Stories Under the Willow
Recovery is not only about what we stop doing. It is also about what we begin finding again.
Connection. Curiosity. Safety. Imagination. A sense of belonging.
Stories Under the Willow is Willow Circle’s growing literacy and storytelling space, bringing children, families, and community together through books, shared reading, original stories, creativity, and connection.
Because sometimes finding our way back to one another begins with something as simple as opening a book.
Why stories matter
Isolation can become part of many difficult seasons, including addiction, trauma, grief, family disruption, and recovery.
Sometimes returning to community begins with something very small: sitting beside someone, opening a book, and sharing a story.
A child may find words for something they have been feeling. A parent may experience a quiet moment of connection. Someone in recovery may remember that healing can also include play, imagination, laughter, and being part of something again.
A story can become a place to meet.
A book can become a bridge.
Sometimes belonging begins by turning a page together.
A World Is Growing Beneath the Willow
We imagine Stories Under the Willow becoming a growing world of familiar characters and creatures that children can return to again and again.
A curious bird.
A gentle willow keeper.
A wandering storyteller.
A brave but nervous traveler.
A creature who carries too much.
Another who has not quite figured out where they belong.
Characters may make mistakes, ask difficult questions, laugh, worry, rest, learn, help one another, and find their way back.
Through them, children can explore big ideas in gentle ways: friendship, boundaries, grief, recovery, courage, kindness, identity, change, asking for help, and belonging.
And sometimes a little creature in a story can say something a child has not yet found the words to say.
However a Child Enters the Story
We want children and the adults in their lives to be able to enter Stories Under the Willow in different ways.
As the program grows, our hope is to include stories told in multiple languages, bilingual storytelling, captioned videos, readable transcripts, American Sign Language interpretation, sensory friendly experiences, and stories that reflect different cultures, families, abilities, identities, and ways of moving through the world.
Some children may meet a story through a book.
Some may hear it spoken.
Some may read the words on a screen.
Some may experience it through sign.
Some may need a quieter place to listen.
And some may simply fall in love with a little creature who somehow understands exactly what they have been feeling.
However a child enters the story, we want there to be a way in.
More Is Growing Beneath the Willow
Original Willow Circle stories
Read aloud videos
New characters and creatures
Community created artwork
Family reflection activities
Multilingual storytelling
Accessible story experiences
Story gatherings
And more ways to find one another through a story.
Different stories. Different journeys. One circle.
