Sensory Story Gathering with Madeleine St. John

In this episode

Imagine if story gathering wasn't just about words on a page or voice-to-voice. 

What if we could capture narratives through the stroke of a paintbrush, the sculpting of clay, or the graceful movements of dance? 

In this fascinating episode, we dive into this very realm with Madeleine St. John, whose vocation spans from nonprofit communications, philanthropy, community engagement, and expressive arts therapy.

Madeleine introduces us to the forward-thinking concept of sensory story gathering, where all our senses come into play to share and understand human experiences. She shares practical insights on how organizations can incorporate art, movement, and other creative techniques to uncover richer, more nuanced narratives. 

Multisensory storytelling is a powerful alternative way for nonprofits to connect with communities, especially those who've faced trauma or struggle with traditional forms of expression. 

We explore how this multisensory approach allows story owners to share on their own terms.

About Madeleine St. John

Madeleine’s vocation spans nonprofit communications, philanthropy, community engagement, and expressive arts therapy. She’ll be guiding us through Integrating the Senses into your Storytelling Process—from collection to self-care to community care to the share.

Connect with Madeleine St. John

Website | LinkedIn

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

Connect with Maria

Speaking & Training | LinkedIn | Email

Transcript

Today, I am bringing on my dear friend, Madeline St. John. It is rare to find folks with both a storytelling and therapy background, and Madeline is one of those unicorns. Her vocation spans nonprofit communications, community engagement, and expressive arts therapy. She will be guiding us through integrating the senses into the storytelling process, from story collection to self care, community care, and sharing.

Maria Bryan:
Madeline, it is such a joy to have you on the show. Welcome to When Bearing Witness.

Madeline St. John:
Thank you for having me, Maria. It is a delight to be here.

Maria Bryan:
You have such an interesting lineage and practice. Can you share a little bit about your career and education journey and how they connect?

Madeline St. John:
This story, like many stories of transformation, is a complex one. My point of entry into humanitarian work is actually quite similar to yours in that I was exposed to philanthropy at a young age through international volunteerism.

Maria, you speak often about how serving in the Peace Corps paved the way for your career today, and my story takes on a similar shape. Like many of us in the humanitarian sector, I was raised in a religious environment. Through that, I had opportunities to travel abroad and participate in short term service trips. As a young person, I deeply loved these cross cultural experiences.

They were my first real exposure to travel, but over time, some things did not sit quite right with me. I began questioning whether the support we were providing was actually helpful or potentially culturally harmful. In our line of work, we see time and again that individuals and institutions step into humanitarian practice with good intentions that do not always result in good outcomes.

That realization led me to grapple with larger questions about what constitutes healthy philanthropy and how we can do good well. I began asking what makes humanitarian work both human and humane, and that question has guided my career ever since.

Those interests initially took me into nonprofit work alongside my undergraduate education. I worked with World Vision, an international relief and development organization, where I valued their multi pronged approach to infrastructural development. At the same time, I began to see how infrastructural support can only go so far without social and emotional development at the individual and community level.

That realization led me to braid my love for the arts, something I have always carried with me, with my longing for impact. I grew up as a dancer and practiced other creative modalities as well. This eventually brought me into community engagement work with an arts education nonprofit in Los Angeles. I loved working locally, but I still felt a pull to live and work abroad and continue exploring healthy, culturally sensitive philanthropy.

In early 2020, I moved to Calcutta, India, to volunteer and study with a local organization called Calcutta Sanved, which provides dance movement therapy to survivors of gender based violence. This work aligned with my interest in cultural programming, community development, and the arts. I was especially drawn to how practitioners adapted a historically Western clinical practice for an Eastern, collectivist context.

Through this work, I was introduced to the field of expressive arts. Today, I am pursuing my master’s degree in expressive arts therapy for global health, with a focus on conflict transformation and peacebuilding in community based contexts. This is where my work intersects closely with trauma informed care and trauma informed storytelling.

At the same time, I also established a nonprofit community engagement consulting practice, which continues to be another way I explore and respond to questions about healthy philanthropy.

Maria Bryan:
It feels like your work continues to evolve and integrate each year. I love how all these facets of who you are come together.

I want to talk about storytelling and your idea of moving beyond linguistic storytelling into something more multisensory. What does a multisensory approach to storytelling mean?

Madeline St. John:
I want to begin by saying that linguistic storytelling is absolutely a sufficient and valuable format. As we explore multisensory storytelling, I do not want to dismiss the importance of language. Written and spoken language support human connection in many ways.

That said, language is primarily tied to cognitive intelligence. We as humans have multiple intelligences, and the points of entry for those intelligences are our senses. That is why there is so much opportunity in multisensory storytelling.

Multisensory storytelling may sound like unfamiliar language, but it simply means telling a story that engages multiple senses, such as sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell, alongside or sometimes in place of language.

We are actually very familiar with this approach through popular culture. Film, theater, musical theater, concerts, music videos, virtual reality, gaming, immersive media, and installation art all engage multiple senses to convey narrative.

Given how drawn humans are to these formats, there is significant opportunity for sensitive storytellers to return to the senses as a foundation for storytelling.

Maria Bryan:
I would love to go deeper into expressive arts therapy and why this multisensory approach matters from a trauma informed perspective.

Madeline St. John:
Expressive arts therapy emerged for me through my humanitarian work and my desire to engage in culturally sensitive practice. One thing I love about expressive arts is how it prioritizes sensory experience and creative process.

When we think about therapy, we often imagine two people sitting across from one another talking. Talk therapy is effective, but it is not the only way to process emotions and experiences.

Expressive arts therapy supports healing through creative processes such as movement, visual art, writing, sound, and other modalities. It is intermodal, meaning we are not limited to one artistic form. We adapt the modality to the individual or group.

In expressive arts, we believe that life itself is a creative act. When we guide individuals through a contained creative process, they gain insight into how they might navigate challenges and cultivate beauty beyond the therapeutic space.

Maria Bryan:
How can a multisensory approach benefit both the story owner and audiences, especially in trauma informed storytelling?

Madeline St. John:
You often teach the importance of grounding questions in testimony gathering, such as identifying an object in the room or thinking about a future meal. These questions help anchor people in the present and reinforce safety.

A multisensory approach allows us to carry that sense of presence throughout the storytelling process. It also allows story bearers to share their narratives on their own terms and in their own texture.

You speak often about ongoing consent. Etymologically, consent means to feel with. That suggests that our sensory and emotional faculties belong in any process that requires ongoing consent.

Rather than only asking someone to verbally recount events, we can invite them to explore tone, gesture, shape, rhythm, or movement as part of their storytelling. These approaches allow individuals to share stories in ways that may feel safer, more expressive, and more aligned with their lived experience.

Maria Bryan:
I love that. Storytelling can be deeply healing, not just functional for fundraising or marketing. I would love to hear more practical ways listeners can integrate multisensory approaches.

Madeline St. John:
There can be a fine line between retraumatization and catharsis. How a space is held determines the experience.

Inviting multiple senses into storytelling can help individuals metabolize emotions stored in the body. Some experiences do not yet have language, but they may exist as movement, color, or form. Multisensory storytelling expands the range of expression and perception for both the storyteller and the audience.

We can also think about sensitizing the storytelling process before and after collection. Grounding questions, movement, breathwork, or working with visual attractors like colors or objects can help establish safety.

During story gathering, we can weave sensory prompts into a linguistic interview. For example, asking where a memory lives in the body or what color or shape it holds can provide additional layers of expression that complement spoken narrative.

This allows us to honor complex, nonlinear stories while still supporting the transformation arc that storytelling often requires.

Maria Bryan:
To me, trauma informed storytelling is about agency and autonomy. Giving someone colored pencils, space to move, or room to create allows them to tell their story in ways that feel most authentic and supportive.

Madeline St. John:
Absolutely. And the body itself is our first material. Movement can be a powerful tool even without supplies.

We might invite someone to move their story through the room, noticing where it begins and ends, how quickly they move, whether their movements are small or expansive, and which parts of the body are involved. These prompts expand the vocabulary available for expressing experiences that may be difficult to articulate with words alone.

Maria Bryan:
You are a storyteller in so many contexts. What are you most proud of in your role as a storyteller?

Madeline St. John:
I value how the many narratives of my life continue to weave together into one evolving story. I believe our lives are our greatest creative act, and we are constantly world building through the way we live.

Maria Bryan:
Madeline, it has been such an honor to share this space with you. Thank you for joining us.

Madeline St. John:
Likewise, Maria. Thank you so much.