The drum begins its beat, and the storyteller’s voice begins:
“It all began when…”
“Long ago, in a place far, far away…”
“Once upon a time…”
Immediately, shoulders relax. Eyes go to soft focus. Hearts open. Minds turn inward, entranced in the story’s spell.
Mythic storytelling in the coaching context uses story to overcome resistance, engage the emotions, create safety; rhythm to set the stage and define and deepen the space; and powerful questions, interspersed throughout the mythic tale, to evoke insight, uncover hidden truths and open the listener to change.
There’s a good reason that metaphor is a critical core competency for coaches: it is a powerful transformative skill, and applied correctly, it drives an astoundingly effective coaching process. In this presentation, Dr. Kwame Scruggs, award-winning creator of the Alchemy Method™, and Mentor Agility’s Dr. Julie Elledge introduce the application of this method to the coaching practice.
In the classical sense, alchemy is the transmutation of base metals into gold. In coaching, alchemy is the powerful process of uncovering the shadow stories within us and transforming them into stories of potentiality. In essence, the Alchemy Method™ is the process of extracting our own personal gold.
By using the power of myth, the Alchemy Method™ has the unique ability to dive deep with clients without evoking defenses. Finding ourselves mirrored in story, we are able to explore our true and vulnerable selves through creativity and imagination.
This presentation will discuss how this training is an application of Dr. Scrugg’s evidence-based method that has been recognized for its bold, creative, and highly transformational results with diverse groups, especially with marginalized populations. In particular, using mythic storytelling, Kwame has guided scores of young men to understand and develop personal purpose in life – an accomplishment that is chronicled in the feature-length documentary, Finding the Gold Within, and has received multiple honors, including the President’s Committee National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, the nation’s highest honor for after-school and out-of-school programs.
Through this introduction to Mentor Agility’s Alchemy Method™ training program, Kwame and Julie demonstrate how their approach to mythic storytelling teaches trainees to find personal gold: how they can use carefully curated myths and selectively crafted, powerful guiding questions to confront assumptions, uncover unrecognized preconceptions and excavate a new path to personal evolution.
BIOS
Dr. Elledge is a professional coach in national practice, with four credentials including the prestigious International Coaching Federation and the National Board Certification for Health and Wellness Coaching. She is a recognized expert in the field of coaching, pioneering the areas of financial well-being, nature coaching, storytelling in coaching, and The Hero’s Journey® Change Model - which she created and developed over many years. Her company, Mentor Agility, is a certified training program for coaches. As an educator, she has worked with companies like Apple Education, BP, NOAA, NASA, NEED Project, Twentieth Century Fox and Baz Luhrmann.
Dr. Scruggs has over 20 years of experience using myth in the development of urban male youth. He holds a Ph.D. and MA in Mythological Studies with an emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Kwame also holds a MS degree in Technical Education with an emphasis in Guidance and Counseling from the University of Akron where he also completed all the course work for a MS degree in Community Counseling.
Kwame is a recently appointed board member of the Joseph Campbell Foundation and serves on the National Advisory Committee of the Creative Youth Development National Partnership.