Storytelling its Therapy and Entertainment

Its Therapy, Entertainment

Seattle Times, Wednesday, March 17, 2004
By Diane Wright
Times Snohomish County bureau

SNOHOMISH — Mary Marguerite Dessein is a storyteller — and a therapist.

She uses storytelling as a therapeutic tool in addiction treatment. Group therapy is based on sharing life stories.

Dessein may have clients who are losing custody of a child or experiencing other losses, and "story bridges the gap," she said.

"Somebody may not be able to say, 'I'm losing my children,' or 'I'm homeless,' or other consequences of their actions. Story is the bridge," Dessein said.

'Stories & Tea'

Mary Marguerite Dessein will tell Celtic stories from 7:30 to 9 p.m. next Wednesday at Victorian Manor, 610 First St., Snohomish. Admission is $8 at the door. Reservations can be made at Everything Tea, 360-568-2267. Information: www.victorianmanor-at-sno.com.

"If I'm telling a story about this mother who failed to protect her child — and often it might be a folk tale like 'Coyote Mother,' who failed to protect her child — it can open a door."

For Dessein, telling stories is also a way to entertain.

She will tell Celtic stories as part of "Stories & Tea" from 7:30 to 9 p.m. next Wednesday at Victorian Manor, 610 First St., Snohomish. The monthly event takes place in a renovated 1890 Victorian home set for tea and dessert. It's a warm, intimate setting that allows Dessein to make eye contact with listeners.

It's also practical.

"I know who's nodding off, I know who's interested, and I know if the particular story is not working very well," Dessein said.

Rod Conley, a regular, said he's fascinated by the process and an art he thinks has been largely lost.

"As I'm listening to some of her stories, I can see where they have parallel structure in certain areas, how they repeat themes," he said. "It seems like it would make it easier to tell the story."

Dessein is a member of the Seattle Storytellers Guild and the Story People of Clallam County, and has performed at numerous festivals. She also has a regular radio stint from 8 to 11 a.m. Sundays with other hosts of "Global Griot" on KSER-FM (90.7).

One of her stories planned next week is a mystical tale about a seal maiden, or "selkie," who has a home and a family both in the sea and on land. "The Seal Maiden" is a tragicomic and mystical story set in Ireland, but Dessein decided to give it a happy ending.

"I think because I'm a therapist, there's resolution for everybody," she said. "She goes back (to the sea), and often her husband sees her flipping seashells for children, and he sees she had to do what she had to do."

Another tale she'll tell, "The Mystic Harp That Saved Moy," a story taken from Russell Walton's anthology "A Harp of Fishbones," is about a harp that warns Moy that the person asking for his help is not a woman but a fairy.

"The Death Penalty" is about an Irishwoman serving jury duty on a case in which a man is being sued by his wife. "Helping to Lie" is about an Irish nobleman, notorious for his tall tales, who finds himself out on a limb.

The stories include humor and insight as they engage and entertain. One is about a man who goes through fantastic adventures. Another is a "gotcha" story about a man who thinks he can fool a police officer.

The tales are told in the tradition of Irish storytellers.

The Irish were in many ways a dispossessed people in a depopulated land. Nearly 2 million people left Ireland during the potato famine in the mid-19th century.

When all wealth is gone, with many a dispossessed people, the language is their last currency. Out of hardship, some of Ireland's greatest writers were born: William Butler Yeats, John Millington Synge, Sean O'Casey and James Joyce, among others.

As in many of the stories, Dessein's day job involves personal growth and change: She's a chemical-dependency counselor and Snohomish County Drug Court liaison for Catholic Community Services in Everett, working with adults.

Her expertise in storytelling has helped her in her work as a therapist.

"What it allows me to be is as real and authentic as I know how to be," she said.

"I want to support and encourage the client, and it's been a challenge to confront them with their inappropriate behavior. It's given me the confidence to say, 'Listen, you and I both know you've been using.' I have learned to follow my instincts. What I have done is open the doorway to discussion."

Mary Dessein
marystories@hotmail.com
2610 Wetmore Ave.
Everett, Washington 98201
425-879-4650