It gives them a voice the way they want the voice: a qualitative exploration of clinicians’ use of Storiez with urban youth

ABSTRACT

Urban youth are exposed to high levels of trauma. Trauma narratives are included in trauma treatment best practices, however, there are conflicting perspectives about the trauma narrative process. The Storiez intervention divides the trauma narrative process into nine steps that collectively focus on youth reflection, organization of memories, creative expression, and development of future vision. Master’s level therapists (n = 15) received Storiez training and materials. Six to eight weeks after training, 12 therapists participated in qualitative interviews. Interviews were analyzed using grounded theory. Three themes emerged: (1) It gives them a voice the way they want the voice, (2) It doesn’t require a lot of fancy gadgets and gizmos, and (3) Trauma doesn’t define them. Participant responses about the intervention’s portability, inclusion of strengths, simplicity, and cultural competence highlighted a paucity in the literature. The study’s findings preliminarily speak to the success of Storiez and highlight the need for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Trauma narrative
• trauma therapy
• urban youth
• complex trauma
• child trauma
• adolescent trauma
• narratives
• storytelling

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).