How One Therapeutic Boarding School Shares the Gift of Family Legacies Through Storytelling
During our August Family Seminar, we were honored to welcome professional storyteller Rick Stone as our guest speaker.
Rick is a long-time friend of Cherokee Creek Boarding School and the author of The Healing Art of Storytelling and Story Intelligence. Rick led our families through an experiential journey into the power of storytelling.
Each family with children at our therapeutic boarding school brought a special keepsake … or a photo of one … along with a story connected to that object. Parents were encouraged to share a story their son had never heard before, one that revealed a core family value, tradition or lesson that has been passed down through the years.
Storytelling: A Human Tradition Turned Therapy at This Therapeutic Boarding School.
In his blog, The Cultural and Evolutionary Roots of Story, Rick explores how storytelling is not just entertainment … it’s foundational to human survival and growth and something we embrace at Cherokee Boys Boarding School.
He notes that humans have been telling stories for tens of thousands of years, long before written language. Early cave drawings in Europe, India, South Africa and Australia recorded successful hunts and victories, teaching lessons vital for survival.
Storytelling, Rick suggests, may have been the very factor that gave Homo sapiens an evolutionary advantage over other human species. Through story, we were able to create cohesive cultures, teach the next generation and form social bonds that ensured survival.
Rick even describes storytelling as the “first neuro revolution.” In oral cultures, people had the capacity to memorize and share thousands of stories … an extraordinary mental feat. Today, with our reliance on books and digital media, much of that memory capacity has faded. Yet, even in modern life, stories remain at the heart of how we connect, learn and pass along values.
Storytelling Wisdom from Rick Stone
“It is our nature to tell stories and to collect them. In fact, it’s hard to conceive of life without story. At the end of our lives, after we have passed on, all that is left of us is our story. In a peculiar way, these stories are our ticket to immortality. Knowing future generations will retell our stories liberates us into a realm of timelessness. Telling personal stories is a bequest, a deeply meaningful and intimate legacy.”
– Rick Stone
Why Storytelling Matters for Families … Especially Those with Boys In an Autistic or ADHD Boarding School.
At Cherokee Creek Boys School, we often see how the simple act of storytelling builds bridges between parents and their sons.
For boys ages 10 – 15 who are learning about identity, resilience and values, stories offer powerful lessons. A father’s memory of perseverance, a mother’s story of compassion or a grandparent’s tale of courage … all of these remind boys that they come from a family with wisdom and strength to share.
A Call to Reflection
Storytelling is not just for special events or professional storytellers … it belongs to all of us. Think about the stories in your own family.
- What memory, lesson or value could you share with your child that might shape how they see themselves and the world?
- What keepsakes in your home hold stories waiting to be told?
As Rick so beautifully reminds us, stories are our legacy. Taking time to share them is one of the most meaningful gifts we can give our children.
Want to learn more about how we’re utilizing storytelling at Cherokee Creek Boys School?
More About Rick Stone
Cherokee Creek Boys School
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