A single well-told story can do what a stack of reports cannot: make someone feel the reality of living in a body, a system, or a diagnosis they’ve never had. We sit down with Carolyn, a newly trained Common Language Digital Storytelling facilitator and PhD student, to unpack how digital storytelling becomes a practical tool for health research, quality improvement, and stigma-breaking conversations.

Episode Key Messages

• recreation therapy roots and building community programs for older adults
• research and quality improvement as tools for systems change in long-term care
• discovering Common Language through MAID digital stories and stigma reduction
• choosing a more personal story and learning facilitation through vulnerability
• living with disability, wait times in Canada, and rebuilding identity after surgery
• Kilimanjaro as a turning point for confidence, aging, and capacity
• adapting digital storytelling for people living with dementia in a PhD protocol
• co-research, simplified materials, slower pacing, and practical accessibility tweaks
• making a first volunteer story with her mom and deepening connection through memory
• recording voiceover many times and small changes that amplify a storyteller’s voice
• informed consent, sharing implications, and the ethics of public storytelling
• challenging ethics board assumptions and shifting to assumed capacity
• rights-based approaches to dementia in public spaces and collaboration invitations

Other Links Mentioned

• Read this episode's blog post
• Watch Carolyn's Story
• Watch Marg's Story
• Learn more about Fostering Inclusion for People with Dementia
• Learn more about Carolyn's work with Dementia Connections and PhD research

Other Episodes Mentioned

• Episode 37 Disrupting Death: Stories of MAiD with Kathy Cortes-Miller and Keri-Lyn Durant
• Episode 52 The Storyteller’s Yellow Pages with Lisa Joworski
• Episode 57 What Changes When We Treat Stories Like Data with Dr. Katharine Smart

About Our Guest

Carolyn Brandly has worked with and for older adults and people with dementia for 20+ years in care and community settings – designing, implementing, and evaluating health promotion programs, and facilitating community development, knowledge translation and quality improvement initiatives and research. Carolyn has achieved an MA in health leadership, as well as completing graduate-level education in dementia studies, gerontology, and entrepreneurship, and is currently undertaking doctoral studies through the University of Victoria’s Social Dimensions of Health Program. Her aim is to contribute to global efforts shaping inclusive health and social systems that uphold the human rights, autonomy and dignity of people living with dementia.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A three-minute film can do what a 30-slide deck can’t: make a room full of clinicians feel the lived reality behind the diagnosis. We’re joined by Dr. Tricia Williams, a neuropsychologist at SickKids and a leader in outcomes-focused, family-informed innovation, to talk about why digital storytelling can change the way clinicians learn, listen, and care, especially when families are navigating congenital heart disease, brain injury, and complex neurodevelopmental needs. We also dig into how one well-placed story can shift conferences, training programs, and even the way we argue for better pathways and funding.

Episode Key Messages

• what a digital story is and why it lands differently than data
• how the NeuroOutcomes Lab formed at SickKids and grows through community
• meeting at a congenital heart disease conference and recognizing the power of family voice
• using one caregiver story to frame a conference panel and drive practice change
• Interact-North as a virtual positive parenting program built from parent-identified needs
• breaking out of assessment-only models into intervention and skills-based support
• building reflection time into clinician training to strengthen emotional readiness
• what Story Slam teach us about audience well-being and protecting storytellers
• using storytelling as knowledge translation for policymakers and sustainable care pathways

Other Links Mentioned

• Read this episode's blog post
• Watch Kristi Bateman's digital story, Unspoken
• Watch Kristy Wolfe's digital story, Hugs & Bugs
• Learn more about the NeuroOutcomes Lab
• Watch the 2026 Common Language Story Slam

About Our Guest

Dr. Tricia Williams received her PhD in Clinical Developmental Psychology at York University. She completed her Postdoctoral fellowships in health psychology at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and clinical neuropsychology at Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary. Dr. Williams is a board-certified Clinical Neuropsychologist and Paediatric Subspecialist through the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). Currently, Dr. Williams is a Clinical Neuropsychologist and Health Clinician-Scientist at SickKids in the Division of Neurology. In her clinical role, she leads the Neonatal Neuropsychological services for assessment and consultation for children and families following neonatal brain injury and associated medical conditions. Dr. Williams also provides families ongoing consultation.

As a Health Clinician-Scientist, co-director of the NeuroOutcomes lab, and co-chair of the NeuroOutcomes Family Advisory Committee, Williams’ research focuses on neuropsychological outcomes following early brain injury and the importance of supporting the family in optimizing resilience. She is the principal investigator of the Interact-North project and the Parent Experiences project. Together with a multi-disciplinary team, a strong group of students and research staff, Dr. Williams’ research program aims to learn more about modifiable factors promoting resilience following early brain injury, and to identify modes of service delivery that will optimize neuropsychological outcomes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A few years ago, we were still explaining to healthcare providers why stories mattered. Now we’re watching digital storytelling get built into a nursing curriculum, shape research plans, and gather real communities around hard conversations. I’m joined by Dr. Mike Lang, founder of Common Language Digital Storytelling and assistant professor in the University of Calgary Faculty of Nursing, for a candid update on what has shifted and what’s coming next.

Episode Key Messages

• Mike’s new role in the University of Calgary Faculty of Nursing and what it unlocks for digital storytelling in health and wellness
• Embedding digital stories into curriculum for specific learning outcomes and student conversations
• Strategic partnerships and why a facilitator collective helps the work spread with quality
• Uganda milestones and how community-led stories drive maternal, child, and adolescent health change
• Calgary Story Slam highlights and how stories open space for hard topics like grief and loss
• Format changes for the Story Slam and why live attendance feels different
• What the Common Language retreat builds through story share, deep craft talk, and momentum
• Growth in facilitator training and the increasing involvement of researchers
• New initiatives at U of C including Nurse Story, the Healing Lens Research Lab, and research on SIDS grief support
• Mike’s next meaningful moment idea and why noticing it matters

Other Links Mentioned

• Read this episode's blog post
• Watch the 2026 Common Language Story Slam
• Learn more about the work in Uganda & East Africa

About Our Guest

Dr. Michael Lang is an Assistant Professor (Teaching and Research) in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary and Director of the Healing Lens Research Lab, a transdisciplinary research and creative practice lab dedicated to advancing documentary film and digital storytelling as rigorous, ethical, and impactful methodologies in health and wellness contexts. Situated within the Faculty of Nursing, the Lab brings together health researchers, clinicians, filmmakers, digital storytelling facilitators, educators, and community partners to explore how stories, when created and mobilized with care, can shape education, influence practice, and support individual and collective wellbeing. Dr. Lang’s work sits at the intersection of health research, documentary filmmaking, and knowledge translation, with a particular focus on how narrative and visual practices can deepen understanding of illness, caregiving, patient experience, and human flourishing. Over the past fifteen years, he has facilitated the creation of more than 1,000 digital stories with patients, family caregivers, healthcare providers, students, and community members, and has trained over 100 facilitators through Common Language Digital Storytelling, an international organization he founded to support ethical storytelling practice in healthcare, education, and community settings.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.