ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors’ community-based co-facilitators introduced the guidelines for the story circle, people listened; they were already well processed in group dynamics. Stories emerge in their own good time, and the success of their emergence has factors not dissimilar to those of the birthing child, patterns of healthy support, but the centering of the work is on the parent to the story. The art of facilitation is in listening for the storyteller's conscious and unconscious vulnerabilities – to delicately probe the borders of the extent their ego can withstand critique. The stories shown and dissected through the Seven Step process direct the participants to a goal of depth, design, and duration. The Seven Steps can become the three steps if the authors feel the audience is completely new to aesthetic discussions and will quickly bore at a lecture. Sharing personal and reflective storytelling in a group is a privilege and a sacred trust.
