How Stories Heal

Robert J. Nash has been a professor at the University of Vermont for 45 years. He is the director of the Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary Studies in Education. He is a prolific scholar, having written 14 books, many of them national award winners, and well over 100 articles, as well as dozens of book chapters and reviews. In 2003 he was named an Official University-Wide Scholar in the Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Vermont. This is his fifth book published by Peter Lang.
Sydnee Viray is a highly respected student services administrator at the University of Vermont. She is a social worker and consultant/scholar in the areas of diversity and inclusion and financial management for mission driven non-profits. She has over 10 years of experience bearing witness to the countless stories of individuals who have been on a path of seeking wholeness and meaning. She is currently a Scholarly Personal Narrative writing co-instructor and co-author.

«So many teachers and students want to write from the heart but are too afraid to do so. Here is a book that gives us the courage, freedom, and essential skills to tell the stories we most need to tell. A must-read for all who are carrying stories that ache to be told.» (Ruth Behar, MacArthur Genius Award Winner; Author of 'Traveling Heavy: A Memoir in Between Journeys')
«Since encountering Robert J. Nash's work on SPN, my thinking about dissertation research has been transformed. I have always valued narrative but never been able to craft an argument regarding its legitimacy in the academy until encountering his ideas. In 'How Stories Heal', Nash and Sydnee Viray continue their collaboration, begun in 'Our Stories Matter', to explore the emotional and visceral dimensions of SPNs ... This is a wonderful book, rich with wisdom and compassion and it will be enormously helpful to anyone considering writing an SPN.» (Stephen Brookfield, John Ireland Endowed Chair, University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis-St. Paul)
«Founder of the revolutionary SPN method Robert J. Nash has created a detailed guide on how to bear witness to our lives by writing our own scholarly stories. His belief that the world of academe has suffered from depersonalization - and that higher learning more effectively takes place when students and teachers are able to explore and communicate their unique experiences as they relate to the human experience in its entirety - has led to the development of this postmodern system of academic writing. Sydnee Viray shares Nash's conviction that by writing our stories using SPN, we can create existential meaning for our lives. Her involvement not only adds a feminine perspective, but a second clear voice which highlights non-judgment and compassion.
A radical departure from the dusty tomes typically associated with higher education, as well as the soulless material students are traditionally taught to write, SPN gives students, instead, the tools to