The world is full of a lot of pain and suffering, but it does not have to leave us crippled. We can, in fact, come back stronger.

In their book Post-traumatic Growth and Culturally Competent Practice, Tzipi Weiss and Roni Berger discuss how post-traumatic growth happens in community with cultures of storytelling. It occurs when people are empowered to share their stories in culturally relevant ways. It takes place in collectivist cultures when people take action to effect social change.

But telling stories is not just healing for those who have experienced trauma, it is also critical for making transformation happen. We need to change hearts and minds before any of the work we do on systems will matter. Personal connection through storytelling is the path for getting there.

My Story

As the founder of Gluona, I hope that through sharing my story, I can push difficult conversations forward, and that I will motivate others to share theirs. Not just stories of identity or memoirs, but personal stories that are a study of human society and culture and its development, what I have decided to call “anthro-biographies.”

Deaths of despair are at all time highs. In our experiences, we each hold the answers to revitalizing our communities. Unfortunately, individually, we only see a small part of the puzzle. I invite you to engage with me to help paint a fuller picture.

Your Story

Context matters. The way the systems, structures, and culture of society treat you matters.

Gluona does not claim any unique expertise in personal journey work for equity, and even the experts will tell you that this is lifelong work that is never finished. However, in this section, we have collected some resources for those of you interested in exploring how societal factors have shaped your perspective, how others may have experienced those same factors differently, and what that ultimately means for how we relate to and support one another.