What if a two-minute story could change how a care team sees you? We dive into the power of short, first-person narratives to bring dignity, clarity, and warmth back into healthcare, especially in dementia care where behaviour, memory, and language can obscure the person beneath the chart. Lisa Joworski returns to share how Capturing Essence For Care has evolved from interviews into a connector hub for life story methods, linking digital storytellers, guided autobiographers, videographers, and families who want practical ways to preserve identity.

Episode Key Messages

• why capturing essence improves care and communication
• what digital storytelling is and why ownership stays with the storyteller
• creating clear elevator pitches and scripts that set expectations
• many paths to story including music, photos, writing and family podcasts
• building a connector hub for life story resources across methods
• Beth’s digital story, Story Slam and the impact of public sharing, Capturing Essence for Care Ep 21
• advocacy links to Waiting Room Revolution and practical workbooks, Capturing Essence for Care Ep 16
• VR training for person-centred communication and reading environments, Capturing Essence for Care Ep 17
• using AI for drafts while keeping the human voice
• prompts that unlock memory such as tattoos and scars
• upcoming projects and finding one’s voice with assertiveness

Other Links Mentioned

• Read this episode's blog post
• Watch Lisa's digital story
• Listen to Lisa's original Co-Created episode
• Get your ticket to the April 30th 2026 Story Slam

About Our Guest

Lisa Joworski works in Therapeutic Recreation and is a Life Story Resource who brings together storytellers, artists, musicians, advocates, people living with dementia, healthcare practitioners, and life story experts. Each conversation of her Capturing Essence for Care podcast offers insights and practical approaches for the beautiful ways we can honour our own stories and the stories of those we love—not just for memory's sake, but for the fullness of living and for the care we may one day need.

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Shame can feel like quicksand in medicine—silent, isolating, and relentless—yet it can also be a bridge that pulls us back to each other. We sit down with Dr. Will Bynum, family physician, researcher, and co-founder of The Shame Lab, and returning guest Dr. Daisy Dulay to unpack how shame shows up in training, practice, and leadership, and how storytelling turns private pain into collective insight and safer care. We explore how storytelling can help clinicians process, learn, and speak up as well as why small, honest stories can change safety and culture.

Episode Key Messages

• defining shame in clinical practice and identity

• adverse events as common yet hidden experiences

• digital storytelling as a scaffold for self-compassion

• post-story conversation as a driver of learning

• shame’s link to patient safety and help-seeking

• The Shame Lab’s training and shame compass

• barriers to engagement and gender dynamics

• sustaining the work and finding funding paths

• practical steps to start small and build culture

Other Links Mentioned

• Read this episode's blog post
• CMA's Canadian Conference on Physician Health
• Watch the Look Back conversation with Mike Lang about the CMA conference
• Watch Daisy's digital story
• Listen to Daisy's original podcast
• Listen to The Nocturnists podcast series on Shame in Medicine
• Go see Hannah Mumby's artwork
• Check out The Shame Space website

About Our Guest

Will Bynum, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine and a Veteran of the United States Air Force. He received his M.D. at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in 2010, completed his residency with the US Air Force and received his Ph.D. in Health Professions Education at Maastricht University in the Netherlands in 2023, where defended his thesis entitled “Out of the shadows: a qualitative exploration of shame in medical learners”, which was awarded best Doctoral Dissertation by the Association for Medical Education in Europe. He has published and spoken widely on the topic of shame and is Co-Founder and Co-Director of The Shame Lab, which conducts research, develops training, and delivers consultancy to advance constructive engagement with shame in professional practice.

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What happens when a veterinary technician, end‑of‑life doula, and legacy specialist decides to put story at the centre of care and education? We sit down with Angie Turner to explore how digital storytelling can build resilience, clarify identity, and spark brave conversations in veterinary medicine.

Angie shares her path into facilitation through Common Language training, including the craft and care behind her first personal story and the decision to add a clear trigger warning for sensitive content. We talk about the power of mentorship inside the collective—archived continuing education sessions, peer feedback, and mentorship meetings that turn big questions into practical steps.

Episode Key Messages

• Angie’s path across vet tech, doula, and legacy practice

• training insights, first stories, and trigger warnings

• the Common Language Collective’s mentorship, continuing education, and peer learning

• two tracks: client legacies and veterinary resilience

• building a third‑year vet elective with practitioner panels

• student origin stories as reflective practice

• making a digital story about digital storytelling watch here

• practical ways to capture and share family histories

Other Links Mentioned

• Watch Angie's story, My Journey to Life Story Work
• Watch the video Angie inspired Kristy to make here
• Read this episode's blog post
• Check out Angie's website

About Our Guest

Angie Turner is a veterinary professional and digital storytelling facilitator who bridges clinical practice with narrative medicine. Through SOS Legacies, she helps veterinary professionals build resilience and strengthen their professional identity by capturing and sharing the stories that define the essence of their personal and professional journeys. By combining years of experience as a veterinary technical instructor with expertise in legacy preservation and digital storytelling, Angie creates pathways for practitioners to process their experiences, connect with purpose, and sustain their passion for animal care in an emotionally demanding field.

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A preemie parent and digital storytelling facilitator, who just happens to also host the Co-Created podcast, Kristy Wolfe, shares how a simple bedtime ritual became a lens for resilience, advocacy, and neurodevelopmental care, weaving Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) experience into digital stories that move clinicians and empower families. We show how short films, crafted with consent and care, can change practice, spark equity conversations, and help kids speak for themselves.

Episode Key Messages

• why stories carry what data cannot
• how a two to four minute digital story influences conferences and policy
• Kane’s voice on pacemakers, echocardiograms and hospital Lego
• reflection prompts for clinicians to change practice
• consent and whose story gets told
• the four-phase Common Language digital storytelling method
• process versus product goals in advocacy and education
• readiness, emotional safety and caregiver well-being
• practical ways to bring neurodevelopmental care into daily life

Other Links Mentioned

• Watch the full Preemie Chat episode
• Watch Hugs & Bugs
• Watch Kane's Story
• Read this episode's blog post
• Learn more about Canadian Premature Babies Foundation's Preemie Chats

About Our Guest (aka the Co-Created host!)

Kristy Wolfe is a digital storytelling facilitator and owner of Kristy Wolfe Stories. She believes there is beauty in every story and she champions real stories in marketing and communication. Kristy exposes the human side of any organization, with consideration for ethics in storytelling, as well as storyteller wellness every step of the way. As a Common Language DST certified facilitator and trainer, Kristy helps individuals and social purpose organizations share meaningful stories, turning their unique experiences into compelling narratives that inspire action. Kristy shares some of her own lived experiences within the context of each workshop she facilitates to validate that authenticity, openness, and vulnerability are essential to creating meaningful digital stories.

Fabiana Bacchini is the Executive Director of the Canadian Premature Babies Foundation. She is a journalist and the published author of From Surviving to Thriving, a Mother’s Journey Through Infertility, Loss and Miracles.

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If you’re a parent navigating loss, a health professional seeking empathy-building tools, or a changemaker curious about narrative practices, you’ll find practical insights on peer support, ritual, and the craft of story in our conversation with Gillian Hatto. Gillian is mom to Hazel, Elliot, Lily, and Olive and she opens up about how sudden child loss upended her world and how she found her way to community and purpose. She shares the origin of Hazel’s Heroes, a free Alberta retreat for bereaved parents. We also open the door on digital storytelling: how a guided workshop, a story circle, and careful editing help distill a life-altering experience into a two-to-four minute film. Gillian describes the nerves of drafting, the surprise of supportive feedback, and the power of pairing voice with images to say what words alone can’t. These personal films now live on websites and in small gatherings, helping families explain the why behind their work and giving clinicians and communities a tool to listen better.

Episode Key Messages

• defining SIDS and the shift to undetermined terminology

• founding Hazel’s Heroes and designing an annual retreat

• how peer support reduces isolation and builds language for grief

• the digital storytelling process from draft to story circle to edit

• using short films as advocacy, education and legacy

• carrying grief and joy at the same time

• the ladybug symbol as a living thread to memory

• links to SIDS Calgary Society and Hazel’s Heroes for support

Other Links Mentioned

• Watch Gillian’s digital story
• Read this episode's blog post

About Our Guest

Gillian Hatto is mother to Hazel, Elliott, Lily, and Olive. She holds two of her children in her arms, and two of her children in her heart. Gillian is the founder of Hazel’s Heroes, a non-profit society that hosts annual retreats for mothers who are grieving the loss of a young child. She is also the Vice-Chair of SIDS Calgary Society. Gillian has found so much healing through the relationships she has made with other grieving parents, as they are the only ones who truly ‘get it’ and that inspired her to create a space for other bereaved mothers to feel supported and understood. When Gillian is not planning for an upcoming retreat or fundraiser, she is working as a Learning Support Teacher for students with disabilities in an elementary school. She can also be found walking her gentle giant, Maigs, or snuggling on the couch with her earth-side children, Elliott and Olive.

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Stories don’t just inform us, they reshape how we care. We sit down with Dr. Mike Lang to trace how a single digital story and grows into workshops, screenings, and a culture that centres lived experience in health and wellness. From young caregivers supporting parents with ALS to adults navigating head and neck cancer, Mike shows how these short, voice-driven films become practical tools that can be embedded right into education platforms.`Ready to be part of it? Submit a digital story to the Common Language Story Slam or purchase a ticket to join us in person or virtually on April 30, 2026.

About Our Guest

• Mike's recent digital storytelling workshops
• embedding digital stories into patient education for context and empathy
• "Like A Mountain" documentary on mindfulness for young caregivers
• benefits of repeat workshops and a growing storytelling culture
• Story Slam 2026 format, screenings, and livestream access
• on-stage conversations that deepen meaning and learning
• Common Language facilitator retreat to plan, reflect, and build skills
• Kitchen Table Nights, website resources, and training opportunities
• newsletter options for project updates and podcast releases

Other Links Mentioned

• Join us at the Story Slam on April 30th
• Submit your digital story
• Read this episode's blog post
• Watch the Story Slam 2025 sizzle reel
• Check out more of Mike Lang's work

About Our Guest

Mike Lang, PhD, is the Founder & Lead Trainer and Common Language DST. Mike’s career as a Digital Storytelling facilitator started with a cancer diagnosis at the age of 25. To help process his cancer experience he created his first film after finishing his treatments and in the past 11 years has directed and produced 4 feature length documentaries and three web-series, winning awards and recognitions along the way. In early 2011, Mike recognized that the process of creating a film, that was so therapeutic for him, could be possible for anyone in our digital age… and his interest in the process of “Digital Storytelling” was born. Beginning by working with cancer survivors and caregivers, Mike has personally facilitated the creation of over 900 Digital Stories around the world in the last 12 years. His projects are all health and wellness focused with many projects in public health, healthcare quality improvement, health professions education, health research, global health in addition to projects that are primarily for therapeutic benefit. Mike has authored academic publications on Digital Storytelling and completed his PhD at the University of Calgary, looking specifically at developing a rigorous Digital Storytelling Methodology in health and wellness contexts.

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Heather Alicia Knox combines her skills as a photographer, writer, and digital storytelling facilitator to help people capture their most meaningful moments and share them with the world. Her journey reveals how storytelling methodologies can complement each other beautifully. Trained as a Common Language DST facilitator and a Guided Autobiography instructor, Heather now helps people transform their written reflections into powerful short films. She discusses her work with various communities including expats, individuals with cognitive changes, and their care partners.

Episode Key Messages

• Trained as a guided autobiography instructor and now teaches with her husband Greg
• Created "From Page to Screen" program that helps people transform written stories into digital stories
• Works with "To Whom I May Concern" creating reader's theatre productions about cognitive changes
• Planning a human interest film festival in Ajijic to showcase digital stories
• Now focusing on legacy stories, tributes, and end-of-life narratives
• Works virtually with clients around the world
• Launched her new website at aliciaknox.com

Other Links Mentioned

• Watch a digital stories Heather has co-created
• Read this episode's blog post
• Check out Heather's photography and storytelling services
• Listen to the Capturing Essence for Care podcast episode with Heather
• Register for the Sayulita writing retreat

About Our Guest

Heather Alicia Knox has over thirty years experience working in the non-profit sector. Her work has included international, arts and educational organizations. Throughout her career as a non-profit leader, Heather discovered the transformative power of storytelling for fundraising and donor communication. This insight inspired her evolution into a storytelling photographer, capturing narratives that connect and inspire. She became a digital storytelling facilitator with Common Language Digital Storytelling in 2022 and is certified through the Birren Center for Autobiographical Studies as a Guided Autobiography Instructor. Together with her husband, Greg Kemp, who is also an instructor, they offer Guided Autobiography classes both locally and online. Since arriving in Mexico, Heather has continued her passion for community engagement, volunteering as a photography instructor for local Mexican youth. She has recently expanded her work to include "To Whom I May Concern," where she shares the powerful stories of individuals living with cognitive changes and their care-partners through a collaborative dialogue. Additionally, Heather has taken on the role of executive assistant for Common Language, further deepening her commitment to the art and impact of storytelling.

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