The LLCC Storyteller’s Guide
Honouring truth, protecting safety, and strengthening connection.
Our Storytelling Guidelines:
1. Grounding Your Story (Before You Share)
Sharing is a powerful act of connection, but your well-being comes first. Before you begin, pause, take a breath, and ask yourself:
Check Your Timing: Is now the right time? Do I feel steady, grounded, and resourced enough to share this right now?
Identify Your "Why": What do you feel is your reason for sharing (e.g., healing, connection)? Try completing the sentence: "I am sharing this story because..."
Focus on Hope, Healing, and Resilience: Aim for stories rooted in personal insight and growth to share internal strength.
Respect the Digital Footprint: Online stories have a sense of permanence. Are you comfortable with this being shared with a wider audience?
2. Safety & Protection (For You and Others)
Safety is the foundation of our community. To keep this space supportive for everyone:
Headlines, Not Graphic Details: Share the "headline" of what happened. Avoid sensory or graphic details that may be overwhelming for you to recount or for others to process.
Own Your Experience: Speak only from your own lived experience. Avoid sharing on behalf of others or using identifying details without explicit consent.
Control the Delivery: You control how you share, but you cannot control the response. Decide in advance how you will hold any feedback you receive.
Use Trigger Warnings: If your story touches on sensitive themes, include a brief content note at the start so others can choose their level of engagement.
3. Intentional Storytelling (Shaping the Narrative)
A structured story helps the audience connect with your message. Consider including:
A Clear Hook: An invitation that draws the reader into your experience.
Sensory Details & A Grounded Setting: Use descriptive language to help the audience visualize your experience. Share details about the scene—the weather, the atmosphere, what your day looked like, or how you felt in that space. Focus these descriptions specifically on the moments before and after a challenge, rather than during any traumatic instance. This grounds your story in reality without re-traumatizing yourself or the audience.
The Turning Point: A specific moment of realization or shift in your journey.
The Transformation: Show the arc of Who I was → What shifted → Who I am now.
Agency, Redemption & Honesty: Focus on your personal choices and the insights that emerged from your journey. It is perfectly okay—and often more relatable—to be honest if your healing is still ongoing. We are all navigating this process together, and your transparency builds deeper connection.
4. Community Awareness & Meaning
This is a shared space where we foster "communion"—storytelling that builds empathy.
Choose Your Language: Use respectful, hope-centered language that acknowledges others may be at different stages of their own healing.
Offer a Takeaway: Leave the audience with a tool, reflection question, or lesson that supported you. Recognize that everyone’s journey is unique; what served you may simply be an invitation for others to consider what works for them.
Clarify the Impact: Aim to leave the audience with a sense of possibility, resilience, and hope.
5. Your Power & Aftercare
You are the author of your experience and the guardian of your boundaries.
Choose Your Medium: Let your intuition guide your format—whether it is writing, art, speaking, or dialogue. Express yourself in the way that makes you feel most authentic.
Honour Your Pace: You are never obligated to share more than feels right. You have the right to pause or stop at any time. We provide opportunities to edit or remove content as needed, where it’s possible, ensuring you remain in control of your narrative even after submission.
Prepare for Aftercare: Storytelling is a journey, not just a destination. It can also be a vulnerable process. Identify a grounding practice, a specific coping mechanism, or a support person you can reach out to throughout the entire storytelling process (before you begin, while you are creating, and after your story is shared).
Community storytelling is not about perfection; it is about intentional, safe, and meaningful connection. Share with care—for yourself and for one another.