William Noonan, Ph.D., will lead a pre-conference workshop for participants who wish to learn the process of creating a own fairy tale that metaphorically describes a powerful disruptive experience or life altering event as well as learn how to teach the process to others. The workshop is not intended to create literary works of art, but is an opportunity to discover meaning through the use of imagination and fantasy. No previous experience in writing or the study of folktales is necessary, just the ability to tell one's story.

The workshop will include a presentation of selected fairy tales written by cancer survivors, how this method of story making is used for therapeutic purposes and opportunity to experience the process of creating a fairy tale.

The collective wisdom of fairy tales provides imaginative resources for making meaning out of illness. Charged with symbolic potency, the plot lines and imaginary figures found in folktales tutor the imagination in new directions and offer containers of meaning. Fairies, dragons and witches do not populate our ordinary realm of rational explanations. They belong to a "once upon a time" which stands outside perceived reality. As emissaries from the imagination, fairy tale figures invite us to make meaning out of life from the vantage point of the fantastic.

In this approach, the plot lines and symbolic motifs of folktales are used as templates for the cancer fairy tales. Based on Vladmir Propp's structural analysis of folktales and Brengt Holbeck's principles of interpretation, the story-making method provides a therapeutically tailored story line that parallels significant personal narrative themes. The story line forms a narrative cognitive structure that orders chaotic or disruptive experience.

Speaker's Bio
Throughout my academic career, I have pursued the study of Religion and Psychology in an attempt to understand the role myth, symbol and ritual play in the human construction of meaning. An example is my Ph.D. dissertation. I developed a method of story making that can facilitate meaning for people with chronic or life-threatening illness.

My work has me moving in diverse directions, yet bound by the common thread of narrative. I teach at Marylhurst University in the Business Department, the Art Therapy Department and the Religious Studies Department. I also teach the philosophy series of courses at Columbia Gorge Community College. I am the chaplain for the Hospice of the Gorge where I comfort the dying and counsel the bereaved.

Newsletter Contents