By Jessica Jones, Hospital Director, Elysium Healthcare & Sue Denison, Corporate Expert by Experience
Digital storytelling is becoming one of the most powerful ways for people we support to have their voices heard authentically. Not polished. Not filtered. Just honest, human experience brought to life.
At its heart, digital storytelling is a short audio piece – usually two to three minutes – created with the person whose story it is. Their words are paired with a small number of images or drawings. The process is time‑intensive and deeply personal. And that’s exactly why it works.
The purpose of digital storytelling is simple – to understand the impact of care from the patient’s perspective. Stories can be difficult. Some describe moments where someone felt unseen or unheard. The stories shared by the people we support are not owned by Elysium. They belong entirely to the storyteller. That authenticity is what makes them powerful.
Jessica: One of our recent stories was created by a man who had been let down when systems and paperwork external to Elysium had failed him. He found it difficult to speak up in meetings to share this frustration. But his digital story captured his frustration and loss of hope in a way that written notes never could. And another man was worried about being homeless when he left services after having been on section. He was worried his local authority were not there for him and he would be ‘lost’. Within two weeks of his digital story being shared, the issue was rectified. We can’t say that the story alone caused that change, but we can say it made people listen.
Sue: Digital storytelling especially benefits people who feel dismissed or labelled as “behaviours of concern/distress.” In mental health care, many service users say they are simply not believed. These stories give people a platform where their voice cannot be talked over.
One current project involves supporting a man with a speech impediment to tell his story with the help of someone he trusts to speak his words. For him, this may be the first time that others truly understand his experience.
A Resource‑Heavy Process Worth Doing Well
Each story takes many hours, or even days, to create. Building trust, recording, editing, choosing images and shaping the narrative all require focus, creativity and care. But people deserve that level of attention. Their experiences matter. Their voices matter.
Digital storytelling won’t replace formal processes. But it adds something essential: the human truth behind the paperwork.
