About Nancy
Nancy Mellon has pioneered healing and therapeutic storytelling as a counselor and Waldorf educator worldwide for over 35 years. Her work continues to inspire creative courage and dynamic awareness of the relationship between language, imagination and well-being.
Nancy has a lifetime of experience supporting individuals, families and communities around the world, applying a broad array of healing modalities. She currently lives in Upstate New York.
Nancy received a BA from Wellesley College, an MA in English and American Literature from Hunter College of CUNY, and an MA in Counseling and Expressive Therapies from Lesley University. She is also a licensed high school teacher.
Why storytelling
Storytelling is a way to claim time to nourish our humanity. We deepen our listening to ourselves and one another to discover important and often delightfully profound and refreshing perspectives and guidance.
It may seem challenging to pause as family members, friends and communities, yet with time for truths to be spoken and heard, we restore essential heart and soul to our daily lives.
The global storytelling renaissance
The first American National Storytelling Festival took place in Jonesborough, Tennesee in 1973. Since then storytelling centers and festivals, such as the School of Storytelling in Great Britain, continue burgeoning throughout the world. The National Storytelling Network (NSN) and the International Storytelling Center (ISC) focus the many ways that storytelling impacts our lives.
To explore how storytelling can intentionally serve as a healing art, see the ever-expanding Healing Story Alliance. This international community of therapists, clergy, health care practitioners and many others share discoveries and questions about story as a way of empowerment and healing.
Previous offerings at learning centers around the world
“Nancy's workshop offered me a window into my soul and the creative powers that reside there. What was remarkable was that the workshop did the same for each participant.
And the result made the room come alive with pleasure, excitement, awe, mystery, magic and deep healing.
Her storytelling work is profoundly important, especially now when our world desperately needs the power of our collective imaginations to create transformations.”
— Zoe Weil, Institute for Humane Education, Surrey, Maine
Nancy Mellon presents courses and workshops and helps organize and keynotes at symposia and conferences. Her presentations include: Teachers'Conference, Buenos Aires, Argentina;American Folklore Society; Emerson College UK International School of Storytelling 1992-2008; California Teachers' Conference; Maine Public Television; Wainwright House; California Kindergarten Forum; Nantucket Arts Council; Cambridge Center for Adult Education; Whole Life Expo, Boston MA; Sharing the Fire; Play Therapy UK; Esalen Institute, California; Newbold House, Findhorn; Kibbutz Harduf, Israel; Abbottsford, Melborne; Convent of Saint Brigit, Kildare; Teachers Center, Dublin; The Kripalu Center; Rudolf Steiner Institute; International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies; Joseph Campbell Festival, Milford, NH; International Association of Expressive Therapies,
Lesley University; Sesame Institute, London, UK; Storytelling for Life, Jarna, Sweden; Biographical Counseling Program, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Antioch New England Graduate School; The Graduate Institute, Milford CT; Cape Breton University; Christopher Reynolds Foundation; Winkler Center for Adult Learning, Garden City LI; Mudita Yoga Center, Peterborough NH; Sound Circle, Seattle WA; Storytelling as a Healing Art, University of Glasgow; TeachMe Peace, Walworth, WI, Waldorf school communities and learning centers throughout the the US, and in Canada, Ireland, Scotland, England, Israel, Australia, Taiwan, Brazil, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, and Denmark.