Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Chris Bruno and Tracy Johnson host conversations around the art and business of Storywork Coaching. This podcast is powered by ReStory Counseling.
Chris Bruno
All right. Well, welcome everybody to the ReStory Podcast. Tracy, I am so excited to relaunch the ReStory Podcast, even with a different kind of a focus as we move forward. So, yes, here we are, episode one.
Tracy Johnson
Let's do it.
Chris Bruno
We were kind of just talking and thinking through like, how do we even begin to jump into talking about storywork coaching and focusing on the coach?
And helping other coaches do the work that they feel called to do, trained to do, and all of that. How do we come alongside of them? And what do we even say in episode number one? And this is the ReStory Podcast. So we thought, let's kind of just tell our story on how we got here and how the two of us moved into the space of becoming storywork coaches. And then from that, how we moved into supporting storywork coaches. So
Yes. Do you want to start or you want me to start, Tracy? Why don't you go?
Tracy Johnson
Why don't you you start? You start.
Chris Bruno
Your brand. Well, I I will say this that I got into this field, and I say this tongue in cheek, but it's really serious, that I came into this field kind of by accident. That for me, it was several years of being in ministry and doing this work and having some kind of mismatch inside my soul. There was something that was being asked of me in the work that I was doing that didn't have the support.
The internal support inside of my heart and inside of my soul. And so I was living overseas at the time and I just started to voraciously read a bunch of things and it came my way. And I got kind of into this stream of thought through one author that led to another author that led to three others and all of that. And that stream of thought just captured my imagination. And it did something inside of me that allowed me to go like, there is something here that.
despite all of what I'd learned in church, all of what I'd learned in kind of the world of psychology and all that kind of stuff, there was something that fit me better. And it was this approach to the heart from a storied lens. And these authors invited me into that conversation. And I was living overseas and this was, you know, I didn't have access to a storywork coach. I didn't even it was that that term storywork didn't even really exist.
In at that time, but I knew that there was something in the air around these kinds of people and this kind of stream of thought that I just desperately needed to go and not only do the work myself from my own life and my own heart, but then I really wanted to learn how to speak this way, how to think this way, how to be in this space. And so after kind of leaving the international missions field, came back to the United States and got trained as a therapist at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. And
I don't know why I landed at that school. Like I said, it was kind of by accident. It was just part of many of those authors, had some loose affiliation with that school. And I was like, that's the school that I want to go to. Something inside of me knew that that's where I wanted to go. And I was originally going to train as a pastor and and started the MDiv program until I realized, the counseling psychology program was the parallel program was really more of what my heart was geared towards. And so I switched over to the psychology, counseling psychology program.
And finished with that degree. And then I ended up with a master's degree in counseling psychology. And I was like, I guess now I'm on the road to becoming a therapist. And I still had a pastor's heart and wanted to do things in ministry. And so moved from Washington out here to Colorado and started a ministry that had that kind of undergirding understanding of the heart and story and all that that I'd learned at the Seattle School.
And when you're in ministry, oftentimes the funds are not sufficient. And so then I had to I was like, Okay, well, how can I support my family while I'm starting this ministry? And from there I was like, Well, some friends were like, Well, you can go be a bartender or a therapist. You you've got skill sets in both areas. And so
Tracy Johnson
I wonder if you'd make the same choice today.
Chris Bruno
I I have I have thought about that, honestly, through the years for sure. So I did end up starting my own counseling practice where I was just on my own. And through the first year two, three, it became this like, I don't want to do this alone. I actually want to be with some other people. And I also understand that this experience in storywork that I personally had.
Is different from what quote unquote typical therapy is. And then also I wanted to be able to offer more of that story-informed work than I did the typical therapy that I'd been trained in the master's program to do, the clinical program. And so over the course of many years, it kind of evolved inside of me that I was going to be doing more work in story before storywork was ever a thing. I was doing just work in story and really evolved into.
a team and a training program and all that that we now have that are focused on the store workspace. So for me it was, like I said at the beginning, kind of an accidental journey that got me into it from my own personal experience. And then through training, even though I am trained as a therapist, am a licensed therapist here in the state of Colorado, most of the work that I do, probably 90, 95% of the work that I do is in the store work coaching space because that just is really
fits more with my bent, my heart, and my understanding of the gospel, my understanding of the human heart, my understanding of like what healing looks like. so that's a little bit of how I got here for
Tracy Johnson
How'd I get here? How'd I get here with you? Tack that on to the end of your how you got here.
Chris Bruno
well, so through the journey of coming back to the States, my wife also got involved in her own master's program and started to do some work with marginalized populations, which led her into an interest in fighting sex trafficking, which got her in touch with many people in that realm who then, you know, she then actually went on to start her own nonprofit and do her own work in that space. But in that journey, met you.
Tracy through some writers guilds and some connections and through Red Tent Living, the organization that I'll let you talk about that you started. And so my wife Beth started writing for you. And, you know, we got connected, she got connected through you. And then there were a few times where we were like, you know, meeting because of something that you were doing with Beth. And I was like, my goodness, this person, Tracy Johnson, thinks the way that I do, talks the way that I do.
likes the same things, you know, and is organized internally in very similar ways to how I am. And it just felt like, you know, I joke that you're kind of my female doppelganger in many ways in this space. And I was like, we need to do some things together. There could be some amazing synergy. and so it was then back in 2018 that we decided like let's let's kind of join up, have you join the restory team and see what happens there and officially really launch into
some storywork spaces inside of the restory brand.
Tracy Johnson
Yeah. Yeah. By the time I met you in in, you know, twenty eighteen, I had been like living, breathing, working, training inside the storywork world and it wasn't called that.
Chris Bruno
Yeah.
Tracy Johnson
It I you know, that is what it was, but it wasn't. No not that phrase had not been coined or or put to it yet. And my pathway to this I think is very storied also. And
I might have ended up a clinical therapist if not for a rupture in my own story in college that derailed for me even finishing my degree. And so is there was s something in my heart from early on that was drawn to the this kind of work, the work around a human soul.
And the stories that it holds. And I think I was drawn to it because I feel like there there has to be more. I I want to understand more than I currently understand about how the human heart and mind and soul operates. And I think, you know, it was like a giant pause button that got pressed for me.
And, you know, fast forward, married, I've got several kids. My husband leaves the public sector to go into full-time ministry. We go on staff at a very large evangelical free church in San Antonio, Texas. And it was there that I got introduced to a ministry that was training and teaching really people inside the ministry world how to hear and hold stories of harm.
And I didn't even come into that because I thought I had a story. I came into that because we were working with young adults and I was beginning to have young women coming and telling me, basically telling me my story, but I didn't know that and I didn't know what to do with them. And so that launched me into, you know, that the pause button getting unpressed and sort of soaking up being in this environment that.
I was starving for. And for the first time in my life, I felt heard and seen and known. And that sense of like, I think God made me for this. And
Chris Bruno
Okay.
Tracy Johnson
so for me, doing my own work was happening simultaneously as I was involved in this ministry that put me sitting in small groups, like with a
strange amount of consistency, the number of small groups that I was both sitting in and then that I was leading. And then because this really is what I think God made me to do, I was training and supervising. And so that was my life and had been my life for a long time before you and I met. And by the time you and I met, you know, I remember sitting on your back porch talking and it was otherworldly. The number of intersections, including that I had been in Turkey doing this work, talking about this work, and had heard your name.
Chris Bruno
Yes. I remember that. That was that was wild. I was
Tracy Johnson
Can that even be right? And so
Chris Bruno
Yes.
Tracy Johnson
I think that's where we go. Okay. And so God, God was about something. Yeah. and orchestrating something about who you and I would be together and the work we would do together long before either one of us understood that that was coming. And so when you said, you know, would you like to come do this? I was like, Yeah, I would like to come do this.
And aware that, you know, there was risk in saying yes to you and coming to do this. But very quickly what you just described, like I think you and I both had a vision that we wanted to build something, we wanted to train people to do this. We were like lockstep about that. And that precipitated a lot of conversations that I think are largely like why we are now here and talking about storywork coaching.
And talking about that beyond just our own team.
Chris Bruno
Yes, I remember talking about talking about Turkey and knowing that there was a movement of doing some work in the space of story and specifically in Turkey around stories of abuse and the organization that you had been with w had so much amazing material that you had been so much a part of creating and organizing and building out. And then I had this.
training from the Seattle school that I was bringing in the clinical mind. And then I also had, you know, Turkish as I had spent a decade there and all of that. And so it just felt like I don't know why before that we had not found, you know, found some kind of found ourselves in the same room, but it wasn't time or the right space. and so and yet here we are. So really the the story for us and why we're doing this podcast, what we're doing at ReStory for storywork Coaches.
And all of that is because we have seen both personally and professionally the power of what storywork is, particularly when there is training, when there is connection and collaboration with others, when there is an ethic that is guiding you and helping you know like what is happening and
I remember so we've got, you know, in ReStory, we've got something that we've developed called the ReStory Institute. And this is a a training program for people to learn how to do storywork. and I remember like I started that way back before I even met you. I didn't call it the Institute, but I called it kind of like the staff development because I was getting people on the ReStory team who had no background in story, which was not a
That's not their fault. It was just a matter of like exposure to this approach and exposure to this way of thinking. And I wanted to make sure that everybody at ReStory had a story approach mindset. And whether they were clinical therapists or life coaches or business coaches or spiritual directors or pastoral counselors or mentors or whatever it was, you know, that we had, and eventually began to really hone into it being storywork coaches that we were developing.
I wanted to make sure that they had that exposure and had that training and had that mindset so that there would be some consistency across disciplines, even though the disciplines would be doing something slightly different in in the approach that the posture would be from a story-informed posture. And that's kind of what brings us to today and where we are today. So, Tracy, you are at ReStory, you are the storywork coach supervisor.
You know, the team leader of the storywork team. And can you tell us a little bit about like what that looks like for you, how you are engaging with the various coaches that you're engaging with?
Tracy Johnson
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I do oversee that team, you know, grew. I remember when I came on, you said, Do you, you know, do you think you know anybody else who might be able to do this? And I was like, Yes. You know, I know some other people. And we had a dream that someday there could be a team. So I oversee that team. There are two on that team that are local in Fort Collins. They actually come into the office and they do hybrid. They're in the office some and they also work virtually with people.
And the rest of the team is scattered around the US. And so giving leadership to them looks like providing a consult that I have. Yeah. Every other week we meet and they come together and we're in a virtual room and we talk about how they're doing personally. We check in, how is everybody? But then we also create space where they can bring client concerns and what is happening. You know, anybody can bring, you know, a client and we kind of talk together.
about what what do we see happening with that client, what's going on. That space has also been a space where I've offered some training. At times we've picked different topics or maybe we've picked a different book or, you know, something that we're going through so that there's a ongoing learning that's happening in that space. And then I also meet one on one with everybody. And so that happens, you know, minimally once a month. And for some they take advantage of that twice a month.
And then that's just a little more personal. So we might go a little bit deeper, not only into what's going on with the client, but oftentimes what we're talking about is what is being provoked in them and in their story around the work that they're doing with this client. So it's looked like that. And then it's also looked a lot like you and I sitting and talking about what's going on on my team. What do they need? What are they lacking? I think this is a place that you and I are similar. Is it we both grew up with a very strong sense of being responsible. And so, you know, that has a downside.
Chris Bruno
Listeners, you will get to know us as very responsible people.
Tracy Johnson
We're very responsible people. And I think that's important to mention because a lot of where we are now in sort of stepping out and naming that we have some expertise to bring to the realm of storywork coaching is the outgrowth of that sense of responsibility. And so your clinical training and the ethics that you were taught and that were drilled into you.
alongside my years of watching what can go badly and wading through things going badly and feeling responsible for those outcomes, we we brought that together and that has produced our code of ethics. It has produced our clarity around what storywork is and what it isn't. And it's produced our training inside the institute, all three levels of it that exist kind of honor our collaborative understanding around this work.
Chris Bruno
Yeah. Well, and so what we've noticed too is so there's the ReStory team, the team that you oversee and supervise and give leadership to, and then the people that are on the team. But what we've also noticed is that over the years, so back in the day when you and I were still doing this work and it wasn't called storywork, it has over the last kind of five, 10 years really evolved into having more voices and clarity and people being trained and doing things.
Having even people hearing about it and knowing, like, I do this from a story perspective or story-informed perspective. We've come to realize that and been a part of this evolution of the storywork field. And not everybody is going to be part of the restory team. Right. And yet we want to continue supporting and training and guiding and offering.
all kinds of resources and stuff to people who are called to be storywork coaches or and whether that is in an official capacity where you have a business and you're being paid for it, or it is in an unofficial capacity where you're in some, you know, lay space in a church or meeting somebody in
Tracy Johnson
Just mentioned what like whether you're a mentor or a pastor or a spiritual director or like all those things that like at one point or another on our road to clarity, our team has included people doing a lot of different things. And here's the other thing that's true about you and I, and I think that this goes to what we're talking about right now also, which is that we both tend to collect people. Yeah. And so we meet people
We see what their gifts are, we feel their hunger for community, we imagine what it is they could be bringing to the world, and we want to help platform that and provide community for it. And we've recognized like there's no way that the team that is housed as part of, you know, ReStory Counseling can include all of those people. And yet our desire remains. And so it you know.
It is a broad swath of people who could benefit from what we're saying. You know, whether you're leading a you might be leading a couples group with your spouse in your home as part of your church, and inevitably stories are coming into that room, or you're a Bible study leader, or you're a pastor, or you're a life coach, or you're a therapist, or you're a spiritual director. All of it, all of these things.
You are encountering story. You are encountering things you're not sure what to say or do or respond. You're not sure. And you're for sure feeling some element of isolation and aloneness and a desire to be known and to have belonging inside the particularity of this that you're doing. You know, you may have friends, you may have colleagues, you may have a staff that you're on.
But there is something about what it is to engage the story of another person with depth and attunement and an intention that to be known in the midst of that is not typical out there in all those other places. And we just recognize like that has value and we want to help provide that for people.
Chris Bruno
Yeah. Yeah. We want to help provide that for people. And you just named several things. And I I just want to add too that in doing that work, whether you're in any of those places, the pastor, the small group leader, the therapist, something about your own story is going to be engaged and drawn out. And you can't do human-to-human relationships without both stories being kind of intermingling in some way. And so it is so important to have spaces where you get
Training and withness in not only the how to do the storywork stuff and get trained in the skills, but also some invitations on reflection to your own life and your own story and how is that showing up in that space? Because whether you're a therapist and you've got your license and you've got all these extra, you know, certifications and all that kind of stuff, it's still that doesn't preclude you from being a human.
You still have to have a sense to what's going on in your own life as you're working with people and have a space where you can go and have some checks and have some balances and have some other eyes and be held well and be held tenderly. So
Tracy Johnson
Yeah.
Chris Bruno
as we relaunch the ReStory Podcast and as we step into this space, why we are focusing on the coach? Why are we stepping in to go like, hey.
You know, storywork is important for everyone. And then those that are called to it have really need a unique space, need a unique perspective and need a unique approach. And we recognize that, you know, not everybody can be part of the ReStory team. And we want to support, as you said, people all over in whatever category you're in to do this work because we personally believe in the efficacy and the power of stories.
and and we want to see the healing that comes from story to happen in more places and more times with more people and really want to platform that. So we're excited a lot.
Tracy Johnson
Yeah. And I you know, I think often what I have heard both from coaches on my own team and now that we've had the institute and we've, you know, graduated multiple, you know, years of cohorts, I've heard it there too, is like, can I really do this?
Chris Bruno
Yeah.
Tracy Johnson
And sometimes like, am I qualified? Like, do I have the skills? Do I am am I okay? How what what does this look like? I
Because people feel that sense of responsibility, I think also. And then they and then how how do I do it? How do I actually do it if I want to do it? How do I do it? And how can I know that I'm doing it well? And I think those are some of the questions that we're going to answer here on the podcast. Yeah. And I think part of our vision and hope is that the podcast can become a place where
People can, you know, look forward to the next episode because you're going to hear something in that next episode that is going to go to those questions. Can I do this? How do I do this? Am I doing this well? And how can I do it and not feel alone?
Chris Bruno
Yeah. Well, Tracy, some of the upcoming podcasts are just you and me riffing on things and talking through things. Those will be the best ones. And we also have a great lineup of some guests that you will recognize their names. You will want to you already listening to them. You already have their voices in your head and the from their podcasts and their books and all that kind of stuff. So we are really excited about what is ahead on the ReStory Podcast and just so grateful that you are tuning in and so stay tuned. We will continue the conversation and would love for you be to be a part of it. So Tracy, for today, thanks for being here. Good to see you.
Tracy Johnson
Good to see ya. Bye.