The Use of Storytelling The use of traditional tales from all over the world is one of the main tools in Girasol UK’s methodology. Stories have always been a resource used widely by all cultures throughout history. Very often they have been used for pure entertainment, and at other times to illustrate something special. One way or another storytelling is a very ancient technique for influencing and changing. Since stories are always about other people, times and circumstances, it is for the listener to decide what part of a tale resonates with meaning for his or her life. The characters of the tale can be identified with, but at a distance. Tales used correctly offer a path towards another way of thinking and of being. Stories are unique in the way that they allow the mind to receive messages on many different levels. Mental connections are made which make the understanding of certain things easier. Stories involve both hemispheres of the brain at the same time, with two different kinds of understanding in operation simultaneously; that’s to say working by analogy as well as logically. Each story functions in a number of ways, providing the child with the following; MIRROR – When a child identifies with a story he or she sees their own conflicts, resources and desires reflected in it. In this way his or her needs are mirrored in the tale which then comes to have a special meaning for them. MODEL – The tales are models; they reproduce conflict situations and offer the possibility of those situations being resolved. The models stimulate the child to learn as they are flexible and offer him or her infinite possibilities for interpreting the world and their place in it. MEDIATOR – Confrontations between adult and child are avoided as conflict is filtered through the medium of the story and is experienced imaginatively. RETENTION – Stories are easy to keep in mind because they are fast-moving and concise, and consequently get easily integrated into a child’s thinking and can be brought to mind in different situations. In fact stories often come to mind by themselves in specific moments of need. CHANGING POINTS OF VIEW – Tales can create different perspectives in a spontaneous way. The following is an example of the sort of tale used by Girasol UK: “The real value of the ring”
				The Girasol Foundation Charity No. 1114227