PARTICIPANTS from a trauma-informed community-based story-telling curriculum, gathered on Friday afternoon in West Belfast to celebrate their involvement in the unique project.
‘The Rest of the Story’ is facilitated by Irish-American author, Michael Patrick MacDonald.
The Boston native has penned two gripping autobiographies about growing up in Boston’s tough Southside, where he lost several siblings and countless friends and neighbours to drugs, suicide and crime. He now works with survivor families as a tireless anti-violence advocate, public speaker, writer and facilitator.
He has facilitated numerous groups in Boston, other parts of the US and Ireland.
Started in 2019, the project, ‘The Rest of the Story’ brings participants together to tell their stories and Michael Patrick endorses the idea that there is transformative energy and healing in both writing down and sharing one’s experience.
The curriculum is a five-session process, meeting for two and a half to three hours once a week, including pre-session food and post-session processing for those who need it.
Invariably groups produce a collection of stories, but each individual story is ultimately owned by its storyteller. It is crucial to the process that each individual participant feels in charge of their story and any resulting piece of writing, and that each is ultimately in charge of what shall be done with their piece.
Cohorts can decide what they would like to do with the collective stories, given the permission of each participant. Many groups have produced anthologies and storytelling events as well as public art exhibitions to serve the mission of the collective narrative the group wishes to project to the world.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, recent participants were forced to complete the course online but on Friday, they all came together for a graduation-style event at the People's Garden beside Whiterock Leisure Centre.
‘The Rest of the Story’ programme was also facilitated by human rights organisation, Participation and Practice Of Rights (PPR).
At Friday’s event, guests were treated to live music, refreshments and pizza as speakers told their story of being involved in the project before receiving their certificates.
Speaking at the event, Michael Patrick said: “We completed our first cohort in 2019 before two years on Zoom.
“I was able to come back recently with some students from North Eastern University to complete the most recent cohort in person which was fantastic.
Michael Patrick MacDonald
“There is nothing like sharing stories of trauma together. I have met so many people from Boston to Belfast who have been to hell and back but still find that way to share their stories and try and prevent what happened to them from happening to other people’s families.
“This project is not about giving people a voice. These people have a voice. What we do is make space to let their voices emerge.
“We are going to keep doing the project and hope to bring it to other places, including inner-city Dublin.
“We want to connect with activists, organisers and survivors from across the world.
“It has been an unbelievable pleasure to work with all the participants as well as PPR, who are doing some really good human rights grassroots work that is needed.
“Too often, the lives of poor and marginalised individuals and communities have been dominated by ‘the single story’—a story often constructed and told by dominant classes of people in media and policy-making positions.
"The Rest of the Story is ultimately about reclaiming our individual and community narratives—in all their nuances, multiplicities, and complexities—and the empowerment that comes from being in charge of our individual and collective story.
"When we are in charge of our story, we are better equipped to transform and healthfully integrate the difficulties and traumas of that story into our lives and our work.
"Ultimately, we are able to use our individual story to connect with others in solidarity, and to build communities at the intersection of healing and justice.”
