Using Stories to Create Change

I have been struck recently by the power of storytelling.

We hear so often about the power of one story versus the power of data. Stories can create change where data doesn't. What’s the human story behind the data?

As Simon Sinek would say ‘What’s the WHY?’ Why, for example should we fund teenage mental health services?

Let me tell you the story of a child …

A vibrant, brilliant 17 year old girl called Daisy worked hard at school and planned to study Law at university. She was captain of the netball team, had a loving family and supportive friends. During lockdown she started to control her eating, limiting her calorie intake to 600 a day. She exercised twice a day and was obsessed with lifting weights.

Not being able to see friends to offload her anxiety, she started following other girls on Instagram promoting zero fat diets. Obsessive about food, she had a panic attack when she saw her mother using cooking oil in the kitchen. Her anxiety affected everything she did.

She started falling behind at school, her attendance dropped to below 50% and eventually she dropped out. She had a telephone appointment with her GP and was put on a waiting list for support….

Let me tell you about the data that shows …

One in six children aged 5 to 16 were identified as having a probable mental health problem in July 2020, a huge increase from one in nine in 2017. That’s five children in every classroom.

65,533 teenagers were referred to mental health services in March 2021 - that's more than double the number in 2020.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among people ages 10-24 and has been increasing every year since 2007.

As Josef Stalin said "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic."

You’ll remember Daisy’s story but you can’t recall the statistics I shared.

I was inspired to write this by a brilliant colleague who has just been granted £1.3 million to fund teenage mental health services. She had been pitching it for 3 years and then she used a story to bring her data to life ….