Season 3 Teaser: The Power of Digital Storytelling in Healthcare

Ever wondered how the power of storytelling can transform healthcare? Enter the world of digital storytelling with Mike Lang, a digital storytelling facilitator and founder of Common Language Digital Storytelling, who takes us on a journey through his own healthcare experiences that inspired him to revolutionize how stories are told in the healthcare sector. Together, we'll explore the concept of digital stories - potent, bite-sized films made with photos, videos, and voiceovers that smartphones have made so easy to create.

Mike will walk us through how he harnessed his digital storytelling skills to build Common Language, a certification program that is helping individuals become certified digital storytelling facilitators. We'll discuss how digital storytelling is as much about fostering meaningful conversations and building communities as it is about the story itself. Not just limited to healthcare, we also delve into the transformative impact of digital storytelling in other contexts - be it giving voice to small nonprofits or helping children understand complex medical situations. So, buckle up for a fascinating conversation that is bound to change how you perceive storytelling in healthcare, and remember, every story told is a step towards understanding what truly matters to patients and their families.

** Note this interview was recorded in the summer of 2022 as a video conversation. We are sharing it now, a year later, as a teaser of what's to come in Season 3 of Leading Through Stories. Watch the original interview with Kristy & Mike on Youtube.

So, what is a Digital Story?
“A digital story is a short 2-5 minute film that people create using their own photos and videos and a voice over they write and then they actually put it all together with some music. It’s a short film they make themselves. People are often surprised to think that they can do that. It’s possible that’s why we’re here to help them from start to finish.”

According to Mike “The best part of digital storytelling is the way it creates conversations. There is the conversation between the facilitator and the storyteller. And then you show the story to friends and family and they talk to you about it. Show it to an organization and you have a conversation. It’s the way that stories start these meaningful conversations. I think that's what really needed, now more than ever, a way to enter into meaningful conversation with others. A story is the best way to do that.”

Links Mentioned 

• Watch Mike's first digital story, Breathe
• Read Mike's digital storytelling methodology paper 

About Leading Through Stories
Everyone has a story to tell—and what we do with that story can create lasting impact. Every episode, Leading Through Stories, helps unravel the how and why of digital storytelling with host Kristy Wolfe.

Life is made up of meaningful moments—which ones do you want to share?

This podcast is presented by Common Language DST, digital storytelling facilitation training for health and wellness changemakers.

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Transcript

Kristy Wolfe: 0:03

My name is Kristy Wolfe. I'm a storytelling photographer, a medical mom and a Wolfe Pack Warrior based in Canmore, Alberta, but that's kind of the old story. Recently, I have added digital storyteller to my repertoire of skills, and it's all thanks to this person right here. Today with me is Mike Lang, and he is someone that I have been watching for a while. Because of what he's been doing with digital storytelling. I'm going to get Mike to introduce himself. Mike, go ahead.

Mike Lang: 0:30

Sure, hi everyone. Yeah, my name is Mike. I am a digital storytelling facilitator based out of Calgary and also very soon to be hopefully finished my PhD looking specifically at digital storytelling in a health care setting. So that's sort of my specialty is working using this idea we'll talk about in a minute, digital storytelling, but in health and wellness sort of improve the health care system and help people improve their own health by sharing their story in a more meaningful way. So, yeah, I don't know, is that a good?

Kristy Wolfe: 1:03

That's perfect. The reason that I started watching you was because of health care and our family's journey in health care, and then you have worked with a couple people from the Stollery Children's Hospital, so that's kind of how you came across my plate the first time and then it's just going from there. So I had done the level one facilitator training with your company, Common Language DST, just in the spring and now I'm looking forward to level two, which is coming up, but before we go into that.

Kristy Wolfe: 1:35

Will you tell everybody what a digital story is?

Mike Lang: 1:38

Sure, yeah. So a digital story is a short two to five minute film that people create using their own photos and videos and a voiceover they write and then they actually put it all together with some music. So it's a short film they make themselves, and people often surprised to think that they could do that, but it's possible, right, and that's why we're here to help them through that process from start to finish, and so really it depends on how, but sometimes people can make these short films in a single weekend with a supportive facilitator.

Mike Lang: 2:11

I often describe it to people who have never seen one. It's like making a film without any filming. So we don't actually have to film anything. We use what you already have, because we all have these wonderful little things in our pockets that capture a lot of very meaningful moments, and so we turn those into little films.

Kristy Wolfe: 2:29

That's a really good point, because recently a couple of organizations have come up to me and said, ok, but you're doing video, and like, no, sorry, that's not what I was thinking. Yeah, and that's part of why I wanted to talk to you, because I think that people do get confused about what a digital story is. Now, what's your background? I know a bit about this, but like why your PhD, what you focused on, how you started doing digital stories?

Mike Lang: 2:55

Sure, yeah Well, you know, it's funny.

Mike Lang: 2:58

It's very similar to your origin story. It started with a health care experience, and when I was 25 years old I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and I had a big you know how doctors love to use fruit to describe how big tumors are so I had a grapefruit size tumor in the middle of my chest and sort of wrapped around my heart and everything, and so it was a pretty gnarly experience as a 25-year-old to do the radiation, the chemo, and really, you know, that's not where I expected my life to go. I was a ski at Whistler before I was diagnosed, and so everything changed. Overnight I went from skiing 100 days a year to living in my parents' basement, feeling sick and terrible, and so part of that process was trying to come to terms with what happened to me, sort of in that sort of mental health sort of frame, trying to figure out, ok, what just happened to me and what does it mean. And part of that was connecting with other people my age who had cancer, and so I organized my own sort of trip because I'd never met any young adults at the Cancer Center. And as an afterthought I asked one of my buddies, who is a film, just starting a film company to come and film it. And he did, and we created this documentary and it was way better than we thought it was going to be. It was way better. So we ended up doing a film tour across Canada to every major cancer center, and at every screening there would be someone who would stand up and say in the discussion afterwards I've been an oncologist for 20 years but what I learned from your film was and it just blew me away that people were learning valuable sort of practice, changing insights from me and my story. I'd only ever met eight other young adults with cancer in my whole life and they were learning from me. And that's sort of what when I realized well, I think the health care system needs more stories and better stories. And so that was what kicked it all off. And from there I made a number of documentary films about health and wellness and different aspects of the health care system and different diseases and things that people go through.

Mike Lang: 5:04

And as I was doing that, I realized how hard it was to get film cameras into a hospital. Oh my gosh, it's so hard right? Yes, we did it, but it was so much paperwork and I'm like man, we should have a better way to capture people's stories, have them share their stories in a meaningful way. And that was around the time where these wonderful little smartphones started coming out and I was like, dude, we should just use what they already have, because most meaningful moments of our lives never happened in front of a film crew. They just don't right. But we have these little cameras, we take all these photos, right. And so you've made that a little different, because meaningful moments started to happen in front of your camera as you followed families around the hospital. But you understand how hard it is to get cameras into those settings.

Mike Lang: 5:49

So anyways all that to say, after I realized everyone's taking their own footage, then I started thinking, well, why don't we use that footage to create these stories? And so I started doing digital storytelling. And it wasn't until three or four years later I realized that it was actually a thing, that people have been doing this since the 80s, since personal computers showed up. They started helping people create short films using their own photos from their life, and so then it just opened up a whole new world, and since then I did a master's looking at psychosocial supports for cancer and just finished a PhD at the University of Calgary looking specifically at using digital storytelling in a healthcare setting. So and get to do digital storytelling around the world and start training other people to do it as well. So that's my journey to digital storytelling in a nutshell.

Kristy Wolfe: 6:40

In a nutshell, I love it and I was gonna say, if you're comfortable with it, I would love to share a link to your very first story and I wanted to touch on this to your methodology paper on digital storytelling, because there was so many ideas that when I was doing the facilitator training with you, it really hit me and things I had not thought about storyteller wellbeing. I mean, I had thought about it, but I don't think I had the words to put it together.

Kristy Wolfe: 7:08

The ethics behind storytelling, and my favorite part is actually working with a partner on telling their story and helping them refine a story and figuring out how to make it impactful. I just it's been a really amazing process, but I wouldn't have thought about it the same way that you had presented it, so I'd like to methodology. a link to that ,.

Mike Lang: 7:32

Well, you know, and I think one of the biggest things that I've learned, you know, having done, hundreds and hundreds of digital stories now is that just generally, we don't think about our life as a story, and that's where facilitators come in they sort of bring this storytelling mindset to your life and all of a sudden, all these new connections start to be made, these new understandings start to bubble up, and it's just by asking these questions that a storyteller would ask, right? And so the finding, telling, crafting, sharing, like the methodology of it is unique, but what's really cool about it is it's this co-creative process that you're talking about. You ask a question and the person says, well, I'd never thought about it that way. But yeah, maybe those two things aren't connected you know, I never spent time thinking about it, but maybe they are and then that's where all these beautiful compelling stories just start to take shape, in that moment of reflection and co-creative conversation with another person, right?

Kristy Wolfe: 8:35

What I'm finding is people are really like quite a few people are very interested in this. I've been running some info sessions that are just free to give people an idea of what it's all about. And then you can see the wheels turning and they're like I came in not knowing what to expect, but I have all these stories that I want to tell. And you said something in the training too.

Kristy Wolfe: 8:54

About that idea that all these people will say like nah, I don't have a story Once you start talking, there's so many stories. It's just like even with-.

Mike Lang: 9:03

Where do you go? Yeah, which one should I tell? Yeah exactly

Kristy Wolfe: 9:07

So it's one of the things I love about it, and I've done a couple of my own stories so far and I have like a list in the back of my head of all these stories that I want to tell which one do I do? Yeah, but working with other people has really made a difference. So you started originally doing one-on-one training with people.

Mike Lang: 9:26

Actually, when I first started doing digital storytelling, it was with an organization called Wellspring Calgary, which is support of community-based support of organization for cancer survivors, and so I started running workshops with them, not really knowing what I was doing, right, I just had this film background.

Mike Lang: 9:46

I had a personal experience with cancer and I knew that people were collecting all this great photo and video that they could use to tell a meaningful story. And that's all I started with and sort of developed a lot of skills, sort of on the job, you know, and then found out that, oh yeah, lots of other people have been doing this and started looking into it from more of an academic lens. And that's where I really would say I started building my skill set is by reading hundreds and hundreds of articles and books and watching digital stories and really understanding the process. And, like you mentioned already, you know the ethics of it, because that's something that in our world today we don't spend enough time thinking about because of how immediately available stories are right and social media and all that stuff right, we don't think about okay, how is this impacting these people in the story? You know where should I share it, where is it most meaningful? And really you know how to have a conversation from it, and I think that's one thing that if I would to say is the best part about digital storytelling it's the way that it creates conversations right.

Mike Lang: 10:53

There's the conversation between the facilitator and the storyteller and then you show the story to friends and family and they talk to you about it. You show it to an organization, you have a conversation. It's the way that stories start these meaningful conversations, and I think that's what really is needed now more than ever. It's a way to enter into meaningful conversation with others, and story a story is the best way to do that. Short little three minute story, you know, learn so much about someone. You can really start to have a meaningful conversation with them just after that, and so, anyways, I think you know that that idea of you know bringing the people together, have conversations, is what I get most excited about. I don't know if that was based on a question you just asked me or if I just started.

Mike Lang: 11:40

That's the problem with it. I have so much to say, I just keep talking. So sorry, cut me off.

Kristy Wolfe: 11:45

No, I love it. That's exactly what. When we were talking about doing this recorded conversation, mike and I were like we'll just end up talking. That's totally.

Mike Lang: 11:51

Yeah, I know yeah.

Kristy Wolfe: 11:54

So, then, telling digital stories. You started in the healthcare field, but you have done digital stories in tons of different ways. I've only done about eight so far and I've worked with organizations. I've worked privately with people who aren't sharing their story publicly. It was more for their family. I do think that there's a lot of options for how people can use these stories in different contexts, but tell us why you decided to do Common Language and start a training for other people.

Mike Lang: 12:26

Yeah, yeah, you know. So it really came from a conversation I had with an organization, you know, very large charity in Canada, and they called me and they said, so you do digital storytelling. I was like, yeah, and they're like, well, we talked to someone who said they did digital storytelling and we hired them and then they didn't do it. I was like, well, yeah, that's a problem, right, because back in the 80s, when they created this form of media production, digital storytelling was a very descriptive word for what they were doing, right, but now everything we do is digital storytelling, right, it's not a very specific name, and so that's what it came from is.

Mike Lang: 13:11

I ended up going into a number of organizations and sort of cleaning up some messes where they thought they were hiring a digital storytelling facilitator. But really that person thought they were talking about Twitter or Instagram or Facebook, right, and they weren't actually doing digital storytelling. And so I was like, man, we need some sort of standard, some sort of certification, for people to say, okay, this person knows what digital storytelling is, they know the ethics behind it, they know the processes and procedures and they have a really core group of foundation of skills, and so that's what common language originally came out of. People would call me and say Mike, we thought we were hiring digital storytelling facilitator, but we weren't, and I would have to sort of help them through that messy process. So after that I realized let's bring people together, create a solid foundational set of skills that then we can. When people hire someone like Kristy Wolfe, they know what they're getting right, they know they can go on Common Language, the website, see what the training was, see the skills that you have, and they know they're getting a quality sort of experience, because that's what people are hiring you for, right. It's not for the digital stories, it's to facilitate that experience of creating a digital story.

Mike Lang: 14:30

Sometimes people they confuse that. Right, they think that they're hiring a filmmaker and the film is the end product, but really what they're hiring is the process. That's what they're looking for. So, anyways, that's where Common Language came from, and, of course, I've met lots of great people over the years who have said Mike, I love what you're doing, I would love to do it, and I would be like I would love for you to do it too. I don't know how, though. So there it was Common Language.

Mike Lang: 14:56

Here's a way for me to help encourage other people to do this, because there's so many stories out there that need to be told. There's limitless opportunities right now for meaningful conversation engagement through digital storytelling. We just need more people doing it, and that's what I'm sort of most passionate about right now is helping people like you and other people get going and build their own skills and abilities so that they're confident in what they're doing, and help share the stories with all these people and organizations.

Kristy Wolfe: 15:26

Well, and one of the things that I really like. So I did the training April and then started doing some digital stories. But one of the things that you have in place is a community of practice, basically with other digital storytellers. So, after doing the facilitation training, once a month we meet and there's a couple of professional development opportunities throughout the year so that you have other people that are doing the same thing. We're watching each other's stories, we're talking about what the experience is like, we're sharing things like the way we talk about consent and continual consent and how we approach different organizations, or a lot of the people that are trained are actually within an organization and there are stories for that organization. So it's just interesting to hear all these different perspectives and see how different people are approaching things.

Kristy Wolfe: 16:15

Kind, of make our practice even better yeah.

Mike Lang: 16:17

Yeah, and that community practice was one of the most important parts for me because I was doing it all by myself, right, and if I had and have gone, done a PhD and read literally thousands of papers about digital storytelling, I wouldn't have had a group of people to help continually to build my skills. Yeah, and when I was starting out, I would have loved that. I would have loved to get on a phone call with people and say, hey, so if this happens, what do you do? Or how would you sort of change this story using different transitions or something? That co-creative nature of digital storytelling is great for the process, but also for facilitators.

Mike Lang: 17:01

Yeah, and a community of practice of creative individuals all trying to help people share meaningful stories about their lives is such a cool group of people to hang out with. It really is. But you learn so much and even after 10 years and a PhD on it, I'm still learning from people from those phone calls, and so that's why one of my favorite parts about common language is you guys get to hang out with you guys and continue to hone those skills. Right, and yeah, and have these types of conversations that for most people, would seem incredibly nerdy.

Mike Lang: 17:36

I will totally do that with you.

Kristy Wolfe: 17:40

It's funny too, because when I was thinking about taking the training because it's not cheap and I will put a link up to Common Language and the training so people can see where it is and take a look at it but I was like, will I be able to teach photography the way I want to teach photography and still do this? And I, the way I had it set up in my mind, was like digital storytelling will be like another thing I can support people with, and it has totally changed everything I've done. Like I've told Mike, I am redoing my entire website to focus on digital storytelling, specifically with nonprofits, and then photography is almost an add-on.

Kristy Wolfe: 18:18

So, it's crazy how much it's made a difference in what I'm doing and how I'm thinking about storytelling. Well, I love how you're running with it.

Mike Lang: 18:28

And I think the best thing about it is, once you have sort of the basic, sort of foundational, sort of skills and ideas and things like that, everyone brings their own creative lens to it. And I think the digital storytelling what's so great about it is you can endlessly experiment with it. Once you have the basic form of what it is, there is no formula for how you do it beyond that basic, those basic foundational principles. So you know, having skills of photographer is awesome. You can go out and take some photos if you don't have the ones that you want, right, and you can make them look wonderful. And actually in our last meeting, right, when you showed one of your stories, people our colleagues in Uganda said, wow, those photos were so wonderful, I wish we could have photos like that to work with. And you said, well, it's because I'm a photographer and you know. So everyone brings their own skill set to it. It's not like you're creating a bunch of clones. Yeah, it's just a place to start.

Mike Lang: 19:27

So we have a common language to start talking about how to tell meaningful stories, and so I love it. You know we have a health researcher right. He's going to be using digital storytelling in a very specific way. We've got photographer who's using her photos and her experience as medical mom, you know, telling stories in a certain way with nonprofits and other moms and family members. And then there's you know people working in large charities like Canada Cancer Society telling stories about cancer and research and things like that. And then you know it's just everyone has their own different lens, and I think that's what makes digital storytelling so powerful is that it's endlessly modifiable depending on the context that you're in. Right, and you can use it in so many different ways, so many different contexts, depending on who you are.

Kristy Wolfe: 20:14

So Well, and with the Wolfe Pack Warriors right now and amplifying smaller nonprofits, we're using it as an origin story, like one of the things that most organizations so far have said is well, let's tell the story of like how we came to be as a smaller organization, which I think is really interesting, because that's the kind of thing that I don't know, somebody will end up telling people over and over in presentations, and being able to just slide that digital story, introduce yourself, put on the digital story and then continue to talk about what people want to know about your organization, I think is really helpful.

Kristy Wolfe: 20:51

The other one that I would love to do I was talking about this with my husband the other day is our son is eight. He has eight years of medical chaos in his life, and to do a digital story with him as he gets older of how, like just telling the story of what's happened to him, so that every time he meets a new specialist or a new teacher or a new whoever, he has this digital story that he can kind of say, like will you watch this? It's three minutes, and then you can ask me any questions that you have about it, and just finding a way to share information too is just another thing that popped into me.

Mike Lang: 21:27

Yeah, it's such a great opportunity.

Mike Lang: 21:28

I mean, there's a I'm working with it on a project right now with dementia, in Alzheimer's and it's family members creating stories about their loved one, these short little three minute films, right, because right now they have these little posters on the door with some photos, you know, stapled on there of what mattered to that person, right, and instead they're creating these little three minute stories, and before a care aid goes and cares for that person, they watch the story, so they know who they are, they know what matters to them, right, and such a cool opportunity to help people understand, you know, in particular, people who no longer are able to communicate what mattered to them, and so I mean, that's a great example of being able to do that for kids, right, what did you go through?

Mike Lang: 22:12

And here it is. You know and share it to the healthcare provider, right, and they understand at a much deeper level who that person is. And that's, I think, one of the core pieces of digital storytelling in healthcare in particular, is we want healthcare systems that understand what matters to patients and families, and in order to understand what matters to someone, you need to know their story. That's exactly what you're talking about right. There's so many cool opportunities for that type of work, you know, in healthcare in particular.

Kristy Wolfe: 22:40

So yeah, that's cool, very cool. Okay, so I will include all the links about how to find you and how to find out about Common Language. Is there anything else you want to end with before we shut off this conversation?

Mike Lang: 22:52

Oh man, well, you know me, I keep talking forever. You know, maybe I would say one thing, just because I include this one in pretty much every presentation I ever give, because it was such a formative idea in my own mind. But there's, there's, there's this doctor named Rachel Naomi Remen, and and she has this quote in her book Kitchen Table Wisdom that says "facts bring us to knowledge, but stories lead to wisdom, and for me, that just summarizes everything that I am all about with common language, with digital storytelling. You know, we're in a world right now that has limitless facts and knowledge. Yeah, but we are very deficient in wisdom.

Mike Lang: 23:36

What do we do with those facts and knowledge? How do we live well, in the midst of difficult life circumstances? You know, we can only learn that type of stuff from listening to how other people are doing it. And really, you know, in my mind, that is what we're doing as facilitators is we're bringing wisdom, stories and wisdom back into meaningful sort of conversations that we need to have, instead of just spitting facts at each other and yelling, you know, knowledge across the room. You know, let's watch each other's stories, let's understand what matters to each other and then let's have a good conversation about it, so that we can all live well in the midst of this crazy world that we're in right now, right? So, anyways, I'm super excited for you, Kristy, and where you're taking things. It's going to be really fun to watch things unfold over the next few months and years and hopefully we'll get to co-facilitate some stuff together.

Kristy Wolfe: 24:32

I think we will. Okay, I want to ask, and on one last question there was a nonprofit you could work with, or a person that you would love to work with to tell their story. Who?

Mike Lang: 24:45

Oh, a person or a nonprofit? Oh man, that is a really hard one, I would say. I would have to say, you know, as far as charity-wise, I love that I'm currently working with the Canadian Cancer Society on things, just because cancer is something that really impacted me personally, right, so I really connect with all the cancer survivors that come and be part of those workshops. I would say, as far as charity goes, I love working with them. I think they're such a great organization to work with. They really understand stories and their value. And as far as a person goes, man, I would have to say I would love to make a digital story with my masters supervisor, who actually lives in Canmore. Her name is Jeanine. She's got an amazing, amazing story and she doesn't tell it as much as she should. So I would love to make a digital story with her someday, you know, and have her share of that, all the conferences and places she speaks. I think it would . amazing

Kristy Wolfe: 25:56

Okay, so how do you do it?

Mike Lang: 25:58

even if you ever see her. It's a nice moment in Canmore.

Kristy Wolfe: 26:02

Love it. Well, Mike, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it.

Mike Lang: 26:07

Yeah, hey, thanks for having me.