{"id":119899,"date":"2020-07-28T11:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T10:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/?p=119899"},"modified":"2023-03-08T16:06:17","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T16:06:17","slug":"power-of-storytelling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/power-of-storytelling.htm","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Storytelling  for Black Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_119903\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-119903\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-119903\" src=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/clay-banks-Wg3whp6W_nw-unsplash-1-400x320.jpg\" alt=\"power of storytelling\" width=\"400\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/clay-banks-Wg3whp6W_nw-unsplash-1-400x320.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/clay-banks-Wg3whp6W_nw-unsplash-1-500x400.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/clay-banks-Wg3whp6W_nw-unsplash-1.jpg 709w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-119903\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">photo by Clay Banks<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #333399;\">by Lauren Dunn<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Storytelling has historical significance for black culture, <\/strong>used as a form of collective and individual emotional healing.<\/p>\n<p><em>What role can this long-standing tradition serve in our modern lives? Particularly in the face of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/stereotypes-how-to-stop.htm\">racism<\/a> and police brutality?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>When violence goes viral<\/h2>\n<p><strong>The grotesque looping of viral videos displaying the brutal murders of unarmed black<\/strong> Americans has opened many people\u2019s eyes to the injustices that marginalised groups of people continue to endure in the modern world.<\/p>\n<p><strong>And yes, the recent murders of unarmed black bodies like those of<\/strong> Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Ahmed Arbery (among others), have catalysed a \u201c second wave\u201d of the Black Lives Matters (BLM) movement.<\/p>\n<p><strong>But there is difference between the BLM movement in the States today and the protests during the<\/strong> Jim Crow Era. It lies in the public\u2019s visual accessibility to these acts of brutality via the internet.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #333399;\">During these times of immense civil unrest, how is the constant stream of racial violence affecting the individuals who belong to the communities under attack? And their feelings of safety?\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Black lives matter and black mental health<\/h2>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC6376989\/\">A 2018 research study<\/a>\u00a0 entitled <\/strong>&#8220;Police killings and their spillover effects on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/black-mental-health.htm\">mental health of black Americans<\/a>&#8221; confirms that:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Black Americans who are exposed to police killings of unarmed people of colour face a higher rate of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/what-is-mental-health.htm\">mental health issues<\/a> than those individuals who have not been exposed to such violence.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p><strong>This is certainly confirmed by the current outpouring of responses from<\/strong> black, indigenous and LGBTQ mental health professionals, organisers, and community members centred on the effects of exposure to such publicised brutality.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_119904\" style=\"width: 305px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-119904\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-119904\" src=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/anh-nguyen-v-NBXj3Yv5o-unsplash-295x400.jpg\" alt=\"power of storytelling\" width=\"295\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/anh-nguyen-v-NBXj3Yv5o-unsplash-295x400.jpg 295w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/anh-nguyen-v-NBXj3Yv5o-unsplash-443x600.jpg 443w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/anh-nguyen-v-NBXj3Yv5o-unsplash.jpg 709w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 295px) 100vw, 295px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-119904\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">photo by: Anh Nguyen<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>And populations of colour already face pre-existing stressors <\/strong>as a response to institutionalised racism.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamapsychiatry\/fullarticle\/482214\">Results from &#8216;the National Survey of American Life<\/a>&#8216;, headed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hsph.harvard.edu\/david-williams\/\">Professor David R. Williams<\/a>,\u00a0 found that <strong>although the \u201clifetime prevalence estimate of clinical depression is higher for whites than blacks in America, it is a chronic disorder for most blacks as opposed to their white counterparts.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Storytelling as an act of revolutionary healing<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Enslaved Africans in the Americas brought with them the tradition of storytelling through oration.<\/strong> (It evolved into a genre called &#8216;<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1177\/002193479702700401\">African-American Folklore<\/a>&#8216; ). It was a means to uphold their traditions and cultural practices in the midst of gross inhuman conditions.<\/p>\n<p>And it serves as an example of how <strong>telling one\u2019s narrative when the social context of your population is rooted in racism <\/strong>can act as a form of mental relief and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/what-is-emotional-dsyregulation.htm\">emotional regulation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #800080;\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5584785\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">study by the University of Utah Department of Psychology<\/span><\/a>, &#8220;The Feeling of the Story: Narrating to Regulate Anger and Sadness&#8221;, found storytelling, if consciously used as a tool for <\/span><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/black-communities.htm\">decreasing negative emotions<\/a>, can lower <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/depression-symptoms.htm\">depression<\/a>, and raise <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/mental-wellbeing.htm\">well-being<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Telling our story instead of our story being told<\/h2>\n<p><strong>The power of storytelling for marginalised people during times of<\/strong> immense oppression, is in <em>the act of claiming agency of one\u2019s own life through one\u2019s own words.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #333399;\">Cognitive neuroscientist and academic professor at University College London, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nrn.2017.14\">Patrick Haggard explains<\/a> <\/span>self-agency as \u201c<strong>one\u2019s own capacity to act<\/strong>\u201d. And the significant impact storytelling has as <strong>asserting \u201ccontrol over one\u2019s actions and ability to achieve desired outcomes.<\/strong>\u201d <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_119905\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-119905\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-119905\" src=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/brad-neathery-XrSzacdYbtQ-unsplash-400x300.jpg\" alt=\"black mental health\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/brad-neathery-XrSzacdYbtQ-unsplash-400x300.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/brad-neathery-XrSzacdYbtQ-unsplash-500x374.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/brad-neathery-XrSzacdYbtQ-unsplash.jpg 709w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-119905\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">photo by: Brad Neathery<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Storytelling also has the ability to reach people on a global scale. It <\/strong>allows for connectivity through common shared experiences.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A great example is<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unhcr.org\/innovation\/integrating-storytelling-tool-healing-community-building\/\">#MeWeSyria<\/a>, created by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Innovation Service. It&#8217;s a storytelling initiative that works to promote Syrian refugee youth \u201creclaiming control of the narrative of their lives.\u201d The platform is also utilised as a community-building tool for mental health support among Syrian refugee youth affected by the war.<\/p>\n<h2>Storytelling and mental health &#8211; my story<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Although the U.S. is not a war torn country,<\/strong> <strong>it is arguably in<\/strong> the wake of a racial epidemic. And filtering through the endless news cycles of mass racial violence in the U.S. has intensified my pre-existing fears surrounding my safety in this country as a black woman.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I am grateful I have the tool of storytelling, which has been a transformative tool in my own journey with mental health.<\/strong> As a 29 year-old black, queer woman who struggles with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/depression-symptoms.htm\">depression<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/anxiety-therapy.htm\">anxiety<\/a> and an<a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-and-depression.htm\"> autoimmune disorder<\/a>, the weight of feeling \u201cothered\u201d is all consuming at times.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><strong>Telling my stories, in the forms of<\/strong> personal essays and poems, allows me to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/who-am-i-identity-crisis.htm\">explore my identity<\/a> through diverse narratives, and is in itself a revolutionary form of protest. Storytelling can create space for healing, clarity and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/connecting-with-people.htm\">connectivity<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The power of standing in one&#8217;s truth<\/h2>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #333399;\">In a 2014 interview with The National Endowment for the Arts, Pulitzer Prize novelist Toni Morrison said, \u201cWriting for me is thinking, and it\u2019s also a way to position myself in the world, particularly when I don\u2019t like what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>These words are a guiding influence in my own life. There is power in boisterously standing in one\u2019s truth.\u00a0<\/strong>In the age of rapid and continuous virtual exposure to racial violence, we, the individuals who belong to the communities under attack, have the power to speak up against injustices through our storytelling.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Has the world left you feeling too anxious lately? Or struggle to find your voice? We connect you to a roster of highly experienced <\/strong><strong>therapists who help you feel heard. Or use <a href=\"https:\/\/harleytherapy.com\/?utm_source=Harley%20Therapy%20Blog&amp;utm_content=Mid%20Post\"><span style=\"color: #333399;\">our booking platform<\/span><\/a> to find <a href=\"https:\/\/harleytherapy.com\/?utm_source=Harley%20Therapy%20Blog&amp;utm_content=Mid%20Post\"><span style=\"color: #333399;\">UK-wide registered therapists<\/span><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/harleytherapy.com\/?utm_source=Harley%20Therapy%20Blog&amp;utm_content=Post%20End\"><span style=\"color: #333399;\">online therapists<\/span> <\/a>you can work with from anywhere in the world.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Have questions about the power of storytelling? Or want to share your personal experiences with other readers? Use the comment box below.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/deedsdunn.wordpress.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-119920 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_20200727_155707_735-e1595928463909-281x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"127\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_20200727_155707_735-e1595928463909-281x400.jpg 281w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_20200727_155707_735-e1595928463909-422x600.jpg 422w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_20200727_155707_735-e1595928463909.jpg 688w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 127px) 100vw, 127px\" \/>Lauren Dunn<\/strong><\/a> has a BA in journalism and a passion for working with children on a behavioural level. She is currently working as an emotional support teacher&#8217;s assistant while pursuing her Master&#8217;s in Applied Behaviour Analysis. Find her on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/smalldeedsdunn\/\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/smalldeedsdunn?s=09\">Twitter<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Lauren Dunn Storytelling has historical significance for black culture, used as a form of collective and individual emotional healing. What role can this long-standing tradition serve in our modern lives? Particularly in the face of racism and police brutality?\u00a0 When violence goes viral The grotesque looping of viral videos displaying the brutal murders of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"yes","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[3,378,289,3228,343],"class_list":["post-119899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anxiety-and-stress","tag-anxiety","tag-depression","tag-identity","tag-racism","tag-wellbeing","has_thumb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Power of Storytelling for Black Mental Health - Harley Therapy\u2122 Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The power of storytelling has long been embraced for community healing. How can it be a tool for black mental health in the face of modern racism?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/power-of-storytelling.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Power of Storytelling for Black Mental Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The power of storytelling has long been embraced for community healing. How can it be a tool for black mental health in the face of modern racism?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/power-of-storytelling.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Harley Therapy\u2122 Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/harleytherapy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/harleytherapylondon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-28T10:00:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-08T16:06:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/clay-banks-Wg3whp6W_nw-unsplash-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"709\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"567\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sheri Jacobson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/drsherijacobson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@HarleyTherapy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sheri Jacobson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\\\/counselling\\\/power-of-storytelling.htm\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\\\/counselling\\\/power-of-storytelling.htm\",\"name\":\"The Power of Storytelling for Black Mental Health - Harley Therapy\u2122 Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\\\/counselling\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\\\/counselling\\\/power-of-storytelling.htm#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\\\/counselling\\\/power-of-storytelling.htm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\\\/counselling\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/clay-banks-Wg3whp6W_nw-unsplash-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-28T10:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-08T16:06:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"The power of storytelling has long been embraced for community healing. 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What role can this long-standing tradition serve in our modern lives? Particularly in the face of racism and police brutality?\u00a0 When violence goes viral The grotesque looping of viral videos displaying the brutal murders of&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119899"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138909,"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119899\/revisions\/138909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}