Book Review
The Healing Heart—Families
Allison M. Cox and David H. Albert. The Healing Heart~Families: Storytelling to encourage caring and healthy families. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2003. $19.95 (paper). Xvi + 237, author biographies and contact information. ISBN 0-86571-466-5
“Storytelling as been tested through time and proven to be effective not only in getting a message across, but also in keeping the message in the minds of the listeners, which is why the shamans, healers, and great leaders through time have told stories (Muhummad, Buddha, Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King…)" (p. 6). This commentary about the importance and effectiveness of storytelling offers insight into the motives of Allison M. Cox and David H. Albert for compiling stories from storytellers across the nation; stories that have the intention of healing.
Far more than a guide for family cohesion as the title suggests, The Healing Heart~ Families: Storytelling to encourage caring and healthy families is a comprehensive collection of stories to be used at homes, schools, hospitals, and/or treatment centers. Cox and Albert provide a varied collection of stories, narratives, and essays that are organized in twelve sections: healing through story, health promotion and disease prevention, children with medical problems reclaim their lives, stories in the hospital and beyond, coping with grief, spiritual healing, teach your children well, early childhood interventions—the parent-child mother goose program, stories go to school, adopting families, exploring alternative sexual identities, and deconstructing prejudice and developing empathy.
“Healing through story" begins with a beautiful story about storytelling using stones as a symbol to demonstrate their concreteness and tangibility of the spoken word. The chapter also includes a narrative from editor Allison M. Cox that emphasizes the importance of using storytelling to “open new doors for you and widen the scope of possibilities in building stronger and healthier families and more vibrant and resilient communities" (p. 10). However, beyond stressing the importance of the art, the section concludes with practical “guidelines for healing work" which offer students tips on how to incorporate storytelling into their work and personal lives.
Health topics in “health promotion and disease prevention" such as asthma among children, hypertension among African-American women, breast and cervical cancer education among women, and sleep-wetting in older children, conceal themselves within myths. Some, however, act as personal stories of survival and enlightenment, such as that of “Losing and Getting" by Nancy Duncan who examines her struggle with breast cancer with humor and satire. Narratives are intertwined throughout these stories to show the stories’ past usage and impact on individuals in the authors’ lives. For example, in a workshop to aid African-American women in managing their hypertension, Joanne Banks Wallace contends, “Storytelling proved to be a wonderful tool for helping women examine their lives and health behaviors… they became thrilled at the possibilities for storytelling as a healing agent" (p. 29). On the other hand, the last story on sleep-wetting in older children ends with a list of discussion questions to use in individual counseling or support groups for children with this condition.
Beginning with interview responses from children who grow up with medical problems, Joan Feitas created a story to incorporate these children’s experiences and concerns. What resulted was “Sally Goes to School," which covers notions of embarrassment, exclusion, stigmatization, and sometimes needing but not wanting to ask for help. The installment also covers more specific medical conditions that leave children not only feeling different from their classmates, but looking different with such conditions as muscular dystrophy and cancer. Similarly, the next section on “stories in the hospital and beyond," deals with children and adults who have suffered accidents or illnesses and are recovering in the hospital. In addition to the specific tales recreated in the text, an essay entitled “Some successful stories and story interactions" reviews synopses of different stories to be used in pediatric care, yet includes no specific details on how to recreate the impetus for healing. Next, the section moves into the world of adults with Laura Simms retelling her account of not only sharing stories, but listening to the stories of those she is trying to help. This section ends on a practical note, with a how-to guide for retelling stories.
Stories to aid in bereavement are examined in the next section and are highlighted to help those with personal loss, as well as those whose careers are surrounded by death and loss. Gail Rosen asserts, “I now tell stories and present workshops to caregivers who work with the dying and bereaved—social workers, hospice volunteers, health professionals, clergy, bereavement groups, and storytellers… Stories paradoxically allow us to keep a safe distance from feelings and events that may be difficult or painful, while at the same time drawing us in to identify with characters and through them, to experience catharsis and insight" (p. 92). Additionally, an essay on how to honor a life through sharing stories is incorporated to show how compiling stories can offer catharsis to those creating the message, but also to those listening. Likewise, the following section on “spiritual healing" offers catharsis on a meditative level. Eliza Pearman poses the question, “How can this story help us, beyond expanding our awareness? If we allow it to get under our skin and into our psyches, it can be there to remind us of what we are doing. It can bring us back to the present moment to consider that for which we are truly searching" (p. 111). Though similar to the type of healing encouraged elsewhere in the text, it adds a new level beyond understanding, entering the realm of personal growth.
“When family members, teachers, and other trusted adults tell stories to children, they are providing far more than entertainment. They are supporting healthy development of children and conveying the most profound of life’s lessons" (p. 126). The next three sections do just that, “teaching your children well" emphasizes the importance of stories as a teaching tool for building a sense of purpose and of future, problem-solving skills, encouraging autonomy, and enhancing social competence. The sections then expand their scope beyond the immediate family and focus on community programs. “Early childhood interventions" discusses the Mother Goose Program for high-risk families, which aims to share lullabies, rhymes, and stories that have been lost due to the ever-increasing nomadic nature of families. “Stories go to school" highlights the Odyssey Project to use stories in aiding the prevention of adolescent pregnancy.
The final three sections of the text combine the more peripheral societal situations to garner healing in non-traditional homes with adopting families, exploring alternative sexual identities, and finally, deconstructing prejudice and developing empathy. Renee Diaz de Leon Harvey shows how children connect to stories about their own struggles. In creating a story to help healing as they make the transition to adoptive families, she writes, “I began to cautiously experiment with little stories that incorporated a problem or event in their lives. Gradually, there in the realm of our imaginations and in the natural verdant protection of pines and maples, chestnuts, dogwoods, yellow chains, and a dozen others, the stories of Greenie, a little tree who is taken from his home in the forest, sprang to life" (p. 170). Other stories erupted from these same thoughts in the next section, encouraging healing for young people who are not transitioning families, but exploring their own sexuality. In combination with folktales, personal stories of self-realization and fairytales exemplifying the stigmatization and marginalization from the surrounding communities provides insight into healing from all angles. Finally, encouraging compassion and the developing of empathy through storytelling solidifies the impact of the text. “By fostering empathy, we become better at managing our feelings, avoiding harmful consequences related to mismanaged behavior, and creating more productive outcomes. An empathic concern for others gives us a better chance of creating a life rich with recognition, warm friendships, and accomplishments as we successfully negotiate the complex world of personal, social, and business relationships" (p. 204).
The Healing Heart opens the doors to using storytelling as a means “to encourage caring and healthy families"; however, it falls short once opening these doors. Perhaps the most jarring weakness of the text is the title. The Healing Heart~Families: Storytelling to Encourage Caring and Healthy Families suggests that the stories within focus on enhancing familial bonds. While some stories could be directly applied to families, others suggest a larger focus on community education and other aspects of social work. Conveniently, this expansion acts as an advantage since it enlarges the text’s scope beyond the immediate family. However, the book has a companion volume, The Healing Heart~ Communities: Storytelling to Build Strong and Healthy Communities in which one is left to assume the content therein. Moreover, staged as a handbook with applicable stories and useful ideas, it takes one step short of a practical handbook. While some contributing authors provide step-by-step tips in using stories to offer therapeutic healing, others skim the surface to the practical nature of the text, not always providing practical tools for actual incorporation. If professionals approach this text as a guide, they will be lacking the important details for incorporating storytelling in their daily work. However, if using the text to understand the importance of storytelling and the impact it has on individuals and groups in promoting healthy thinking and living, the book will be invaluable.
Cox and Albert have written an important book that allows the reader to engage in the act of storytelling as a way to promote healing through discourse. From the vantage point of a scholar, this book is an excellent resource to have on hand for making available a broad collection of topics from which to choose. The sections could easily be divided and selected singularly to cover specific topics in storytelling, social work, and in other courses with a people-oriented focus. Nevertheless, this expansiveness also presents a challenge in that the topics are so vast it would be difficult to use the book as a main text. However, as a supplemental text to a book that covers basic storytelling composition, delivery, and application, The Healing Heart~ Families shows promise. Furthermore, this book would make an excellent graduate and undergraduate (supplemental) text in that the stories and essays are approachable, yet are not oversimplified to prevent the reader from drawing his or her own conclusions as to the most effective way in which to apply concepts. Therefore, Cox and Albert’s storytelling book is full of unfamiliar tales with insightful messages and is an incomparable resource for those wishing to begin a tradition of storytelling in their family, community, or classroom.