ethical Storytelling’s Tamara Knox, ACSW, MSW put our mission into practice.
In her photography exhibition at the Russ Solomon Gallery, she shared the stories of trauma survivors and how they turned their hardships into a life of thriving. Not only was her project thoughtful and powerful, but so were her methods. She demonstrated how to do ethical storytelling well.
Tamara is the recipient of a Seeding Creativity grant from City of Sacramento Arts and Culture. She immediately got to work bringing her vision to life.
“This felt like a dream come true,” Tamara said.
While working on this exhibit and her accompanying book, she gave every participant agency in their storytelling process. They chose how they wanted to be photographed; they chose their own backgrounds and music and set the tone for their photo sessions. Tamara checked in with them regularly, obtaining written consent prior to sharing their stories. Storytellers were also invited to journal about their experiences and view the exhibit before it opened to the public. They also viewed drafts of the book before publication, and Tamara took their feedback to heart, making changes as needed to meet their approval.
Ethical Storytelling proudly sponsored the design of Tamara’s book Surviving to Thriving: Narratives of Community Thrivers Surviving Trauma. Our team member Sue Morrow did an expert job ensuring this project received the high end treatment it deserves.
Now, we want to help this book reach the community where it can help people form their own narratives and find hope in their stories. We are inspired by the diverse and important stories that Tamara helped these storytellers share. We hope that their stories of discovering and defining their own narratives will be a source of inspiration for many, many others.
“The purpose of the book is to be a source of inspiration and motivation, along with a resource for survivors who read it . . . My work encourages people to feel celebrated, empowered, uplifted, safe, and confident,” Tamara says.
You can purchase the book here:
Ebook - $9.99
bit.ly/SurvivingtoThrivingEbook
Softcover - $39.99
Hardcover - $49.99
bit.ly/SurvivingtoThrivingHardCover
We are very proud of Tamara’s thought leadership and how she continually challenges the status quo of our thinking and practices a high level of sensitivity when telling stories of trauma.
