Liberating the Hero’s Journey: Turning to arts-based methods to reimagine our changemaking stories
Whether we know it or not, Western culture is largely oriented to the Hero's Journey—a story that focuses on individuals and their learning, trials, tribulations, goals, and accomplishments. This summer’s blockbuster hit, The Odyssey, brought this narrative front and centre for many audiences.
This workshop introduces a range of counternarratives to the hero’s journey and offers participants the option to choose a different story arc for their changemaking work. As a participant, you are invited to come with a particular project in mind. You will be guided through an arts-based processes that will support you in recognizing and reshaping dominant narratives that may guide you work.
The purpose is not to erase goals and accomplishments in your work, but to recognize how you yourself shape your projects through your position in intersecting identities. Participants will be invited to consider the journey itself and collective possibilities that become available through the networks and relationships you nurture.
Facilitator Bio: Theresa Southam has lived in Nelson, BC since 1980 where she raised and home educated her three children. She ran a successful environmental education business for two decades. She considers her life’s work as conserving thousands of hectares of wetlands and raising awareness of salmon and watersheds. She has worked for Selkirk College for 25 years, working in Indigenous communities and initiating educational change. Today she is the department head of the Teaching and Learning Centre. A 2020 PhD in Human and Organizational Development, Dr. Southam is both an alumni of Royal Roads (Masters in Intercultural Communication – 2010) and an Associate Faculty Member teaching and supervising students.
Co-Facilitator Bio: Michelle Perren lives on the traditional and unceded land of the Coast Salish and Lekwungen-speaking peoples known as Vancouver Island, BC. She is rooted in family and community, living in a three-generation home with her husband, mother, two children, a dog and 2 cats. She brings 30 years of professional insight and lived experience, most recently completing her Master of Arts in Leadership focusing on feminist leadership and the intersections of self and systems through arts-based methods and storytelling. Michelle is the Founder and CEO of the Fauxvember Society Women's Health, focused on women's wellness across the lifecycle and all dimensions of self. Her work is grounded in the belief that growth is not linear but is a continual cycle of transformation and is committed to advancing self-discovery and self-awareness as foundations for meaningful change.