摘要：People who work in small communities as professional “helpers” (e.g., teachers, nurses, social workers, ministers) are often trained in urban centres with primarily urban views of the world assumed. In the SSHRC-funded research reported on in this session, we conducted interviews with over 40 such helpers in a range of small New Brunswick towns and villages, listening to their stories of the challenges such work presents. Drawing on what they have shared with us, we are currently designing curricula that aim to better prepare helpers in various professions to work effectively in rural areas, where the narrative complexity of everyday life is especially apparent. This can make issues such as confidentiality, personal and disciplinary boundaries, and professional ethics uniquely problematic. Given such issues, the curricula we envision equips people to listen for stories that teach: their own stories as persons and professionals; the stories of those whom they serve; and the local-to-global stories by which their communities are impacted and in which they are embedded. In respectfully and reflectively listening for multiple stories at once, “helping” becomes transformed from a process of “experts” responding to those “in need” to one of mutual listening and learning.
