A 1-day training for creative changemakers, visionary educators and people who care about our young people. How we can use story and narrative for liberation and healing?

“Nations and peoples are largely the stories they feed themselves. If they tell themselves stories that are lies, they will suffer the future consequences of those lies. If they tell themselves stories that face their own truths, they will free their histories for future flowerings.”

- Ben Okri, Author

Join Sola to discover where and how you're already telling stories that entrap or liberate you.

Using narrative, story games, mindfulness and embodiment you'll learn to evoke participants collaborative wisdom and creativity. You'll improve your ability to convey meaningful and life-affirming stories (to youth, colleagues, friends, and anyone else...) And you'll develop your own creative voice and communication, as well as how to help younger people dream bigger.

This is for you if…

• You are a facilitator, educator, teacher, youth worker, or practising storyteller

• You want to learn to improve your storytelling ability

• You want to express your passion for things you care about in ways that are connective and enhance communication

• You have a vision/mission that you want to express

• You want to find ways to connect your inner story to your outer story and the way you connect with the world

• You believe we understand the world through stories and that we are all storytellers

• You want to develop presence, articulation, eloquence and vocal ability

Why focus on stories?

"Storytelling is an ancient modality that supports wellbeing and positive mental health by bringing awareness to the significance in one’s own experiences. We can think of stories as providing narrative maps that help us recognise subconscious motivations and barriers, moving us from fear to courage, inspiring us and deepening our relationships."

- Narrative Mindfulness

We are all defined by our joy, our loves, our pain, and our grief. Both are lifted by the buoyancy of great experiences as well as weighed down by the baggage of the many challenging moments in our lives. What if we were to select and channel these intentionally into the messaging we give others?

Why attend?

• You will leave with an easy to use toolkit that you can apply immediately to practice techniques of improving your storytelling

• You will leave with tools that you can apply immediately to facilitate others to work with story

• You will go on an experiential storytelling journey

• You’ll learn storytelling techniques that include mindfulness, collaboration, nature connection, embodiment and African martial arts

• You will explore an African approach to storytelling & hear storytelling delivered by a professional African Storyteller

• You’ll feel more confident working with story and helping others to tell liberating stories

Your Facilitator - Sola Adebiyi

Sola Adebiyi is a community builder, holistic educator, professional storyteller and youth worker, with over 30 years’ experience. He is passionate about youth empowerment, creative learning and rites of passage, and describes himself as “playfully serious”.

Sola’s teaching style draws on storytelling, nature engagement, creative arts, rhythm, African Martial Arts, mindfulness and visualisation.

As well as being a member of The Visionaries team, Sola is also the Director of Narrative Mindfulness Ltd a facilitative storytelling company.

What people say about this training

“I didn’t think that I’d be able to ‘switch off’ my conscious thoughts and access my subconscious - I didn’t know how much I ‘chose’ what I saw but it was a welcome and liberating surprise!” - Programme Director

“The activities were fun and applicable, the tools and the storytelling were powerful.” - Funding Manager

PAYMENT

The true cost of this training is £110 per participant. However, we charge on a sliding scale to maximise equity of access. whilst ensuring we cover our costs. Please be mindful that if you purchase a ticket at the lowest end of the scale when you can truthfully afford the standard ticket price, you are limiting access to those who truly need a bursary place.

For Schools/Organisations

• £160 - High - For independent fee-paying schools and organisations earning £100k+ a year - this price also widens access for those on lower income
• £110 - Standard - For non-fee paying schools, organisations earning between £20-100k a year - this price reflects the true cost of delivering our services
• £80 - Low - For schools rated ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted and organisations earning under £20k a year
  

For Individuals

Please read about our sliding scale here to decide which ticket to purchase.

• £160 - Abundant (pays for your place and supports another)
• £110 - Standard (pays for your place and covers our costs)
• £80 - Subsidised - (for those in the middle of our sliding scale)
• £0 - Bursary (for those at the lower end of our sliding scale) - One place available per training. Email us to be entered into the draw. We will email the randomly selected person at least 2 weeks prior to the training.

*please contact us on hello@thevisionaries.org.uk if you have any further questions, would like to pay via invoice or to be entered into the bursary draw.