Telling Our Stories in These Troubled Times

Presenter: Iris Fodor

Description:

More and more people worldwide are experiencing dislocation, trauma, and loss in these troubled times and they are telling their stories, writing about and sharing photos of their painful journeys. There appears to be a healing in these narratives and the process surrounding them – the showing, writing, and telling of the stories and letting others see, hear, know, and respond. Drawing on my own experiences in storytelling and memoir writing with people from diverse cultures undergoing stress, I will present some of the techniques honed from storytelling and memoir-writing workshops to foster experiential writing. In the experiential segment, I will introduce theme-based techniques to support our personal writing and tell our stories, and also discuss the use of storytelling and writing for Gestalt therapeutic work.

Biography:

Iris Fodor, PhD, professor emerita, New York University, is a Gestalt therapist in New York City known for teaching as well as conducting workshops and writing about women’s issues, anxiety management, mindfulness, and integrating Gestalt and cognitive therapy. Iris is also a social activist and photographer whose projects have focused on digital storytelling with adolescents in India, South Africa, and Peru. Her recent work focuses on memoir, experiential writing, and life story.