The morning before I was going to share my own story, I remember feeling doubts and nearly giving in to thoughts that I had nothing to say to these women. Three friends and I had gone to Africa to lead some women’s retreats focused on spiritual storytelling. We live in a spirit of comparison and discount what we have to tell. However, we often miss the most important one – our own. From the earliest moments of our lives, we are interested in stories. Story is at the core of the human experience. Isn’t that why we choose to see plays, musicals, movies, televisions show? The stories. It doesn’t stop there – it tells the whole thing, all of it. If her story stopped with that word and never got to the telling, there would be no Bright Star. In the midst of that, we can learn something from Alice Murphy. We can easily get mired in simply trying not to live in the past, but pain and regret are powerful. Joys and sorrows deep in the past set the context for how we live in the present. It is a forwards and backwards story that gives the teenage context to the story the now 40-year-old woman is still living out.įorwards and backwards. The show then proceeds to tell us about her life, past and present in the 1920s and the 1940s. Washington Post: Doctors are taught early about patient histories.The first words you hear in Bright Star are Alice Murphy’s.National Public Radio: Storytelling Helps Hospital Staff Discover the Person Within the Patient.The New York Times: Learning to Listen to Patients' Stories.Learn moreĪ lot has been written about VA's My Life, My Story program. You can watch a video about Boston's program or access additional materials.Ĭontact us at to get more information. The Boston VA has led the way with some of those partnerships. Several institutions have done so around the country, often by getting medical students to do interviews and write stories as part of their education. And if you're curious about launching the program at your non-VA medical facility, you're not alone. If you're interested in starting up My Life, My Story at the VA facility where you work, we've got loads of materials - including toolkits, templates, training videos and more – that we can send your way. Contact the Voluntary Services office at your local VA facility to see if they have the program and whether they are accepting volunteers. If you enjoy writing and meeting new people, My Life, My Story could be a great fit for you. You also need time: an average story (including the interview) takes about four hours to finish. Volunteers can come from all ages and backgrounds: you don’t need to be a professional writer, but it helps to have some writing and/or health care experience. Many of the stories are written by volunteers. The My Life, My Story program is active in 75 VA medical facilities across the country. Want to volunteer for the My Life, My Story program? Email us at for more information or your questions. Veterans who want to record their story must be enrolled in the VA health care system to participate. Many VA Medical Centers around the country have a My Life, My Story coordinator who can help get your story documented. VA Software Documentation Library (VDL).Clinical Trainees (Academic Affiliations). War Related Illness & Injury Study Center.
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