Storycare is an approach to enhancing healthcare by making storytelling, storylistening, and storykeeping an essential part of the healthcare environment. It was created and launched at Baycrest by social worker Melissa Tafler in collaboration with Dan Yashinsky, storyteller and director of the Tellery, an innovative program that celebrates the arts of voice and story. Storycare is part of a growing international movement incorporating the arts and humanities into patient-centered care.
Storycare is an approach to enhancing healthcare by making storytelling, storylistening, and storykeeping an essential part of the healthcare environment. It was created and launched at Baycrest by social worker Melissa Tafler in collaboration with Dan Yashinsky, storyteller and director of the Tellery, an innovative program that celebrates the arts of voice and story. Storycare is part of a growing international movement incorporating the arts and humanities into patient-centered care.
The Storycare Approach
Adds to your knowledge of the people you care for and work with.
Builds a sense of community in your healthcare environment.
Creates new bridges between you and your colleagues.
Develops intercultural and intergenerational bridges.
Sustains patient-centered care practices.
Enables new ways of communicating with people who have dementia.
The Story Behind Storycare
Melissa Tafler is the founder and coordinator of the Arts and Health program at Baycrest a Toronto-based global leader in geriatric residential living, healthcare, research, innovation and education that recently celebrated its centennial. She works to integrate the arts across frontline care, education and research in health and aging. The arts and health program at Baycrest offers opportunities for patients, families, clinicians and students to engage with the arts through hands-on experiences that foster imagination, reflection and learning. A growing body of research confirms that the arts are an invaluable part of healthcare and healing.
Dan Yashinsky is a storyteller, writer, and community animator. He worked as Baycrest’s first storyteller-in-residence from 2014-2019. He is the founder of the Toronto Storytelling Festival, the author of Suddenly They Heard Footsteps – Storytelling for the Twenty-first Century, and a recipient of the Jane Jacobs Prize for his work with storytelling in the community. His interest in making storytelling part of healthcare began when he told stories to his baby son in the neonatal intensive care unit at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.
Melissa and Dan developed the storycare approach out of a belief that the language of the imagination, and the art of storytelling in particular, can play a vital role in enhancing the experience of giving and receiving care. Storycare has been implemented in many programs and settings throughout Baycrest and has also been presented at international conferences and storytelling festivals. We thank the many staff, volunteers, patients and families whose sharing of stories helped us create this innovative arts-based approach.