Harnessing Adversity

Unleashing the Power of Personal Storytelling

 Summer Institutes, the leading provider of heart and soul continuing education courses for educators, has teamed with NYT-Bestselling Memoir Author Ingrid Ricks on an inspirational one-day workshop designed to help anyone who has struggled with trauma induced adversity in their lives and has a personal story they need to tell. Ricks, who lost her eyesight to a blinding eye disease last year, kicks off the day by sharing her journey, her struggles and her realization that adversity can be harnessed into power and used to inspire and help others. From there, she discusses how she found healing and empowerment by writing her memoir, Hippie Boy, and draws on lessons learned from working with more than 2,000 students of every age to help you unleash the power of personal narrative for yourself. This comprehensive workshop includes a variety of on-the-spot writing exercises to help you identify your story and bring it to life so that you can do the same for your students.

You’ll learn:

• How to Foster Healing, Empowerment and Connections Through Personal Narrative
• How to Identify and Structure Your Story
• How to Create Story Openings that Grab
• How to Develop Your Characters
• How to Bring Emotions to Life
• The Secrets to Effective Dialogue
• How to Show vs. Tell Your Story
• Do’s and Don’ts For Bringing This Program to Your Classroom

About Ingrid Ricks

Ingrid Ricks is an NYT-bestselling author, writing coach, inclusion activist and inspirational speaker who is passionate about leveraging personal storytelling to foster healing, awareness, empathy and change.

Over the past seven years, she has helped more than 2,000 students of every age find healing and empowerment by writing the deeply personal stories they needed to tell, and has produced seven anthologies in partnership with high schools to raise awareness about the serious challenges today’s youth face.

Ingrid, who views personal storytelling as the key to healing and unity in today’s divided world, has teamed with Summer Institutes since 2015 to bring her personal narrative workshops to educators through live conferences and online courses. She also teams with other organizations throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Ingrid’s books include the coming-of-age memoir, Hippie Boy: A Girl’s Story, and Focus, a memoir about her journey with the blinding eye disease Retinitis Pigmentosa. She has also ghostwritten several memoirs and has shared stories from her childhood on Salon and NPR.

For more information, visit www.ingridricks.com, www.summerinstitutes.com

PRESS RELEASE on backside.

What People Are Saying:

“I recently had the pleasure of hearing Ingrid Ricks give a keynote speech at a conference for youth service providers. Ingrid held us all spellbound as she spoke of transforming students’ lives through personal storytelling. After Ingrid’s keynote, I sought her out so I could get more tips. Without a doubt, hearing Ingrid’s keynote has changed my approach for working with young people who have faced difficult challenges.”  – Jerry Sherk, Youth Mentoring Consultant and Trainer

“Yesterday was such a gift—not just for the students, but also for me. I left feeling so grateful for your presentation and being able to work for a grant that allows such experiences to happen for students.” – Sara Cameron, GEAR UP Success Coordinator, Cascade High School

“The best word I could use to describe our time together is “magical.” You are an amazing, gifted and patient teacher. I never thought I’d actually write my Memoir.  But this weekend gave me hope, and having the chance to work with you 1:1 gave me confidence. You really are an inspiration.” – Sarah Haggard, founder and CEO of Tribute

“I was in your Hugo House class and absolutely loved hearing you speak. I could have listened to you for hours. I also found it very helpful to write that short little piece on conflict that you had us do, particularly in light of what you’d shared with us. Thank you!” – Marisol Trowbridge

“The course was amazing and created a very safe space for me to explore a very difficult time.” – Bonnie Wakerman, middle school science teacher

“Thank you for pushing me to express my feelings both positive and negative through writing. This class has brought me a ton of joy and I didn’t view it as work but a joyful opportunity to grow and learn new writing techniques” – Ashley Greene, teacher

“Thank you for your inspiration and for pushing me to tell my story.” – Jose Saenz, high school Spanish teacher

 “I want you to know that your presentation was the most powerful for me from the whole week. My brain is already trying to tweak my personal narrative writing unit to get my students to dig deeper. On a personal note, you have encouraged me to start addressing some of my “demons” through writing. Thank you.” – Tracy Foltz, teacher, Howells, Michigan

“You had a huge impact on me and I spent the entire first week of my school year doing nothing but building community and getting students to tell their stories. I believe it made a big difference and my students know each other on a much deeper level than ever before.” – Sarah Buhr