I first moved to Glasgow, from Fraserburgh, many moons ago when I was 25 but I’ve always been a big believer in the power of storytelling. I first joined The Village Storytelling Centre three years ago, after hearing about the work they were doing. I thought it sounded like a fantastic project and a perfect fit for what I wanted to do. It suited my experience as a community drama artist and a senior arts manager, and it wasn’t an opportunity I was going to miss.
As an organisation, we use storytelling to support people of all ages and backgrounds across the local community in Pollok. Our aim is to ensure everyone feels connected to and a part of that community.
We also work with disenfranchised and marginalised communities, including people with mental health challenges, people with disabilities and people who are homeless or have experienced domestic abuse. We use storytelling to support those individuals, to reflect on their lives and to identify positive things about their experiences, allowing them to look forward with hope rather than fear.
People want to hear stories, they want to engage with stories and make new stories that can positively shape other people’s lives and, most of all, they want to feel safe and that’s what we want to help facilitate.
Since I first got involved there have been so many incredible and inspirational individuals come through the centre. We’ve seen people who first came to us as very young children grow into active members of the community, we’ve used storytelling to support people to increase their confidence and self-esteem by fostering the belief that each of us has stories to tell and that are worth hearing and, more recently, we’ve partnered with other organisations in the community to help individuals who, for a variety of reasons, have really struggled through the pandemic.
The last year has been incredibly tough for many of the people we work with, so it is such a relief to be starting to meet people face to face again.
We’ve achieved an awful lot in recent years but there’s still plenty to do which is why the team is getting together to take part in this year’s Kiltwalk to raise funds and awareness for the organisation.
To read more stories like Helen’s, and to support their efforts in The Kiltwalk, visit the website for the event
For more information on The Village Storytelling Centre clickhere
