Using the trauma narrative to share young people’s Storiez through art

“Around the Corner” is a PhillyCAM show that offers local social impact leaders the opportunity to share what impact their work is having on the Philadelphia area. 

“Trauma-informed care” is a common theme in impact work.

But after therapist Meagan Corrado completed her MSW degree, she looked for programs that could clearly explain how to help people share their “trauma narratives” and found none. So, in 2015, she made one herself.

What she came up with is Storiez, an intervention that helps inner-city youth “reflect on their past experiences, positive and negative” and “creatively express them,” she said. The end goal is for the program participants to be able to ask themselves, “In light of all the things I’ve experienced, where do I want to go for the future?”

The result could be an art project, a written story or something else. Corrado has since trained about 700 therapists in the intervention and written a handful of books and do-it-yourself guides about Storiez, including “Storiez: A Feelingz Guide,” to be released next month.

Learn more in her “Around the Corner” interview below.

PhillyCAM is Comcast channel 66/966 HD/967 and Verizon FIOS channel 29/30 in Philadelphia.