“Telling Your Story” through Guided Autobiography

Tuesday, September 17, 2024, 9:00 AM

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Many people would like to share the stories of their lives, but aren’t sure where to start, what to include, or what to leave out. Sorting through our own history can be overwhelming!

Guided Autobiography offers wonderful tools to help people recall, write, and organize their stories. After each class, participants write one story at home. During the next class, participants share just two pages of what they wrote with a small group of about six other people, all committed to confidentiality.

Research shows that writing stories and sharing them with others is very stimulating for the brain. One researcher said that writing and sharing stories is “like chocolate” for the brain.

As stories are shared, class members often discover

• a sense of connection with others.
• new insights that are not available from journaling or writing alone
• new perspectives on life events
• new appreciation of their own lives.

Guided Autobiography was researched and developed by Dr. James Birren (USC). It has been used for more than 45 years as a method to help people in the US and throughout the world recall and share their stories. Guided Autobiography has been offered at UNCW through the Osher Life Long Learning Institute (OLLI) in Wilmington.

Here at St. James, Mary McKnight, a retired Presbyterian pastor, will be offering Guided Autobiography for 7 weeks in the Fall. From experience, she knows that being in a Guided Autobiography group can be a rich and very meaningful experience.

Classes at St. James will be held on 7 Tuesday mornings, from 9:00 - 11:00.

The dates are September 10, 17, 24 and October 1, 8, 15, 22.

Space is limited to 12.

Before signing up, please check your calendar to be sure you can commit to the whole 7-week process. The classes and resources build on each other, offering new tools each class, so this is not a “drop-in” class.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Having trouble registering? Contact Erin Becker - [email protected]

The suggested donation is $45 (scholarships are available).