Storytelling & Expression

Storytelling & Expression is a community-based creative pathway for young people who may benefit from supported communication, storytelling, self-expression and inclusive participation. As a narrative pathway within Creative Wellbeing & Participation, it offers accessible ways to explore voice, identity, authorship and connection through tactile, visual, sensory and digital methods. This pathway welcomes participants with disability, AAC users, verbal participants, and young people with diverse communication, sensory, mobility or support needs. Storytelling is used as a flexible method for communication, identity expression, authorship and social participation. Sessions may combine tactile, visual, sensory, object-based, performative and digital methods so that participants can engage in ways that are appropriate to their communication profile, preferred modes of expression and level of support. The emphasis is not on technical mastery or formal media training, but on creating accessible opportunities for participants to communicate in multiple ways, develop stories and characters, express preferences and identity, and contribute to shared creative outcomes. What sessions may include • morning sharing space • creative warm-up through low-demand sensory, visual, object-based or image-based invitations • structured story activity supporting character-making, sequencing, scene-building or multimodal narrative development • everyday participation through breaks, transitions, requests for help, turn-taking and supported decision-making • reflection and documentation through photos, short clips, screenshots, captions or simple artist/story panels Methods used across the pathway • puppet and object storytelling • stop motion and visual sequence • sensory storytelling through sound, textures, mood and objects • character, world and shared scene creation • accessible digital storytelling tools such as Pictello, Canva, Book Creator and simple stop motion apps What this pathway helps support • communication and expression • identity expression and symbolic representation • sequencing and narrative awareness • confidence and authorship • belonging and social participation • visibility and shared creative outcomes Program details Program dates: 8 May – 16 December 2026 Format: Ongoing small-group program Day: Fridays Time: 9:00am – 2:00pm Location: Canterbury Neighbourhood Centre Participants may attend with their own 1:1 support workers where needed. NDIS information Suitable for self-managed or plan-managed participants. Sessions may be invoiced under the participant’s relevant NDIS funding category for social and community participation, depending on individual goals and plan arrangements. Registration note Please note: registration is an expression of interest only and does not confirm a place. We will contact families and/or support teams to discuss suitability, support needs and next steps. Contact For enquiries or expressions of interest, please contact: [email protected]