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Reimagine your future.
Live differently today.
What is storywork?
What is storywork?
Storywork is an unfolding process, a journey.
While the details of our childhood stories are fixed, how we interpret those experiences can change through compassion and clarity.
As we engage our story, beliefs that have felt true and limiting can be re-examined and unburdened allowing us to see the world more clearly, develop new beliefs (about ourselves, God, and others), and write a new story from a new perspective.
Meet
Gail
Hi. I’m Gail. I’m a story coach and story group facilitator certified in Narrative-Focused Trauma Care (NFTC) through The Allender Center at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. My passion is to help individuals, couples, and groups make sense of their stories with the hope of healing. When we heal, we can more fully become who we are uniquely called to be in this world. My journey to today has also involved work as a mechanical engineer, a campus minister, and a homeschool mom to four incredible humans. I live in Utah with my husband of 30+ years.
Throughout my formative years, I dreamed of setting the world right as a detective but that dream died during college. When I began training with The Allender Center, I didn’t think I had much of a story and sincerely believed I didn’t do emotions. But through the kind, fierce, and wise care of those who walked before and beside me, I found out otherwise. Now my original detective dream has been reborn in the context of story coaching. I am honored to be a guide and companion to those who want to explore and make sense of heartache, trauma, confusion, and doubt in their stories. I hold safe space and curiosity for those I work with to uncover a truer version of their stories - and a more coherent interpretation of their lives - with hope for healing, freedom, and redemption.
Services
Engage your formative story individually or as a couple. Find healing and freedom by learning to tell a truer narrative of your life in the presence of an empathetic witness.
Coaching
Engage your story within the healing context of a group held by a trauma-informed story facilitator. Groups are composed of individuals or couples.
Storywork
Podcast
Appearances
I had the honor of being a guest on Adam Young’s podcast where I shared a story from my 8th grade self—one I’ve carried tenderly for years. We talked about what it means to take your story seriously, even if you don’t think you’ve experienced “big T” trauma. We touched on longing, delight, anger, and the wisdom our bodies hold.
🎧 I’d love for you to listen in. This one’s close to my heart.
I had the honor of being a guest on the Pirate Monk Podcast. It felt very vulnerable to discuss my high school dating relationships, my “rescue” by purity culture, and the evangelical marriage advice I adopted early in marriage. We talked candidly about how engaging our stories is a way to make sense of sexual challenges in marriage, helping us find pathways towards healing and connection with our partners.
What people say about storywork with Gail
I experienced [Gail] as a kind and compassionate witness. The areas of my story whereI held so much shame were met with empathy and held with honor and tenderness.There is something transformative and healing about sharing story in a group context, but healing can only happen when the facilitator creates a safe container for wounds to heal. That is the experience I had as a story group participant with [Gail].”
-Story Group Participant
Gail holds a tender space for those with whom she enters story work. She is a calming presence and a kind and wise facilitator who knows how to sit in silence as well as how to walk closely in the most vulnerable and difficult, yet ultimately life-giving moments.”
-Story Group Participant
It was a distinct honor and gift to have Gail as my story group leader. Gail’s wise and compassionate presence created a supportive space in which our group felt safe to reveal and share our hearts and our wounds. I cannot fully express how healing and life changing this experience was for me, and I am incredibly thankful for Gail’s loving leadership.”
-Story Group Participant
I just have to say that Gail is the real thing. She is and does what she says she will. She is present. She is caring. She engages and probes. And she stays when it’s difficult. My stuff is difficult and long standing, and she has suffered long to sit through what I’ve had to say from decades long impacts of early trauma(s) which led to a traumatic life for me.
With the help of Holy Spirit and Gail’s commitment to presence and witness to me, I am being untangled and I am healing. Praise God, I am healing.
-Client
Having Gail as [my] story work facilitator was a true gift. Her presence created a space where I always felt welcomed, safe, and seen. Gail consistently fostered an environment of deep care and safety, allowing each of us to bring our stories of harm without fear. We knew we would be met with her gentle face, warm presence, and compassionate attunement. She offered skillful containment and brought meaningful insight to both my story and the stories of others in the group. Her guidance was both grounding and transformative.”
-Story Group Participant
I started my work with Gail with a doubtful and guarded attitude. While we worked together over many months, I continued to resist the process because trusting other people is so hard for me. Gail, in her ability to be both relentlessly supportive and attentive, wore me down. I finally realized that she actually cared about my well being and that I could trust her in a deep way that was new for me. This realization was a profound moment in my healing. Of course I still have problems and challenges, but since our time together, my life has opened up in a beautiful way that I could not have imagined before.
-Story Group Participant
