The Stories of START

The 2025 START National Training Institute, held May 13-15 by the National Center for START Services®, proved to be a timely, thoughtful, and motivating event.  

• Timely because we convened during a time when the headlines flash warnings of proposed cuts to Medicaid, rollback of disability rights, and scarcity of essential supports for families. This made our coming together to share stories about the things we value—community, inclusion, access, and equity—all the more powerful.
• Thoughtful because the theme this year was ‘The Stories of START’ which created the space for sharing.  
• And motivating because we came together as a community to listen, learn, and commit to taking lessons learned with us on our journeys.  

On the first day, Diane Jacobstein, winner of the 2025 Gardner Award, shared her belief that “community may be the thing that saves us.” The connection between storytelling and community became more and more evident as the conference progressed.  

Also on the first day we heard about the incredible utilization of stories at the University of Arizona Sonoran Center for Excellence in Disabilities. Jacy K. Bell Farkas, PhD shared how storytelling allows people with disabilities to name, own, and share the reality of their lived experiences. Their stories offer opportunities to reframe perceptions about disability and drive meaningful change in our communities. “Storyteller led and owned” is key to this initiative.  

And when we are honored to receive another’s story, how do we engage? As the conference moved forward, Morgan Futrell and Jillaine Baker engaged us in a storytelling activity and encouraged us to be ‘acknowledging witnesses’ – not simply passive listeners.  Being attentive, engaged, and humble in the presence of the storyteller opens us up to a shared reality.  

In another session, the importance of storytelling in research – while honoring who owns the stories – was described by Ariel Schwartz, PhD and Jessica Kramer, PhD. Research that includes the voices of people with lived experience throughout the process results in better solutions for building the communities we all long to see.

So how do stories change us and impact our communities? The fascinating science of the brain tells us that humans remember stories far better than they do facts – because our brains don’t process any real distinction between a story we hear or read about and one that actually happened to us. As you hear a story unfold, your brain waves actually start to synchronize with those of the storyteller.  

As we shared stories during SNTI – and engaged as acknowledging witnesses – our brains were synchronizing. We created and strengthened a shared understanding and purpose.  We connected and created community. And that is what we strive to do throughout the START network: create communities where all people can live and thrive. So indeed, as Diane Jacobstein reminded us, “community may be the thing that saves us."  

I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you, and that you will work them, water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom. - Clarissa Pinkola Estes

We leave you with this: Embrace your stories, let stories happen to you, witness the stories of others – and know that this is how we build the beloved community where we can all burst into bloom. This is the work of the whole START network.