"Sometimes when you share a story it frees the storyteller from stigma": On digital storytelling and stigma reduction with Dr. Mike Lang and Kristy Wolfe

This podcast invited Dr. Mike Lang and Kristy Wolfe, digital storytelling experts at Common Language Digital Storytelling to reflect on the power of digital storytelling and stigma reduction. Carmen met Mike and Kristy at the First International Digital Storytelling Festival in Greece in 2024 where she was blown away by their powerful stories across the world. Carmen was then a podcast guest on the Common Language Digital Storytelling Podcast Co-Created, hosted by Kristy Wolfe.

We discuss the potential power of digital storytelling in both freeing the storyteller from internalized and anticipated stigma, as well as increasing awareness and empathy among people watching and listening. Telling stories matters- they help us to understand, and this deeper understanding of oneself and others can reduce stigma. We talk about stigma spanning a range of issues, HIV, substance use, heart disease, suicide, autism, PTSD- and how both the storyteller and the listener can shift socio-cultural norms and expectations to generate more community support. Digital Storytelling can highlight strengths-based perspectives on coping, ingenuity, hope  and wisdom in the face of challenges. "When we change the questions we ask, we change the answers we get." Learn more about how to meaningfully engage with digital stories from Mike's article.

As our podcast guests remind us: "If no-one is willing to tell the story, nothing is ever going to change."