School Story Exchange

Last Wednesday we were joined by 90 students from primary and post-primary schools in Ballinamore, Enniskillen and Lisnaskea for day 2 of our Peer Support Conference – the Story Exchange.

Students from Ballinamore Community School, Enniskillen Royal Grammar School, Moat Primary School and Scoil Chlann Naofa, Ballinamore came together at the wonderful Share Discovery Village in Lisnaskea, for one of the highlight events of our Cross-Border Youth Project.

The aim of the conference was to learn about empathy, find out about each other and participate in a story exchange. The Story Exchange model is championed by the charity Narrative 4, who say “Stories break down barriers and shatter stereotypes. They foster empathy, kindness, compassion and curiosity.” The students built rapport and confidence through a range of drama games, discovered what they had in common and composed a story depicting an important day in their life, which was then presented to the group by their partner, allowing the participants a chance to walk in each others shoes.

It was a fantastic day, students said:

• I spoke in front of people & enjoyed it

• Everyone listened to each other. No one judged.

• It was a fun experience

• I enjoyed it a lot because I sat next to new people

• I enjoyed it as it was out of my comfort zone

• Something positive about this experience was that doing this wasn’t too scary and I read the story correctly

• I enjoyed telling the other person’s story

• I enjoyed hearing everyone’s stories and learning more about everyone.

• I loved hearing about my partner’s successes

• I am very proud of myself

• It was enjoyable and interesting to hear other people’s stories

• I feel like I told the story well

Below are a selection of images from the event, as well as a ‘word cloud’ created by the students showing what empathy means to them.