Pushing It Too Far at Maple House: Or, The Space Between Teller and Listeners

Abstract

This episode from the author’s practice in Maple House, a residential mental health unit for adolescents, illustrates the complex dynamics of the relationship between storyteller and listeners or participants. The young people involved expressed themselves not only through the stories they created, but through their choice not to engage with aspects of workshops. For the author, learning to attend closely to such covertly expressed desires led the way towards a more creative, surprising and joyful collaboration with the young people. A practical thinking exercise invites the reader to engage in a poetic enquiry into a challenging aspect of their own practice.