How to Heal a Wounded Story

Using Narrative Techniques to Transform Pain into Meaning

We all carry stories within us—some joyful, some sorrowful, and some… still aching

A wounded story is a life narrative that feels unfinished. It lingers with difficult emotions—guilt, shame, anger, or grief. It may be a story we return to repeatedly, one we haven't yet been able to let go of. In its silence or its echo, it keeps asking for something: recognition, healing, release.

So how do we begin to heal a story that hurts?

A Metaphor for Healing: Will and the Broken-Winged Bird

.In the children book "How to Heal a Broken Wing" by Bob Grahm, we follow Will, a young and compassionate boy, who discovers a broken-winged bird and takes her home to heal. His ways to care for the wounded bird offers us a profound roadmap for healing wounded stories.

Will noticed the bird. He saw her pain.

He brought her to a safe place.

He accepted what couldn’t be fixed—and what could.

He nurtured her with patience and care.He held onto hope, letting her gaze at the open sky.

He gave her space to grow stronger

He watched, attentively, for her readiness.And finally, he let go—with trust.

This is also the process of narrative healing.

Writing as a Path to Narrative Healing

We can use writing to gently tend to our wounded stories, just as Will tended to the bird. Here’s how:

1. Noticing

Begin by seeing the story. Write it down. Give it a title. Then another one. And another. Each title opens a different window of meaning.

2. Finding a Safe Place

Stories need space and safety. Choose where and how to tell it. Who will listen? Ask for what you need—a kind ear, no interruptions, no advice. A story shared in safety can breathe.

3. Validation and Recognition

Wounded stories need a witness. Someone who listens without judgment, interpretation, or the urge to “fix.” As a listener or reader, try:

• Active listening

• Writing a gentle response: what you heard, what you felt. No commentary. Just presence.

Let the storyteller feel seen.

4. Expanding the Story

Now, begin to open the narrative up. Let it stretch, shift, and transform.

Try these techniques:

• Balancing: Include descriptive, expressive, and reflective writing

• Elevating: Rewrite the story from above—use third person or a “bird’s eye” view

• Perspective-shifting: Tell it from another character’s point of view

• Time-lapsing: Change tenses—what happens when you write in the present? Or look back from the future?

• Genre-shifting: Retell the story as a fairy tale, poem, comedy, or fable. How does the tone change?

Each shift invites distance, compassion, and insight.

5. Setting the Story Free

Return to your original narrative. Ask yourself:

• Can the story be renamed?

• Is any part of it ready to be released?

• What happens next—after the bird flies?

• How does the healed story shape the life that follows?

Writing becomes not just expression—but transformation.

In Closing

Healing a wounded story is not about rewriting the past. It’s about rewriting our relationship with it—so that we carry it differently, with more understanding, less pain, and often, new meaning.

Through the tools of bibliotherapy—writing, witnessing, metaphor, and imagination—we find not only healing, but freedom.

Let your story take flight.

On our training program, we will explore and experience various methods and models for working with painful narratives. To learn more, click here.