Events

Storytelling as Practice: Our Stories Are Medicine

Save My Spot
August 20, 2026
10:00 AM - 11:15 AM
EST

Date: TBD

Event Format: 

ZOOM
FREE

In this Community of Practice, we gather around the ancient art of storytelling, a tradition honored across Indigenous cultures throughout Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific. Together, we will explore storytelling as a pathway to healing, connection, and sustaining ourselves and one another in recovery.

We are honored to be joined by Sankofa graduate Siobhan Brown, a citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe who lives on her ancestral homeland on the southern coast of Cape Cod. Siobhan is a gifted storyteller, playwright, director, and guide. She holds a BFA in Performing Arts and African American Studies from Emerson College and is a graduate of the A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.

Siobhan will share the power of storytelling and invite us to consider how telling, reclaiming, and listening to our stories can sustain our own recovery while strengthening our capacity to support others.

Our stories carry the wisdom of survival, joy, grief, resilience, and transformation. Together, we will create space to listen deeply, share authentically, and reflect on the ways our stories can heal both the individual and the collective.

Together, we will explore:

  • Storytelling as a practice of healing, recovery, and connection
  • The wisdom of oral traditions and their relevance to our work in recovery
  • How sharing our stories can sustain us as we support others
  • The practice of listening deeply and witnessing one another
  • Thulani DeMarsay, PhD

    Thulani is the visionary founder and Chief Impact Officer of Sankofa Institute. As a person in long-term recovery, she is deeply committed to supporting others on their journey toward recovery. A seasoned facilitator, Thulani excels in group dynamics and in creating experiential learning environments that fosters individual and group transformation.

    For nearly a decade, Thulani served as a senior facilitator and consultant for the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS), where she delivered training programs, provided mentorship, and coached the statewide facilitation team. She also developed comprehensive training materials and played a key role in the creation of the statewide recovery coach learning community. Additionally, Thulani served as the lead consultant for the Recovery Education Collaborative (REC) in Boston, MA where she was responsible for strategic planning, project oversight, workplan development and DEI initiatives.