Online Education
Storytelling for Healing, Storytelling for Change
United Survivors believes in power of storytelling to heal, inspire change, and ignite action to prevent suicide. We offer self-paced online courses that help people share their hero’s journeys – their lived experience stories – effectively and responsibly. We also offer in-person and virtual storytelling workshops. Online courses are free for Lived Experience Collective participants. Watch some of our graduates’ stories which aired as a special program on PBS. Read amazing stories written by men (we worked closely with) about men’s mental health and resilience in our four-part Guts, Grit & the Grind series.
Getting Started
There are many unique considerations and caveats around sharing your story related to suicide. Whether you’re new to the art and craft of storytelling or you’re experienced and want to hone your skills, our online courses offer something for all levels. We are suicidologists, storytellers, and experts in best practices around suicide. Like you, we have lived experience of suicide. We’ve worked with people around the world on storytelling. We would be delighted to embark on this meaningful and important journey with you too!
Course 1: Introduction to Storytelling
Get Ready to Tell Your Lived Experience Story about Suicide – Weighing the Pros and Cons of Sharing Your Hero’s Journey through Suicide Grief or Despair and Preparing for Self-Care
In this course, people who have had personal experiences with suicide learn to prepare for safe and effective storytelling about how they lived through it. Lived experiences with suicide include grieving a suicide loss, living through a suicide attempt, living with suicidal thoughts or feelings, or being a caregiver for someone who has been suicidal. The lessons contained here help people weigh the benefits and consequences of disclosing your story and how best to prepare yourself for the often hard work of developing a safe and effective narrative.
Course 2: Advanced Storytelling
Eye of Survivor: Your Hero’s Journey about Surviving Suicide - How to Tell Your Story Safely and Effectively
In this advanced storytelling course, we walk you through a number of exercises that help you understand the art and science of storytelling and the impact it has on us and others. Topics range from “Who Your Audience Is” to “Developing Your Authentic Voice” and “How Storytelling Heals Us.” The course concludes with “Putting it All Together with Practice.” By the end of the course, you will have a chance to share your story and get our feedback, if you choose.
“I wish I had a course like this when I was preparing to share my experience of losing my father by suicide. It was informative, engaging, and empowering. I’d highly recommend this course to anyone considering sharing their story with the world.” — Sebastian Slovin, Author of Ashes in the Ocean