Project News: Putting the “Public” Back into Public Health Through Our Work With the Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center

StoryCenter’s Amy Hill interviews Sarah Davis with the Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center in Denver (RM-PHTC), one of our public health partners

Editor’s Note: Beginning in late 2015, StoryCenter began collaborating with the Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center on a series of webinars and trainings for their broad audience of public health professionals in Colorado, Montana, North and South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. In this article, StoryCenter staff member Amy Hill interviews Director Sarah Davis about storytelling at the RM-PHTC.

Participants in an “Audio Stories for Public Health” training webinar learn how to conduct effective interviews.

Amy: We’ve really enjoyed our work with you all at the RM-PHTC. For our readers who aren’t familiar with your work, can you describe the organization and talk about some of your chief overall goals for the various projects we’ve developed together?

Sarah: The Training Center is housed within the Center for Public Health Practice at the Colorado School of Public Health. We are one of the 10 Regional Public Health Training Centers funded by the Health Resources Service Administration and are a member of the Public Health Learning Network– the nation’s most comprehensive system of public health educators, experts, and thought leaders.

As a Regional Public Health Training Center, RM-PHTC’s charge is to provide high-quality distance-based training to public health professionals in the states in our region. Not everyone has a positive impression of “online training,” and we’ve tried hard to find innovative ways to engage learners, even when we can’t all be in the same room.

StoryCenter has been a great thought partner over the past year as we’ve work to reach rural, urban, and tribal areas of the region. During the summer of 2015, we provided learners in the six states we cover with the opportunity to participate in a “virtual workshop” on digital storytelling, led by some of the staff at StoryCenter. The facilitators were able to translate much of the content of StoryCenter’s in-person digital storytelling workshops into an online format. We created a month-long learning experience, during which learners met using bi-directional video with the StoryCenter facilitators and shared their stories, and then worked independently to produce their digital story projects as short videos. The bi-directional video allowed participants separated by great distance to connect and get to know each other.

In addition to distance-based trainings, the RM-PHTC partnered with the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council to have StoryCenter provide an in-person digital storytelling workshop in Billings, Montana. The RM-PHTC was also pleased to be a contributing partner in StoryCenter’s work with HIV positive women in Denver– helping them to share their stories. RM-PHTC’s continuing support for this project will help identify ways that the women’s stories can be used by community and health educators locally and nationally, to challenge HIV stigma and promote greater awareness of the issues that those living with HIV face.

Amy: Why do you think personal storytelling can be so useful in a public health context?

Sarah: A story provides a connecting point. Data and statistics are an important part of public health, but so is storytelling. One of the elements that has been exciting about our work with StoryCenter is the opportunity to provide public health professionals with additional tools for the public education and health promotion work they do. The stories produced through the Staying Positive project will be accompanied by a discussion guide. This tool will help public health practitioners working in the area of HIV harness the power of these personal accounts as they work to prevent HIV, to encourage STD screening, and to help connect individuals with resources.

Amy: Can you share some ideas about how you think practitioners involved in these various collaborative projects will continue to integrate storytelling methods into their work?

Sarah: One of the exciting ways in which RM-PHTC has been able to work with StoryCenter is to support professional development among our staff and partners. This summer, we worked with you all to educate ourselves in the art of the audio story, through a series of webinar sessions designed to build the skills of public health practitioners for using audio as a communication tool. We are always seeking new and innovative ways to deliver training content and engage learners. The “Public Health for Radio” training series provided our team with a fresh lens to help us transform information delivery into storytelling. As we move forward working with subject matter experts, our staff and partners have more refined skills in conducting interviews and finding “hooks” for engaging learners.

Amy: And then finally, how about a small story– the story of how you as a public health practitioner came to be interested in personal stories?

Sarah: My family has attended the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, ever since I was five. Every fall we treat ourselves to a weekend of locally grown and internationally accomplished storytellers who are masters of their craft– sharing folktales and personal stories alike. Growing up, I witnessed the power of story to make audiences laugh, cry, care, and listen. Now in my professional role, I’m challenged to think of how adults learn– and it seems evident to me that stories can play a valuable role.

Read more about the StoryCenter-RM-PHTC Collaboration.

This story of living with HIV was produced in the RM-PHTC supported Positive Women’s Network workshop in Denver.