1. The Story, Healing &
Writing Health Policy
By RANDY GREENE
For Patten Mahler’s 2016 Class
2. 1. FOR THE LOVE OF STORIES
Friends once challenged Ernest
Hemingway, a celebrated American
novelist, to write a story using only six
words. He accepted that challenge and
wrote….
4. As you just read Hemingway’s six-word
story, did you feel anything? If so, where?
In your brain? A tug at your heart? A gut
feeling? Wherever that story hit you—if it
did—you experienced the power of story.
YOUR FIRST FEEDBACK: Take 30 seconds
and share with your neighbor where you
felt that impact. Or admit that you felt
nothing and ask what, if anything, your
neighbor experienced.
5. Why I love stories
A lifetime pursuing stories in various ways:
• Porch talk in east Tennessee
• English major at Georgetown College
• English studies, University of Kentucky
• Book editor in New York City
• Newspaper editor in Kentucky
• Consultant, marketer and fundraiser
6. Do you like stories? Share
why or why not….
YOUR FIRST LIST: Use my six-word bullets as a
model. Take 3-4 minutes and write examples
(like “Book editor in New York City”) that
specify how you demonstrate your like or
dislike of—even your disinterest in—stories.
Cite choices, behaviors or attitudes from your
recent past.
7. 2. THE VISCERAL FACTOR
Stories connect to the primary functions of a
person’s brain and nervous system, even to
how individuals respond to therapy or medical
treatment. A story and its impact race through
our bodies in ways that resemble chills, shivers
or goose bumps. In a sense, we become the
story that we read or hear—at least
figuratively. This visceral response is linked to
one’s willing suspension of disbelief.
8. We think in story form
“Stories leap frog technology and bring us to
the core of experience…. Stories are how we
are wired…. Stories are how we think….”
Pamela Rutledge, Ph.D.
“The Psychological Power of Storytelling”
Psychology Today (2011)
9. Respect stories
“Handle them carefully and lovingly. Don’t
paint or polish them….” Just as Socrates or
Jesus did, let stories “do their own work and
deliver their own lessons.”
Ed Chinn
“The Power of Your Story”
Focus on the Family (2008)
10. An example from movies
“Patch Adams” is a 1998 semi-biographical comedy-
drama starring Robin Williams, Monica Potter, Philip
Seymour Hoffman and Bob Gunton. The film is
based on the life story of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams
and his book, Gesundheit. It won two Golden Globe
awards and grossed over twice its budget in the U.S.
alone. This famous clip,
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N-Z6ZjvEfM]
illustrates the visceral factor in action.
Hunter “Patch” Adams, M.D., and Maureen Mylander
Gesundheit: Good Health is a Laughing Matter
11. ‘Never focus on the problem’
YOUR SECOND FEEDBACK: Pick a line from
the clip and discuss for 30 seconds with
your neighbor whether or not it seems
authentic.
• “See what no one else sees….”
• “See what everyone else chooses not to
see….”
• “See the whole world anew every
day….”
12. Don’t tell it, show it
This clip illustrates the “show it” rule of
writing:
• It repeats content that reveals change in
key characters
• It speaks more in actions than by words
• It compresses high concepts into natural,
human interactions (“give to get”)
• It breaks down “us versus them” biases
13. 3. STORIES AND HEALING
“Telling your story—while witnessed with
loving attention by others who care—may be
the most powerful medicine on earth.”
Lissa Rankin, M.D.
“Healing Power of Telling Your Story”
Psychology Today (2012)”
14. My story, my healing
I am an alcoholic in recovery who:
• Listened/shared in 12-step meetings
• Wrote my story in step format
• Confessed a Fifth Step to my pastor
• Heard Fifth Steps from other men
• Rediscovered my sense of awe
Now I work with other alcoholics in recovery
because stories help me and them heal.
15. Do you have a story linked to your health, your
happiness or your life view? If so, what are some
key moments of that story?
• YOUR SECOND LIST: Take 3-4 minutes
and write your responses in a list of
six-word phrases, similar to the list I
just shared.
Your story’s key moments
16. 4. WHAT STORIES ARE NOT
Stories are not products or tools—even
though many people use them as such.
Authentic stories take on lives of their own,
the way art or jewelry or an unusual
experience stands alone—powerfully—and
seems to speak to us.
17. Keep faith with stories
“Know the story. Love the story. Tell the
story…. Protect it from the ravages of time
and culture; tell it exactly as it was given to
you. Release its power to others.”
Ed Chinn
“The Power of Your Story”
Focus on the Family (2008)
18. 5. TELLING OUR STORIES
The lists you’ve created, your feedback and
your reactions (whether shared or not) have
equipped you to write a short narrative.
19. Effortless storytelling?
Good writing often relies on pre-writing
(fleeting thoughts, images, notes, inner
dialogues, study, etc.) followed by some
natural flow of storytelling (cutting, pasting,
re-arranging). Rarely does good writing come
in a sense of flow, as in writers do in movies.
Seemingly effortless storytelling is, usually,
hard work.
20. A pre-written story timeline
• In 1999, collapsed at Wayside Mission
• In 2000, janitor knee deep in wax shine
• In 2001, washing dishes in restaurant
• In 2007, marketing dish machines
• In 2014, using “Shine!” to help raise $3.5
million for Sunrise
• In 2016, once homeless, I am buying a
house tomorrow—really!
22. The gist of your story
What might your succinct story look like?
• Review your FIRST LIST and your
SECOND LIST. Then using those lists,
take 3-4 minutes to write three six-word
sentences in pre-written form so that it
represents the beginning, middle and
end of a succinct story. It should say
something important about you, your
health, your happiness or your life view.
23. Laced with stories
Formal nonfiction—even serious policy
writing—becomes more powerful and
persuasive when laced with stories. Today,
you’ve learned ways to infuse stories
naturally into your pre-writing processes.
Now let’s look at a 10-year health policy
story that, literally, changed the landscape
and air we breathe in Kentucky.
24. 6. KENTUCKY HEALTH POLICY
The Community Farm Alliance, from 1992
thru 2002, helped transform Kentucky from a
pro-smoking, tobacco state into an anti-
smoking state that continues to diversify its
ag economy. This powerful policy story is
summarized online at
http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/
698
Consider some long-term impacts….
25. A decade of collaboration
• I was a junior editor/contributor on the
1992-93 team that drafted CFA’s first
whitepaper on this health policy, edited
by Hal Hamilton
• Most stakeholders flatly rejected it.
• Yet Hamilton & CFA persisted for six
years to break down barriers that divided
farm families and health lobbyists.
26. • The tobacco crisis did not call forth CFA. CFA's
many years of community-based organizing and
leadership development put it in the position to
influence ag policy when change was possible.
• CFA's emphasis on farmer-led decision-making—
like its map of tobacco dependence, its
Greenprint, and its development of policy
tools—countered expert knowledge with citizen
knowledge and expressed democratic vision:
those who live with the problem own the
solution.
CFA helped transform the state
27. • CFA organized not only against questionable
practices (such as biotechnology) but also for
positive solutions such as increasing market
venues for diversifying farmers.
• CFA's strategy of spreading tobacco settlement
money among the widest number of counties
helped legislators find common ground across
party divides….
• CFA did not wait to be invited to the table
before beginning to influence … policy making.
Dwight Billings, Jenrose Fitzgerald, Lisa Markowitz
“Kentucky's Community Farm Alliance: From Growing Tobacco to
Building the Good L.I.F.E. ”
28. React to your reading
You were asked to read the full article, “Kentucky's
Community Farm Alliance: From Growing Tobacco
to Building the Good L.I.F.E.”
Based on your reading, what
role did stories play in this
policy work?
29. In the rear view mirror
Again mirroring Hemingway’s six-word story,
CFA’s succinct story of policy transformation
in this community and state looks like this:
Less smoke: Kentucky
farmers, freely diversified
30. About the presenter
• Randy Greene is Director of Philanthropic Initiatives, Sunrise Children’s
Services, Inc., an affiliate of the Kentucky Baptist Convention
• Member of Centenary United Methodist Church and Rotary Club, both
in Danville, KY
• Graduate of Georgetown College, Leadership Boyle County et al.
• Further studies at University of Kentucky (Literature) and New York
University School of Continuing Education (Book Publishing)
• Born in Middlesboro, KY, now residing in Danville
• Previous employers include Ephraim McDowell Health (Danville),
Jackson Warewashing (Barbourville), Burley Tobacco Growers
Cooperative (Lexington), Landmark Community Newspapers
(Cynthiana) and Doubleday & Co. (New York City)
• Email randallegreene@gmail.com
• Phone 859.516.5890
