Common Language Facilitators

Meet Our Team of Digital Storytellers

Quality People. Quality Facilitation.

Canada

The Digital Storytelling Facilitators in Canada work in either an organizational context or as independent contractors. Each facilitator has their own specialized topic area and unique skillset.

  • Mike Lang, PhD - Level 3, CLDST Founder

    Mike Lang is a digital storytelling facilitator, health researcher, filmmaker. He has directed and produced five feature length documentaries and two web series about the human health experience in addition to publishing academic research articles and facilitating the creation of over 800 digital stories. Mike’s professional and research focus is on using digital storytelling and documentary filmmaking in an education/advocacy, quality improvement, research, and therapeutic capacity within healthcare systems.

    Website: mikelangstories.com
    All Social Media: @mikelangstories

    CLICK HERE to Watch a Digital Story made by Mike.

    CLICK HERE and HERE to listen to a Leading Through Stories Podcast featuring Mike.

  • Kristy Wolfe, BSc BEd - Level 3

    Digital storyteller and photographer Kristy Wolfe works with individuals and values based organizations and non-profits to tell stories that make a difference. Kristy is a medical mom herself, and understands just how meaningful it is to document these journeys. It’s important to her to help others feel seen in the experiences they have lived and are now ready to share.

    Website: kristywolfephotography.com
    Instagram: @kristy.wolfe
    Facebook: Kristy Wolfe
    Linked In: Kristy Wolfe

    CLICK HERE to Watch a Digital Story made by Kristy.

    CLICK HERE to listen to the Leading Through Stories Podcast hosted by Kristy Wolfe

  • Melody Williamson, MSc - Level 2

    Like all of us, Melody Williamson has been a storyteller all of her life - from reading books on her mother’s lap to a career in professional theatre, to her consulting work in equity and social justice issues. In recent years, she has combined all of her skills and experience into her passion for giving voice to those voices that aren’t typically heard and creating connection between people through digital storytelling. She has worked with parents of children with varying abilities, parents with medically complex children, and she is the Digitial Storytelling Team Leader for Wellspring Alberta, working with people on a journey with cancer and their caregivers. Melody is excited to collaborate with not-for-profit and private organizations to co-create stories with a wide variety of people whoe voices need to be heard!

    CLICK HERE and HERE watch Digital Stories co-created by Melody.

    CLICK HERE to listen to a Leading Through Stories Podcast featuring Melody.

  • Krystle Schofield - Level 2

    Krystle Schofield is a digital storytelling facilitator, photographer, and educator based in British Columbia. Through her own experience as a rare disease mom, she knows that storytelling can create far-reaching positive change for processing lived experience. She knows that sharing the reason we show up in ourselves and our work will invite others to do the same. As a creative professional, Krystle works with individuals and values-based organizations to create authentic imagery and tell impactful stories.

    Website: www.krystleschofield.com
    Instagram: @krystleschofieldphoto
    LinkedIn: @krystleschofield

    CLICK HERE to watch a Digital Story made by Krystle.

    CLICK HERE to listen to a Leading Through Stories Podcast featuring Krystle.

  • Lisa Joworski - Level 1

    Lisa is a therapeutic recreation specialist, digital storytelling facilitator, and overall life story resource for persons 65 and over or with an age-related condition such as dementia. She works as part of a geriatric mental health program in London, Ontario, and aims to give individuals a platform to share their personal stories as well as have their voices heard when it truly matters.

    Linked In: Lisa Joworski

    CLICK HERE to watch a Digital Story made by Lisa.

  • Maureen Leier, RN, BSN - Level 2

    Maureen is a digital storytelling facilitator and a Registered Nurse with over 30 years of experience, including providing care and support to children with medically complex conditions and their families, working as a consultant for the Ministry of Health, and working in Telehealth. As a storyteller and a digital storytelling facilitator, she has experienced firsthand how transformative digital storytelling can be. Maureen is passionate about the digital storytelling process and is committed to deep listening, asking curious questions, offering individualized support and guidance, and helping to co-create a safe space for stories to unfold. When we are given the opportunity, support, and space to make sense of our own stories, we connect to universal truths about ourselves, our world, and each other. We find our common ground.

    CLICK HERE to watch a Digital Story made by Maureen. CLICK HERE to watch a Digital Story co-created by Maureen.

  • Kristina McGuire - Level 1

    Kristina McGuire - Level 1

    Kristina McGuire was a participant in a digital storytelling workshop for medical parents in the spring of 2022. She created her own story, which led to her interest in becoming a Level 1 digital storytelling facilitator. Kristina uses her background as a cardiovascular and neonatal intensive care nurse to connect and collaborate with storytellers who have lived experience in the health care system and patient-oriented researchers.

    LINK to Heart Beats Retreat Stories Playlist. Retreat facilitated by and stories co-created by Kristina and Kristy Wolfe.

    Click HERE to watch a digital story made by Kristina.

    CLICK HERE to listen to a Leading Through Stories Podcast featuring Kristina.

  • Lacey Horta, SSW - Level 2

    Lacey is a Social Service Worker, Online Community Manager, and Digital Storytelling Facilitator who is passionate about connecting with people where they are and helping them find their story. Over the past 17 years she has worked with a variety of non-profits supporting at risk youth, people with mental illness, and individuals diagnosed with cancer and their families. Lacey’s digital storytelling experience includes working with people with cancer, advanced illness, and people experiencing grief. She is passionate about creating stories that improve patient care and help others going through a similar situation feel less alone.

    CLICK HERE to watch a Digital Story made by Lacey.

    CLICK HERE to listen to a Leading Through Stories Podcast featuring Lacey.

  • Jenni Haggie - Level 2

    Jenni is a Senior Specialist of Strategic Development and Digital Storytelling Facilitator with the Canadian Cancer Society. Over the past 5 years she has worked supporting individuals diagnosed with cancer and their families, with a focus on individuals from underserved communities. She is passionate about how digital stories can help people from underserved communities tell their stories, in their own words, to inspire change.

    CLICK HERE to watch a Digital Story made by Jenni.

    CLICK HERE to listen to a Leading Through Stories Podcast featuring Jenni.

  • Rebecca Haines-Saah, PhD. - Level 1

    Rebecca Haines-Saah is based in Calgary and is training as a Level 1 DST facilitator. She has over two decades of experience in arts-based research engaging youth and families, including photography, filmmaking, and community-based projects. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine.

    Website: rebeccasaah.com/

Europe

  • Becky McCall - Level 1

    Becky McCall is based in London, UK, and is new to digital storytelling. She is in the process of making her first set of five stories that focus on people with experiences of antibiotic resistant infection. The work forms part of Becky’s PhD research (University College London) and aims to help address a gap in public engagement with one of the world’s top 10 humanitarian health crises (antimicrobial resistance-AMR). Becky is also a medical journalist writing for both medical and consumer press, recently including Foresight Global Health, Medscape.com, The Lancet, The Times and the Mail on Sunday. She has also worked in radio and TV. She'll make any excuse to travel; seeking inspiration in places and most importantly, people - firmly believing everyone has a story to tell.

Latin America

  • Heather Alicia Knox - Level 1

    Heather Alicia Knox is a non-profit leader, digital storytelling facilitator and photographer, based in Mexico and Guatemala. She is the Co-Founder of the Project Somos Learning Village located in the Central Highlands of Guatemala. Heather has over thirty years experience working in the non-profit sector. Her work has included international, arts and educational organizations. She has worked with children, rescue dogs, designed farm to table educational programming, recruited and managed volunteers (up to 1200 at a time!) and provided courses and training. Her greatest loves are children and dogs. She values connecting with individuals and listening deeply to their stories and experiences and using storytelling as a mode to truly see others.

Uganda

Common Language has a strong partnership with Mbarara Institute of Science and Technology in SW Uganda and the University of Calgary Department of Indigenous, Local, & Global Health in the Cumming School of Medicine. The unique model of DST facilitation developed for use in the Ugandan context involves a team-based approach with each facilitator specializing in a specific phase of the DST process (Finding, Telling, Crafting, Sharing). The descriptions below highlight each facilitators area of expertise.
CLICK HERE to view some of the stories jointly facilitated by the Ugandan DST team.

  • Clementia Murembe Neema, PhD. - Level 1 - Finding/Telling Specialist

    Dr. Clementia Murembe Neema is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies (FIS) at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Southwestern Uganda, heading the department of Human Development and Relational Sciences. She is a social-anthropologist and ethnographic researcher and teaches Gender and Development, focusing on anthropology and evolution of gender; Gender mainstreaming; and Political Economy of Women Healthcare services. Additionally, Clementia trained as a Digital Storytelling facilitator in 2019 and currently is very involved in helping create digital stories stories to support her many projects and initiatives.

  • Mutatina Robens - Level 1 - Crafting Specialist & DST Focal Person

    Mutatina Robens is the DST focal person at Health Child Uganda where he has worked for the past 6 years while pursuing his Masters degree in Business Development. As well as being a skilled DST editor, Mutatina is responsible for coordinating all the DST work with Healthy Child Uganda including contacting and vetting potential participants, introducing them to the other DST team members, and generally providing continuity throughout the DST creation and sharing process. The stories Mutatina has facilitated have been shared to thousands of community members across Uganda to advance child, maternal, and adolescent health.

  • Barbara Naggayi, MSc. - Level 1 - Sharing Specialist

    Barbara Naggayi is a lecturer in the Interdisciplinary Studies Faculty at Mbarara University of Science and Technology focusing on Environment and Sustainability. She is currently pursuing her PhD in the same discipline and uses her extensive presentation and facilitation skills as a Digital Story sharing expert with the Ugandan DST Facilitation team. Barbara has been involved in other consulting capacities throughout the DST process and has a strong focus on developing and maintaining ethical DST practice in the many unique contexts of the Ugandan setting.

Contact Us.

If you have any questions about the trainings or how you could incorporate Digital Storytelling into your work, please contact us. We are happy to work with you to develop a custom training program to fit you or your organizations needs.